• Society

Factory Worker Follows Dream to Career in Law

• By Teng Yalirozy
• July 17, 2023 9:46 AM

PHNOM PENH – “If you think you can do it, you can” is a saying rural girl and former factory worker Nai Sokmeng lives by.

Sokmeng, who once dared not to dream big, has grasped the power of education to become a lawyer.

She is now spurring young girls not to give up on education to transform their lives.

Sokmeng once dreamed of being a teacher, a typical occupation for people in her village. As the first daughter in a not-well-off family of six, her chance of getting further education was uncertain.

“After graduation, I took a national secondary teacher's examination, but failed,” she said.

“I did not know what I should do next, so I came to Phnom Penh to work in the factory but I did not like the working environment.”

After a year in the city as a factory worker, Sokmeng returned to her hometown, having in mind to take another national teacher’s exam. If she failed, she would turn to farming and selling food on the street.

“I thought that I should be working at that age to help my family,” she said. “I was not thinking of pursuing further education. The question was whether my parents could afford the tuition fees and daily expenses.”

Nai Sokmeng with her family in front of their house in Kampong Cham province. Photo: CLEW

Grab the opportunity and see what the future will hold

Since primary school, Sokmeng has been supported by Kampuchea Action to Promote Education (KAPE), a local NGO working to provide quality education in Cambodia.

She recalled that when she felt hopeless in her hometown, planning to farm and sell food, KAPE came to her home and offered her an opportunity to pursue legal education with a full scholarship from Cambodia Legal Education for Women (CLEW).

“I turned it down because I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I gave up the opportunity and I was preparing for a national kindergarten teacher's examination.

“I was not confident, and I was questioning whether I could study law and become anything after the study.”

Sokmeng almost lost the opportunity. Someone else was offered the scholarship but later turned it down and Sokmeng got the chance again.

“I thought I would not lose anything from studying with the full support,” she said. “So, I accepted and came back to the city.”

She started studying for a bachelor’s degree in law at the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) in 2014 and graduated in 2018. During this, she also won a scholarship from Raoul Wallenberg Institute to pursue a three-year English Language Based Bachelor of Law Program in 2017.

Sokmeng now works with a Phnom Penh law firm, achieving this milestone in 2022.

Ken Rathana, a dormitory manager at CLEW, said that CLEW has been around since 2008, having helped more than 100 women in Cambodia to pursue legal education. Five or six women in remote areas and in provinces are selected every year for the four-year scholarship to study law at the universty.

CLEW is supported by lawyers in Canada, aiming at empowering women who have poor living conditions in Cambodia to pursue higher education.

The organization screens candidates through partner organizations. The CLEW team visits the candidates and interviews them about their living conditions and their ambition for a change for the better, Rathana said.

She has known Sokmeng since she was awarded the scholarship and says she is hardworking. She wanted a better life but she just did not know the path to walk. She could not afford further education because she was from a poor farming family.

Rathana was proud that six alumni had become lawyers while two were working as clerks of the court. Other alumni have landed positions in the government and private sectors.

“I want to tell young girls that they should never give up on education,” said Rathana. “Study hard and always seek an opportunity.”

Also an alumni, Rathana earned a master’s degree in law from Sweden.

Ken Rathana, a dormitory manager at CLEW, who earned a master’s degree in law from Sweden. Photo provided

The bumpy mentality along the journey

Leaving the rural soil to pursue an unknown future in the big city alone was challenging yet gratifying.

In the first three of university, Sokmeng was studied English language in the morning and law in the afternoon, while she also learned how to use computers in the interval time. With her old bike, Sokmeng repeated the routine until she obtained the English course completion certificate in 2017 and embarked on her new law course.

“I wanted to give up occasionally because the thought of ‘I was not rich and pretty enough’ was circulating inside me,” she said.

 “I developed depression. I read 10 books to lift my spirit again. I received encouragement from surrounding people. I also watched DJ Nana’s video.”

Sokmeng eventually saw that being born in a poor household should not be an embarrassment but a source of pride that individuals from destitute families can participate at their full capacity in society.

“There is nothing that you cannot do if you have your goal,” she said. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”