My name is Chamrom. I am 34 years old, from Rohal Village, between Siem Reap and Svay Sisophon in Cambodia. It’s a big village but very poor. People in the village grow rice, keep cows and grow vegetables. I have three sisters one of whom is my twin and two brothers. When I was 6, my father died after a four-year illness. My mother just worked at home or went to the rice field. She didn’t travel and couldn’t really understand why anyone would want to leave the village. I went to Rohal Primary School. When I was 12 I decided I wanted a different life, to go to university and have a good job. This was my dream … but how to do it? We had no money, only what came from selling vegetables.
At that time, primary education in Cambodia was not very good so I decided I needed extra classes to achieve my dream but how to pay for them? I had daily chores at home: caring for the cow, working in the rice field, cleaning the house, all for free but I did many other jobs to earn money for extra classes in Khmer, Maths and English. I sold the food meant for my lunch to other students, just to earn money and I even washed my brother’s clothes to earn an extra $5!
When I got to grade 8, about 14 years old, my mother said, “you will leave school and go to Thailand and work to help the family”. I said “No, I want to study and continue with my classes.” I had no money for books or a bike to get to school so I shared with my friend. For three years I had only one set of uniform which I washed every night. And still my mother tried to force me to leave school. It was really hard to say no to my mother.
By age 16, I was in High School, leaving home at 5.30am to be in school by 6am. Twelve hours later I was home, still with chores to do before going out at night to earn money by catching grasshoppers to sell at the market. This was really dangerous because normally it was only boys who did this, anything could have happened to me.
But then…… my English teacher from Primary School got a job at the student hostel run by the Catholic Church in nearby Svay Sisophon. This teacher knew about my dream. “Why don’t you try to come here?” she said. “They will look after you and help you”. So, the Parish Priest, Father Kyung Yong, visited my mother to ask permission. But my mother was not happy. She is Buddhist. She did not trust the ‘Jesus religion’ – it had a bad reputation. But I said, I’m not interested in religion, I need to study and this is my chance.
I passed the tests, and was offered a place at the hostel but I was worried. The hostel was quite strict, with a lot of rules, very different from home, where there were no rules. But it was ok and I went to live there. This meant I had to change to a different high school. I had to do this all on my own. My mother refused to come to the opening of the school year, so my brother-in-law came instead. And Father Kyung Yong was kind and helped me a lot over the next few years.
In 2011 I finished High School and had to decide what to do next. By now Father Rajat was Parish Priest of Svay Sisophon and he told me, “Follow your dream Chamrom, do what you really want to do, even if it seems impossible”. I told him, “I want to be a doctor. My father died because there was no doctor. I want to be a doctor and help my village and my people. But it’s very expensive and very long training”.
Fr Rajat contacted John Bolger from the Sacred Heart Parish, North Walsham, East Anglia in the UK who I met when he visited on a twinning visit, to ask if he would help. I passed the scholarship exam and John and his wife Hilary offered to sponsor my training. I owe them a lot.
On my first day at medical school, I found myself in the company of students from privileged families who looked down on me because I spoke differently, and was from a different background. They had new equipment including mopeds to cover the 10 miles between university and hospital, but for the first 3 years I only had a push bike.
Even on the day of the final exam, my lack of resources caused me a problem: the exam time was changed, but I had no mobile phone and so missed the exam. Fortunately, I was allowed to resit.
And finally, in 2019 after 8 years, fully qualified, I was Doctor Chamrom.
I became a Catholic at Easter 2012 at Svay Sisophon Church.
While still at medical school, I had been volunteering at a small Health Centre run by the Catholic Church in Battambang. Now I was qualified, Bishop Kike Figaredo SJ offered me a fulltime job there.
“Please come” he said, “just for one year.” I was not at all sure this was the right thing to do, but I agreed….. just for one year. And now, 6 years later, I’m still there, as Manager of the Centre.
After all I went through to achieve my dream, you may ask… why I didn’t take a big job with lots of money in a government hospital?
It’s because the Catholic Church believed in me and gave me a chance to follow my dream…… and I want to give something back…., to say ‘thank you’.
