ACE conducted a forum on positive attitude for indigenous youth leaders in Mondulkiri Province
It was a busy day at the Attitude Center for Education: On June 26, 2009, five visitors from Australia helped us to organize the center and prepare a lot of things for improvements. We planned to travel to the MondulKiri Province; it takes 10 hours to get there. Mondulkiri is a very beautiful part of Cambodia. It is 258 km from Phnom Penh, but the road is not good because it is in the countryside.
We used to conduct leadership training at the Unteh Wee Sokatan organization. There were 10 students who volunteered to do a lot of things like announcement requests and registration. They worked to help make our forum really good. ACE staff spent some time to call and follow up with the process. We have had many difficulties in planning this leadership event, including the correspondence, organization, etc. Also, during the registration process, teacher Sokchea was in the United States for his scholarship program. However, we prevailed.
There were 160 attendees who joined our Attitude Forum. We started at 7:30 a.m. and all of the students arrived on time or early. Unfortunately, in the morning it was raining, and it must have been hard for them to get there, but they still came on time. The Attitude Forum lasted two days. There were five attendees who are workers and teachers. Some of them live far away from the town. For many of them, it took 30 minutes to get from their house to the guest house.
The first students had a bit of difficulty, but were especially brave. They had significant problems, like not having good relationships. The most interesting thing about the participants was that they are Pnoung (an indigenous ethnic group); however, they live like everyone else does. They live a long way from the central province, so they have poor connections with other places.
When we started, the first point was to talk about having an open mind. Eight students spoke about what they have encountered and how they resolved those problems. After discussion, some students shared about what they have tried to do in their life but could not complete. Some also discussed the possibilities in their life, and what they want to do in the future.
After a lunch break, not many of the participants did the presentation that was a part of the work. They can talk well, but they could not make a good presentation.
In the afternoon, we talk about looking good and looking bad. For some people, all they are concerned about is being good-looking. One student, Sokoun, want to have a car and be good-looking. At the start she said, “Personal image is very important for people, because when we have car and look good, many people around us think we are a good person and that we must be powerful.” A little while later, Sokoun changed her thinking after Sokchea gave her some coaching.
Then she said, “I would like to have a good future and don’t care too much about looking good. I’ll try to improve myself and my future. My family is poor, and I want to help them, so now I would like to study for them.”
Some of the problems that the other attendees talked about included:
Chhan
“I have had a big problem with my family; my mother wants me to stop studying. I am so sad to find out that I don’t have a good relationship with my parents. They want me to work for them because they have business problems. I didn’t do anything wrong. My father told me that I am his son, and I must always obey him.”
All of the participants had problems, but there was limited time for sharing. Therefore, the other resolutions were written down as a letter. Everybody wrote down all their sorrows in their own letter. Some read them to people whom they wanted to hear. Participants could also have used this chance to express their emotions and apologize whatever they had done wrong.
The following are two of students’ letters that were read aloud to the forum, written by Sreymom and Chenda.
On the second day we did an assessment and asked all of them about what they did with their letter. Some said they just kept it, and some read it to their family or someone else whom they wanted to hear their thoughts.
Thus, the Attitude Forum helped people to open their minds, to be forgiving, so all participants’ conflict was burned away by their own understanding. We wished that all the trouble won’t be kept deep in their minds anymore. It was gone just like smoke disappears in fresh air. Everything else was in the past; we can affect only what happens today and tomorrow.
Finally, there were many big smiles and everyone appeared at peace. Then there was loud cheering because it was time to bring new life skills and education back to their homes.
However, we had one last event. Out of thankfulness to our first leadership students from the last forum, we had a fantastic dinner together. The Attitude Forum has completed successfully because they understood the value of education. They had a high commitment to practicing what they have learned in the last year. How improved are they? What can they do to be a model for their communities? What will happen in their future? They really wanted to know all of these things.
I was very appreciative when I heard all of them express their feelings and tell us what they have done, and tried to do. These are their chances to improve their life and to have a better future. Looking ahead, there will probably be at least one among them who get a scholarship from the Attitude Center for Education.
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