Bhunta

Bhunta is 15 years old and lives with her 2 brothers, sister, mother, father and grandma in Kporp Krowm. This is a village on the banks of the Tonle Sap river about an hour from Phnom Penh. The village means Lower Little Island in English, and is situated on an island that must be reached by a ferry from the mainland. When we visited we had to drive our 4 wheel drive onto two canoes shackled together and powered by an outboard motor!

Bhunta’s mother and father grow rice but just for the family to eat, there isn’t enough left over to sell. Her dad works as a hired labourer and her mum hand sews sequins onto clothes to bring in some money for the family.

I asked Bhunta if she had received anything from edukid last year. She said she had been given a bag, lots of books, some pens and pencils, a pencil sharpener, shoes, a uniform and a ruler. She said she was very, very happy as she had never received anything like it before. “It really made me want to study more” she said! At school Bhunta likes learning English but doesn’t like maths, her brothers like learning Khmai (Cambodian) best. She can already read a little English and likes to look at English books at home if she has spare time.

At home Bhunta gets up around 4 or 5 in the morning to help around the house: cooking the rice and sweeping the floor. Her brothers get a lie in to around 6am! School starts at 7 until lunch time after which she goes to Ming Rua (Aunty Ruth)’s house for extra lessons and some games.

Back