A Change of Guard

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Friday 12 October 2012

Education for girls in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, 12 October 2012 (Cambodia Herald)- By her own admission, Len’ Leng was an unusual child. Born to poor and ill-educated rice farmers in Kampong Cham province in south-east Cambodia, Len’ (pronounced “Line’) now 20, had to fight to be allowed to stay in school.
Her battle began after she finished six years of primary education at the rundown school in Ponleak village. The secondary school was a two-kilometer bicycle ride away, and her parents feared she would be attacked on her daily journey. They told her to stay home and help her mother with domestic chores.
But Len’, an excellent student, loved studying. Besides, school provided a refuge from an unhappy home life. A sympathetic uncle stepped in and persuaded her parents to let her continue studying.
By the time Len’ finished high school in 2010 she had volunteered for several years in her village as a youth counselor for UK-based child rights group Plan International. Her decision to volunteer sparked further conflict with her parents. They felt a teenager – a female at that – had no place lecturing villagers on child rights.

“When you go against your parents, you are not (considered) a good daughter,” Len’ says, explaining that the conservative Chbap Srei – the moral code for women- regulates the behavior of girls and women.
Prior to marriage, the most important man in a girl’s life is her father, whose word is law, and she is expected to take care of her siblings and help her mother. After marriage, a woman must obey her husband and keep house.
“My dream is to be a correspondent for BBC or CNN,” she says.
Back in Ponleak village, where attitudes are changing, Len’ is now a role model. More villagers want their children to work in air-conditioned offices rather than the fields, to use their brains not their muscles.
But a more conservative attitude prevails elsewhere, and though the position of Cambodian women improved in recent years they still lag men in most respects. Still the energetic volunteer, Len’ continues pushing women’s and children’s rights. She meets regularly with schoolgirls and tells them to stay in school, to volunteer and to choose their futures. Her message: You have the right to set your own goal.
Although her parents now support her, Len’ admits this ongoing whirlwind of action in a land of few female role models does not endear her to everyone.
“Some people think I am crazy, but I don’t care,” she says, undeterred. “I want to achieve what I can with my life.”

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