At the first meeting, Sokha Pich comes across as a reserved student who might prefer to stay in the background and not in the spotlight.
It doesn’t take long in the 15-year-old’s company to realise that she’s far from the wallflower who holds herself back.
Pich - as she’s known to friends - is a little dynamo who excels in and out of the classroom, on the sports field, and in extracurricular activities, ranging from robotics to football.
This multi-talented Year 9 Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF) student is already making a name for herself as one to watch in the future.
Last year, she won a bronze medal at a national math competition. While most would be happy to medal, she was disappointed that it was only the ‘brown one’.
She was delighted to win a No.1 Student award and “The Most Inspirational Young Leader Award”, which she was excited to receive from Scott Neeson, Founder of CCF.
In 2023, she was ranked first in her class for five months running and for the first-semester exam.
Pich also shines in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), enjoying coding and robotics, and was a member of the student newsletter team, designing and writing an article.
She also met the King of Cambodia when he visited the Neeson Cripps Academy (NCA) in May last year for CCF’s 20th celebrations.
Football has helped me a lot. I am more confident than before.
This month (January), Pich is off to Bangkok to compete in an international football tournament, travel abroad, and go on an aeroplane for the first time.
She had to get a passport after hearing she’d been selected for the team with Happy Football Cambodia Australia (HFCA), CCF’s partner.
“Football has helped me a lot. It has made me healthy and strong, and I am more confident than before. It also releases my stress. It’s important for girls to play sports and you can learn a lot from football, like teamwork and communication'' says Pich, who plays in defence.
”In my family, no one has ever travelled abroad. They are very proud of me for getting this chance.”
Pich is also in the running to win a CCF photography competition, ’STEM In My Life’. Her stunning photo captured the shape of jellyfish formed from sparks while welding.
“I’ve never been to the sea. I would like to go with my family, because they have never been too, and see a real jellyfish in the ocean.”
Pich’s mother had a very different childhood to her daughter. From a young age, she had to scavenge for resalable items from the Steung Meanchey dumpsite with her brother to help feed her family.
Scavenging one day, a large metal sheet fell and injured her leg, and she had to stop working on the dump. At the age of 15, she began working in a factory.
Pich’s mother worked hard to make sure her daughter could attend public school. She was not learning English or able to access a computer.
Joining CCF in 2022 opened Pich up to new opportunities and a new beginning. She received study materials and a uniform, rice for the family, and free healthcare. Her performances in class earned her awards and notice.
Pich’s favourite subjects are maths - she likes solving problems - and English.
She also finds the time to do her volunteer work in our communities, visiting one of our grannies.
While she is shy at first with new people, she soon opens up and her confidence shines through.
A girl is part of the world and she can do anything she wants
“I want to be a professional footballer or a doctor when I’m older,” says Pich, who lives with her mother, grandparents and half-brother in Steung Meanchey.
“My mum is strong and I want to be strong like her. A girl is part of the world and she can do anything she wants. She can play football,she can learn about science and technology, she can be strong and she can be kind. She can be everything.”
