Emmie started at the Goodwill Centre in 2009. She had just moved to the local area with her mother and heard about our evening classes. She began to study both English and Computers with us outside of her school hours. She also joined a short course during the weekends with us, studying conversation and the “future visions” scheme (involving practice interviews,  and writing CVs).

She studied with us for three years before successfully winning a place at Build Bright University to study Tourism. In order to fund her studies she  has worked a receptionist at an English School and currently is working as a tour consultant part time. She is now in her second year and continues to get fantastic results and is  a model student. She says that the Centre taught her many important skills which have helped her to achieve this.

Titya joined the Centre when he was 10 years old. He came regularly in the daytime to attend classes. His family were very poor, his mother was working (and continues to do so) as a fruit seller on the streets and beach, his father was a moto driver. As he advanced through school he started attending our evening classes, studying both English and computers for nearly 4 years. This education helped him immensely and he began working as a part-time English teacher to primary children and was able to use the money to help support his family. He now continues to teach part-time while training to become an electrician. We are very proud of what he has achieved.

Mong was born here in Sihanoukville and attended the Goodwill Centre until he was nine years old when he moved to Takeo province, returning when he was thirteen. His mother took up a job as a soup seller and his dad was a rock breaker. Mong returned to the Centre and with our additional support he reached secondary school. He then joined our evening adult classes doing English and IT. He won a place at university where he is currently studying English. While in his first year there he became involved in their football team and he volunteered to be our coach, teaching the children on Sundays, believing that learning football teaches children valuable life skills and keeps them away from trouble on the city streets. He is a fantastic coach and has worked wonders with our children. While doing this he works as a waiter in the evening to help support his family due to an unfortunate accident which paralysed his father and left him unable to work.  Through his experience of teaching football (the transport of which is now financed by Arsenal) he now has a paid coaching job, at another NGO in the area (though he continues to work voluntarily with our children on Sundays). We are so proud of everything he has achieved. His brother and cousin attend our Centre and we have high hopes for their futures too

A slightly unusual success story. The Goodwill Center is built on her land. Originally uneducated and unemployed Kolab began to come into the center to play with the younger kids or accompany her own son. She steadily became more involved, firstly becoming a paid cleaner and while doing that, learning from other staff members how to interact with children, lead activities and teach. She eventually moved into her role as a primary teacher, where she excels. She is also now manager of our soap project. She has grown massively in confidence and is now a fantastic example to other women in the area.