Mr. Sokchea SAING won the Winston Fellowship Award to attend Summer courses at Eastern Mennonite University, United States

I would like to thank everyone who gave me support and helped me to get a scholarship at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and another one-week scholarship at Landmark Education in Baltimore, Maryland. Before I got the scholarships, I always hoped that one day I would have an opportunity to pursue short-term study in the U.S. Eventually, SPI made my dream come true. I still remember that when I had just entered the center to get trained on life skills, many communities were fleeing from the city. This scholarship was provided to me at the right time when I need it for myself, my communities, and this newly established program.

In just 6 weeks, I have communicated with many people from over 30 countries around the world. I have never had such contacts before. This program encouraged me to communicate with almost all the people who participated in SPI. I have learned how to respect, listen and have patience. When I was just in Cambodia, I saw that I lived in a very small world. After I have communicated with people from different countries, they understood what I said, thought, and studied because we have the same thoughts, participated in the same SPI program, and made the same decision about what we are going to do for our countries in the future. Communication makes us powerful because we feel that we are not alone anymore. We all learned and helped each other through all means.

I am very proud to have participated in SPI, across cultures, which is unforgettable. All the participants showed their own cultures and traditions which allowed all of us to get to know about the global value of those practices. As to my own view, I can say that SPI has prepared a program which I call “the culture of their freedom” because all participants in SPI had equal freedom to show the culture of their own countries without any worry.

Having spent a short time in the U.S., I got more experience and knowledge than what I had expected. I think it is necessary for me to return to Cambodia where I will apply what I have learned and the experience I have gotten. As soon as I arrived in Cambodia, three workshops had to be prepared for 220 participants aged 18 years and up. In July 2009, we are going to conduct three more workshops for youths. In August 2009, we are planning to organize another three workshops for staff of NGOs and, particularly, for poor communities and youths from the poorest provinces who are unable to further their studies.

These processes proceed well due to the lessons I obtained from SPI, and I will make the best use of this knowledge for myself, my community, and my organization. I imagine that one day I will have such a chance to attend SPI again and so will my students.

Sokchea SAING conducted the forum on Positive Attitude to the Staff of Project Future

ACE conducted the forum on Positive Attitude to the Staff of Project Future

On the weekend of July 16-17, 2009, the Attitude Center for Education provided the Attitude Forum to 25 participants. There was one woman among them, an English teacher. Participants all came from an organization called Project Future. They used their own tuk-tuks for transportation to attend our forum. They are getting vocational training at Project Future.

The Project Future manager has seen that all the students and staff work hard to learn about mechanics but lack any other skills to improve their studies and work. However, they are from different provinces. It’s hard for them to communicate, and they haven’t become proficient yet. Some are high school students who haven’t graduated, and some have stopped attending since primary school. Many of them are from poor families and used to be unemployed. They are starting a new life through Project Future and learning mechanic skills. They need something new to improve their lives. Five among them are staff members. The Attitude Forum was Project Future’s first choice. Project Future really wanted their students and staff members to learn about social life and ways of communication.

When we first started at 8:30 a.m., participants suggested that Sokchea SAING should not talk in English because they do not understand it. We had to make sure that they understood everything. They also got some comments from a trainer about work and business skill. There were only two days to help them learn how to be a successful person and how to run their business. After finishing the Attitude Forum, will participants know who they are? Who they can be?

Many of them had problems with family. Vassna is a child from a family where his father was often violent toward him and his mom. “I am very angry with my father. I hate what he has been doing,” said Vassna. This statement told us that this young man is discontent. Moreover, it is motivation for him in improving his life. Today what we are doing is building problem solvers. They will know how to solve their own problems and deal with the other people that are involved. Vassna has no angry feelings toward his father anymore. He will visit his home and apologize for what he has done to his parents. Rithpeng is 38 years old. He constantly encourages his oldest son, but nothing ever changes. “I want to know how I can help my son. I want my son to understand the value of life.” Sokchea gave Rithpeng new strategies for encouragement and inspiration for his concerns about his son.

