A Fresher Time for Ravit

This article was written while I was working for World Vision Cambodia.

A Fresher Time for Ravit

A twelve-year-old boy, Ravit Sann, is playing and studying with all his friends in the center of World Vision’s Bamboo Shoot Street Children’s Transformation Center. He experienced difficulty in life with his mother and his other siblings, and he cannot stop crying while thinking of his past before entering the center.

“I never forget my difficult life. My mother earns money by selling salted dried-shells (kind of small freshwater clam); she did not make much from this.   We didn’t have enough money to buy food to fill our hunger. My mother couldn’t give me money to buy snack at school during break-time. I went to school without money, not even a 100-riel note (0.025 USD). I was really hungry and I couldn’t concentrate on my studies,” sadly shared Ravit, the youngest son of three sibling of a very poor family.

He added with tears, “We lived in a tent; we don’t have a house. We lived along the side-walk located near theriverside. When it rained, we could not sleep.   Everything in the tent got wet. It’s extremely hot in the daytime.  It’s really hard for us to live but we don’t have a choice.” Continuing with tears and bent down to look at the floor, he tried to share, “I became really angry with my father who went to work as a construction worker in Poi Pet nearby Thailand-Cambodia border for years, and he has other secret lover there. He never missed us here, but I miss him and I am angry with him. He gave up all his children and my poor mother.”

Ravit’s family was informed by the local authorities to pull down the tent and move away from the side-walk. He sobbed, “My mother then moved to another location where she rented a very small and old cottage. My mother really encourages me to focus on studies, but I was a poor student and could not study.  I ignored my studies and helped my mother to do housework.”

In 2009, Ravit became a Bamboo Shoot Street Children Center’s child; he enjoys studying with all his friends at the center. Ravit is studying hard with his commitment; he said, “I really want to see my family’s living conditions get better, and I try to study hard to have a bright future. I have a dream to become a good teacher to educate others and I think I can earn and help my mother. I won’t give my mother troubles.”

At the Bamboo Shoot Street Children Center, Ravit is recognized as a child who has gone through the most transformation at the center. Ravit also confessed himself, “I was a bad child, and I used to say bad and insulting words with other children or friends. I didn’t read book during my free time, and I didn’t help my mother to sell salted dried-shells. I didn’t wash clothes. Now I have learned to respect and value elders and my friends and can greet people with polite words.” Grinned Ravit, “I greet my mother when she visits me at the center, and she said I have changed a lots, especially my manners. This makes me really happy and I am committed to be a good son, a good friend, and a good person.”

Ravit’s life at the Bamboo Shoot Street Children Center has changed him.  He learns to be more friendly and mild towards others. He grinned, “I always get good advice to be polite, study hard, and be helpful. I wash dishes, wash clothes, clean rooms, and help bathe younger children in the center. I have time to play basketball, volleyball with my friends in the center, and read books with them. We love each other as siblings. I feel refreshed and I really miss my mother. I want to help her to have a better life in the future.”

Ravit has a close friend who always plays and read books with him, Sopho who is thirteen.  Sophor said,  “My family is also poor like Ravit’s, we are neighbors. Now, we always study and play at the center together. I see Ravit has changed alot, he is now polite and helpful. Before, he was a rude boy and acted like a gangster.”

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