The stories of Cambodians.

This is a written entry of an experience, which I believe I will never forget for the rest of my life. It is also at this point when I was granted entry to some of the Cambodians' livelihood, their ambitions and their attitude through their stories.

It significantly changed some of my views and my take in life.

Please note that the stories you will read are entirely non-fictional and non-fabricated, and that it is written from what my memory serves me.

1. Dreams are kept alive if you believe in them.

The person in striped shirt (Let's call him Phun.) is a tuk-tuk driver who drives tourists around Siem Reap. He also works in our guesthouse, Home Sweet Home.

Phun told me of his background, and the things about Cambodia. His parents are farmers who live in the countryside, and he says that the farmers are very poor people who cannot take a break to go elsewhere because they simply have no time to do so.

He wants to earn lots of money and doesn't want to be under control of anyone. With the gift of the gab, and a good command of English, I believe he can go far.

Sar, (the one in the foreground) is currently studying at Southeast Asia University in Siem Reap. A promising singer who got in second for the national singing competition, he had performed in national television before! He could have gotten further with his singing career, if not for some restrictions that he have to study in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Aside from the picture above, there was this Cambodian girl in the Boys Brigade Learning Centre (BBLC) asking my teacher-in-charge, Ms Beulah about some matters. Apparently, she has the ambition of being a doctor and consulted Ms Beulah, who has been in the healthcare sector for 27 years.

The guy above, (Let's call him Kun) comes from a small province near Phnom Penh. Unable to find a job in his province, he tried his luck to find a job in Siem Reap, which he landed one in Home Sweet Home.

At the age of 24, he has worked for Home Sweet Home for 2 years, the same amount of years which he hasn't returned home.

When I asked Kun whether he misses home, he says he does but he cannot go back because he needs to make a living.

2. In the midst of darkness, there's light.

This kind old lady who cooks for us lunch during weekdays have an untold history behind her. On the surface, she looks like any of the Cambodian people that we meet. But I never expected something coming from her family:

All of her 17 family members are killed in the Khmer Rouge, and she and her brother were the only ones alive.

Khmer Rouge happened in 1975, whereby it destroyed every single aspect of the Cambodians, and killed 1.5 million people.

Her brother, who found faith in Christianity wrote two books about the Khmer Rouge and forgiveness. He managed to track down one of his family members' killers recently, befriended him and gave him a garland and a bible. He forgave him.

Before his confrontation with the killer, he had went to find his sister (the one who cooks for us) to tell her about it. She was afraid that her brother could be killed during the confrontation. But thankfully nothing happened.

The old lady's daughter often goes to the Boys Brigade Learning Centre (BBLC) to learn more stuff everyday.

This guy, (let's call him Khan) is a bartender that I met in Island Bar which was located at the Night Market.

He's only 22 years old, and has a wife and a 2 year old daughter and comes from a province near Phnom Penh.

A very hardworking young man, he came to Island Bar to learn more about juggling and those fancy tricks that bartenders usually do. He also learns English and do some magic tricks, which I'm so impressed with.

Initially, his wife and daughter came to Siem Reap to look for him, but later returned back to their province because his pay wasn't enough.

His meagre pay is only a mere US$100 (SGD$140) per month.

This is despite working for a few years already. When he was a trainee, he earned like US$15, US$30 per month.

He needs to pay his room rental of US$50 per month, and he's only left with US$50 to survive. He could barely make it and there wasn't any savings at all. I don't know how he can survive with so little money, given that he still got his wife and his daughter to feed.

When I told Khan I was from Singapore and that I told him to save up to come to Singapore and make a living, he said something which I could never forget for the rest of my life. I never felt such a sentence so impactful:

"James, I think even if I work all the way until I die, I will never be able to come to Singapore."

And now, he could only hope that as he learn more stuff, his pay will increase as time goes by.

Even as I finish typing this, I'm feeling very emotional right now. The sight, the tone, the words the eyes and most importantly, the experience is still ringing fresh in my mind. It felt so surreal.

These stories, these livelihood, these people made me feel so ashamed of myself.

Some of these peoples' family members have been killed.

Some of these people struggle to make ends meet.

Some of these people have ridiculously low pay.

I used to be one of those people whom complained about Singapore's hot weather, how terrible Singapore is, how restricted Singapore can be, and most regrettably, complaining about where I came from.

And to think that I have a complete family, where struggling to make ends meet is nothing compared to them, and I can easily get more pay than them.

I feel so ashamed of myself. What was I even thinking? I made a promise to myself, which is to visit them and help them when I have the money.

I knew the spelling of the word f-o-r-t-u-n-a-t-e and t-r-e-a-s-u-r-e.

Now, I finally know the definition of these words in my dictionary.