Even if we could only help a small part of Project Future’s family members, the trainer was able to coach participants and helped improve their communication skills a lot. It is a very good thing that we can help this group to get to know each other well. They study, work and live in the same place, where it was difficult for them to improve because they didn’t have good communication skills. They will be initiating family happiness. “If I want to help Cambodia, the best way is to help all of you. This is what I want,” said Sokchea. This is the way of forgiveness and contentment. The Attitude Forum spent much of its time to open the participants’ minds, leading them to become good communicators.

Sokchea SAING conducted training to select the best student

ACE conducted training to select the best student for a one-year scholarship

During three years of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodian people faced big hardships. Most of the people in country lost everything in their life—not only their property, but even more vital things, including their children, parents, relatives and education. There were more than 2 million people killed by the Khmer Rouge. This event has an effect on the new generation in Cambodia. Most of it happened 30 years ago, but in that time, people only wished to survive and have food in their stomachs.
Anyway, now many things have changed in Cambodian society. People have started to pursue their education again. Education is a key to open people’s mind to thinking and learning something new to improve their life and develop the country. There are many universities in Phnom Penh. At the same time, there are students who love studying and study hard, but they don’t have a chance to attend those universities because of their family situation. This is especially true for students who live in the countryside and want to continue their studies but lack sufficient funds to support their stay at schools in Phnom Penh.
Thus, the Attitude Centre for Education wants to help them to achieve their dream and their wish. ACE has created the Attitude Dormitory. The Attitude Dormitory will provide some students a place to stay, so they can afford to save some money to pay for school. Students who will live in the Attitude Dormitory will also get a year scholarship for leadership training, called the Attitude Forum. The forum has four sessions; one session lasts three months.

There were 30 candidates participating in the Attitude Forum on June 20, 2009. There will be 10 students living in the dorm in the future, 4 girls and 6 boys. This was the first time the forum was so serious because we conducted it to see the behaviour and attitude of the candidates. We really want to help students to do everything. This is a foundational objective for all students, so we plan be strict in the process. The following article will provide details about what happened in the Attitude Forum.


There were 30 candidates. They come from different universities and provinces. Two of them were NGO staffs from Sustainable International School, the Kompong Speu province. First of all, Synoeun did a presentation and announced the rules of participation. The Attitude Forum started at 8:30 a.m. They had two hours for lunch break and finished at 5:00 p.m. Sokchea gave a speech to the forum and did a presentation about the Attitude Center for Education. Attendees asked questions about the Attitude Forum or whatever they wanted to know. It seemed like they were really interested in knowing for what major purpose ACE provides the Attitude Forum.

An open mind was the first thing that we talked about. To start our forum, that was a good way to show how to open their minds, and it made the attendees understand the process more easily. Participants did comparisons to themselves.

Participants paid close attention when we talked about family situations. Many attendees have had problems with their family. Many of them live in a poor family. After some of them shared their own problem that had happened in their family, Sokchea recommended, “Put your effort into your work. Don’t always carry it with you.”

“I don’t know who I am. This is a very important part of my life. Who will I be? How far can I go? What am I going to do to achieve my dream?” said Channak.
“If interviewers from one magazine talk to me, I will tell them that I am now building the future leaders of Cambodia. This is a strategy to improve Cambodian society,” said Sokchea.
In addition, attendees also get a chance to practice what they have learned by writing a letter and putting their entire problem on paper. They can also take this chance to show their compassion or apologize to parents or family. All of them wrote down their conflicts. It was very hard to remind about the mistakes and bad events that had happened in their life. They read their letters to the forum. They made promises to the trainer and everyone in the forum. “I am appreciative after having shared my entire problem to the class. Starting from this minute, I’ll change myself and family,” said Mony.
We can see that after attendees shared and got some comments, they will bring new things back to their life and family.
Many people have difficulty improving their life because they are doing something that they don’t realize. The Attitude Forum’s intention is to change people’s attitude. Most participants accept what they have done. Many of them made many mistakes because they are at a young age. After completing the forum, everyone saw the value of the course. They know exactly what they are going do to be a potential young leader in Cambodia.
Date: July 18, 2009

Sokchea SAIING conducted the Attitude Forum for four NGOs

ACE conducted the Attitude Forum for four NGOs at Sihanouk Province

On July 23rd and 24th, 2009, the Attitude Center for Education conducted an Attitude Forum in Sihanouk Province. Sihanouk is Cambodia’s premier beach town. Sihanouk is in southern Cambodia. It is a 230 km, five-hour drive from Phnom Penh.

