“We are supposed to love each other and lift each other up.”
Sreynou, a warm, joyful, and curious 9th grade student at New Hope School in Cambodia, shared these words with us last month as we sat down together to learn her story. Over the course of our short time together, two things became clear: She loves Jesus and longs to see her community grow.
Sreynou accepted Christ in 2019 while learning Bible stories from her teacher at New Hope. Her teacher helped her to understand who Jesus is and what He did for her. When talking to her about her faith, she shared that her favorite Bible verse is John 3:16. She summarized the impact of this verse in her life in the following way, “God loves me no matter how good or bad I am. He still loves me and lets me know it. God loves me despite my family situation and poverty.”
The rural community surrounding New Hope School consists of hundreds of families who rely on small-scale farming to sustain their families. Over the last several years, more and more parents have been forced to look outside of the community for viable work. Many parents, approximately 60% according to the team at New Hope, leave their children at home with grandparents or aunts, and migrate to Thailand for work so that they can send money and resources back to their families.
Sreynou is all too familiar with this scenario. Her mother has lived it out first hand and Sreynou longs for her family to be together. She longs to spend more time with her mom. She longs to see job opportunities increase in her community so that parents don’t have to leave. She longs to watch her community grow.
When Sreynou grows up, she wants to become a teacher. Her experience at New Hope has helped to shape this dream. “Before attending New Hope for English class, I didn’t focus on school and had bad behavior.” How’s that for humbly admitting your shortcomings?! “New Hope [and my faith in Jesus] has helped me focus more on school and helped me stop using bad words.”
As Sreynou continues to live into the story she was created to tell, we will be cheering her on as she strives to love others and lift people up. We believe that our students, the next generation, can flip the script and write a new story for their families. As members of the One 17 family, you help us empower our partners and students to do just that!