Youth Empowerment Leadership by Mr. Sokchea SAING

Youth Empowerment Leadership

Led by specialist leadership teacher Mr. Sokchea SAING, the leadership in action course offered to teenage students of the Rudi Boa center aims to teach essential life skills and importantly get young people to thinks about their goals in life and steps they need to take to achieve these goals.
“ This class is very good for me and the country. I can participate in society. In the future, I think I will be a good leader of a company or my family, but I have never thought that before this class,” said Meng Ratana, 17, a leadership student at the Rudi Boa Center.

This course has had a phenomenal impact on the youth of Village 4. Mr. Sok Chea discusses the changes he has observed in one of his students:
“ One of my students told me that his parents were not concerned about his studies and sometimes he felt hopeless by himself. When the class breaks, he always brought his story to discuss with me, and promised that he would try to study until he got the number one student in the class. Sometimes he studied without anytime to eat food. He was a quiet person an was shy in the class. Now he is a sociable person and is confidents to make presentations in front of the white board, not like before. He told me that now he knows how to manage the goals of his life and to face his problem.”

In 2007, 57 students graduated from the first and second levels of the leadership course provided and Rudi Boa Center. Some of these graduates are actively giving back to their community as volunteers at the Rudi Boa center. These courses will be offered for new students in 2008, while the leadership Group of 2007 will be able to continue to develop their leadership skills with a more advanced course taught by Mr. Sok Chea.

By Bridges Across Borders