The four people in the car enjoyed the beautiful view. They were Sokchea; Pharith, who is a student from Lakeside School; Madi, American girl who visited Cambodia for five weeks; and Synoeun.

We planned to leave Phnom Penh at 12:00 pm, but unfortunately we were late by one hour and a half because Sokchea left the key inside his car. So we left Phnom Penh at 1:30 pm.

There were 29 participants who attended our forum. They came from four different NGOs. There were five from GoodWill School, which is the school for the young kids in the village. Seven were from Maloptapang (a big NGO that has around 170 staff), six from Phoumville and 11 from Stoeung Hua, where we used to conduct the Leadership training. The participants ranged from 20 to 40 years old. In the morning session, it was not hard to encourage them because they are teachers, staff, volunteers and managers.

Sabin, who is director of the Goodwill School, has seen some trouble among her staff. They didn’t have any connection. Most of them have no responsibility. They lived by following their heart and their past. Sabin would like her staff to be opened-mind. The way that they teach and talk to the kids is unacceptable. Sabin has noticed they don’t use their education. During the meeting their feelings were on the surface. But they haven’t motivated themselves. “I really want to see something change with my staff members, so that I decided to ask Sokchea to train them about Attitude” said Sabin.

The problem that participants have dealt with is work-related, relationships with bosses and co-workers. “What I need is to make a better relationship,” said Neang. Teacher Sokchea made the basic point and gave an example to them to improve the communication. Attendees became really involved in the example since it was based on a real situation. Attendees were engrossed in the training about how be open and enhance their communication.

In addition, because the participants have worked, they are parents, they have much experience with “always being right.” Kolab, who is full-time staff for the Goodwill School has that issue with her co-worker, Sinah. It was only a small problem, but both of them made it become a big one. They stopped talking to each other. How difficult it is when neither of them have a good relationship. How is their work looking after the same kids in Goodwill School? It is very hard to improve their work and the kids. In this case, Sokchea helped them to solve one of the problems. Everyone tried and worked hard to find the solution. The trainer only gave them a clue, and then all the participants had to identify a solution by themselves. This is the strategy for our Attitude Forum.

However, when people are not willing to open their minds, they have gotten in trouble with their family. Sophea is a teacher of Maloptapang. He did not have an open mind, so when his parents criticized him because he usually got home late, Sophea was angry and complained to them. “Starting from now on I understood what I shall do for my life and my family. I study management. I would like to manage myself first before others,” said Sophea.

The next day participants did a very good job. They were brave, open-minded, and did what we wanted them to do.

Sopheary has had a big problem with family. “I am very thankful that I have an opportunity to study at Attitude Forum. When I got home last night I confessed all my mistakes to my parents. My mom has mental problems. My parents, my brother and sister do not have good relationships with each other. I apologized to my mom and dad because I did not understand their feelings. Their reaction made me very thrilled,” said Sopheary.

What we are doing is really happen in their work and family.
There were many things they haven’t done yet like sharing compassion, saying thank you, and apologizing since they owe a lot to their parents. They did not say all these things because they think just working and studying hard is already enough to make them happy. It is not hard to express these feelings, but why is it that most of the participants hardly ever do so?

Communication and happiness are the vital things that most of attendees would like to have Lakana, a girl who studies in grade 10, said, “I have no goal. My life was very lazy. I like watching TV and hanging around at my friends’ houses in the village.” 15 minutes later, after getting coaching from the trainer, Lakana felt like she just woke up from a bad dream.

Sarun used to be violent toward his friends in the village when he was a gang member, “but now I would like to forgive myself and I accept my entire mistake,” he said.

The Attitude Forum is helping people to lead a new, successful life. Their work, studies, and their life will improve. They are going to be able to help their institution. We train them to be problem solvers. Attendees will have a great ability to solve problems for themselves and in their lives. All participants need to have high accountability. They are very important leaders. We are building up all of these leaders. They themselves are also trainers after getting training from this forum. Can you imagine how many others they can help? When one person improves, how many people are affected?

At the end of the forum, Sabin, the director of the Goodwill School, said she would like to give Sokchea a big thank-you. She was very happy. She told us the problem is now solved, and moreover, the staff members have more possibilities. It is a substantial thing for four these NGOs.