 |  | Besides helping bring hip hop culture to Cambodia, Tiny Toones and its founder Tuy Sobil (left), better known as Kay Kay, have won accolades for helping drug addicts and poor street kids transform their lives. -- PHOTO: AFP |
PHNOM PENH - A SLIM boy with curly hair spins on his head to hip hop music at a house down a crowded and dusty road in the Cambodian capital.
The dancer, 11-year-old Soeurn Nhanh, says he had a hopeless existence as a shoeshine boy until he discovered Cambodia's first and only breakdancing and hip hop school. 'When I grow up, I want to be a breakdancing teacher and earn money to support myself and my family,' he says, grinning.
Established a few years ago by a former US gang member deported after being convicted of armed robbery, the Tiny Toones centre also teaches disc jockey skills and rapping to nearly 400 children.
Besides helping bring hip hop culture to Cambodia, Tiny Toones and its founder Tuy Sobil, better known as Kay Kay, have won accolades for helping drug addicts and poor street kids transform their lives.
'Our doesn't judge where the kids come from. It doesn't matter whether it's the rich, poor, or orphans, sex workers or drug kids...we just make everybody equal here,' Kay Kay says.
'I'm happy to tell them that one day they will get better,' he adds.
The centre now also teaches English, Khmer and computers. Kay Kay, 32, brings lessons from his own life to the job. He is one of some 200 Cambodians ejected from the United States over the past several years under a law which deports felons who do not have American citizenship.
Kay Kay had never been back to Cambodia, which he left as a baby when his family emigrated to the US. His parents neglected to complete US citizenship documents when they arrived in California and after being jailed for armed robbery at 18 he was deported, leaving his family and young son behind.
When he arrived in Cambodia, Kay Kay seemed to leave his old life far behind, working as a counsellor for drug addicts. But in almost every way, Kay Kay is American.
He named his centre 'Tiny Toones' for the classic US children's cartoon programmes, and although his students mimic his baggy trousers and colourful over-sized t-shirts, he still draws attention around Phnom Penh.
'With tied-up long hair and a heavily-tattooed body, I get a bad impression from people. I might look like I'm very violent but I'm not,' Kay Kay says. -- AFP
Established a few years ago by a former US gang member deported after being convicted of armed robbery, the Tiny Toones centre also teaches disc jockey skills and rapping to nearly 400 children.
Besides helping bring hip hop culture to Cambodia, Tiny Toones and its founder Tuy Sobil, better known as Kay Kay, have won accolades for helping drug addicts and poor street kids transform their lives.
'Our doesn't judge where the kids come from. It doesn't matter whether it's the rich, poor, or orphans, sex workers or drug kids...we just make everybody equal here,' Kay Kay says.
'I'm happy to tell them that one day they will get better,' he adds.
The centre now also teaches English, Khmer and computers. Kay Kay, 32, brings lessons from his own life to the job. He is one of some 200 Cambodians ejected from the United States over the past several years under a law which deports felons who do not have American citizenship.
Kay Kay had never been back to Cambodia, which he left as a baby when his family emigrated to the US. His parents neglected to complete US citizenship documents when they arrived in California and after being jailed for armed robbery at 18 he was deported, leaving his family and young son behind.
When he arrived in Cambodia, Kay Kay seemed to leave his old life far behind, working as a counsellor for drug addicts. But in almost every way, Kay Kay is American.
He named his centre 'Tiny Toones' for the classic US children's cartoon programmes, and although his students mimic his baggy trousers and colourful over-sized t-shirts, he still draws attention around Phnom Penh.
'With tied-up long hair and a heavily-tattooed body, I get a bad impression from people. I might look like I'm very violent but I'm not,' Kay Kay says. -- AFP
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