Writing- a source of self-expression

8 February 2015

By Sim Socheata

After more than a decade of engaging and benefiting from development work in Cambodia, I came under increasing pressure to find the answer to my own inquiry: What are you doing to contribute to helping your own country? Often I do not find many convincing reasons to my own questions and resort to writing a piece of article for my blog, either expressing my own self-posted questions to reveal an observation that have me feel frustrated and arrived at those questions.

Since the young age, I spent a great deal of time reading history books. My father, who has been a Khmer literature teacher all his life, had a lot of history books and the remarkable set that strive me is: The Documentation of the Great Khmer Men “Ekasa Mohaboros Khmer” volume 1-3. I remember reading those different volume since I was in grade 2, in fact as soon as I could spell the words, I like to read. Sometime I also spent my evening reading the many essays of Khmer Literature test of my father for I’ m so he could mark them. Those were probably the childhood influencing factors that have influence on my habit to enjoy reading especially novel and love story. I also began writing more when I start working. Of course, at high school I only scored well with a number of subject that have nothing to do with science and mathematics. My favourite high score at school was History, Geography, Khmer Literature, Frech (no I almost remember none of it), Biology, Philosophy.  When I went on to university, I took Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and remembered scoring top in Literature subject that even my literature teach once asked for a copy of my newspaper articles (an essay task) I scored top in that class for that generation.

The boat that housed a great deal of memories, laugh, joy and achievement. Creative message developed by a colleague, friend and sister, Pisey Ly.

The real school of nurturing my gradual improvement in my reading and writing skills was when I began the first research as the stepping stone for my professional career as a researcher. I lead team of volunteer to conduct a research looking at the reason why many people from the rural areas moved to Phnom Penh and began begging. Why did people, women, men, children leaving their home, villages, family and rice field to beg. Why, out of all the work that human being could do, one choose begging. The research as a small one that used the case study approach to present the human-face of beggar not in an attempt to defend the increasing number of beggars in the city but instead trying to understand the roots causes that pushes people out of their home and family to end us giving up the last human dignity and beg for money, for day-to-day survival, for repaying the debt owed to local moneylenders & micro finance institution back at home town. These are probably not the pretty stories a junior career researcher would like to commence her path to be a researcher but now that I am writing, reflecting on this experience, I feel grateful that there are those opportunity presented to me to document their stories, to learn to listen to the reasons why some people do certain things. The great lessons tell me not to apply any judgmental reason to a situation without first trying to understand the cause because if we don’t even once put ourselves in their situation, we should not draw a conclusion.

The organization that nurtured me and a number of other young Cambodian women to grow into a different persons in society no longer exists today. But the great many legacies that it has left behind means that so many fertile seeds continue to grow into a tree, a vegetable, a flowers, a garden of thinkers, writers, activists, considerate citizen in this society where there is a need for such persons. While some of us evolves and no longer stay under the same roof, we carry with us the fundamental principles required in life: we sought justice in our lives and we strive to bring equality to society.

I am probably rank last on my social and political activism as defined by many: street protest, outspoken during the forum or social media. It is maybe not the nature that I see myself evolve into and the quality inside me is not a fertile ground for that. I like writing, the type that does not set the limit as to where or how far my mind could stop. ‘Free writing’ concept influences me and the way I express my thinking. I like writing story of how people struggle, I like to help local right activist document their evidence so that they could use it to aid their local struggle, their advocacy. I like to bring the change made by a development project in the form of story that inspired, that move people, that give hope to the readers. For after each event, each program, each struggle, each protest, each revolution, what remains a great value to remember is the story, the process, the human face that have contributed, participated and helped paint those stories. 

From Siem Reap People Assembly June 2013