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.