Before the sun rises over Phnom Penh, Saren is already awake.
At 4am, she begins her day — cooking over a wood fire, preparing meals for her five children and husband before heading to work. By evening, after a full day as a cleaner and caregiver at a kindergarten, she returns home to cook again.
It’s a routine she repeats every day.
Because for Saren, giving her children the chance to rewrite their futures would be the best possible gift she could give as a mother.
She left school in Grade 1. Her family was too poor, so she needed to work.
Today, Saren cannot read or write. She also lost two children as infants, unable to access proper medical care in her rural community.
Yet this remarkable mother has not only kept all her children in school, but helped them excel academically.
Two have just graduated from university, including son Mak Thong, who was very sick as a child. A third is currently in her second year, and the youngest two are on track to follow in their footsteps.
“I always advise my children to study hard,” says Saren. “Only education can change their lives.”
Today, all five of Saren’s children are in school — and thriving.
Two have just graduated from university. Another is in her second year. The youngest two are studying at Neeson Cripps Academy, the high school of Cambodian Children's Fund, both on track to follow the same path.
At the recent graduation ceremony, Saren watched as two of her children crossed the stage on the same night.
“I was happy and excited,” she says.
“I never imagined that two of my children would graduate from university.”
Without support, she knows their lives would have been very different.
“Without CCF, I can say 100% that none of them would have gone to university — or even school.”
Scott Neeson, CCF Founder and Executive Director,
I need to support myself to be strong as a mum — to motivate my children.”
Saren and her husband once struggled to survive — collecting bottles and plastic, working construction jobs, doing whatever they could to earn enough for food and medical care.
When they moved to Phnom Penh, three of her children became seriously ill. Paying for treatment felt impossible.
Everything changed when they found Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF).
Today, Saren works at CCF in one of the kindergartens, and all her children are supported through education and healthcare programs.
But she is clear — support alone is not enough.
“CCF supports my family, and I need to support myself to be strong as a mum — to motivate my children.”
In 2022, Saren was selected for the 'Wonderful Women Wall Cambodia', an art project celebrating strong female role models from the country's poorest communities. She was immortalized in paint alongside her eldest daughter, Narong.
We want to make our mum proud
The family of seven all live together in a CCF World Housing community.
The oldest and only boy, Mak Thong, 25, has just graduated from university and is now working as a designer with a local media company in Cambodia. He was seriously sick as a child and needed urgent intervention by CCF.
"He was in an awful state; he was in the corner of the room. I had to carry him out. It took him a while to walk," recalls Scott Neeson, CCF Founder and Executive Director.
He recovered well and thrived at school. He has just graduated from university and is now working as a designer for local media in Cambodia.
"We want to make our mum proud. She always encouraged us," says Mak Thong.
Sister Narong also shone in and out of the classroom after joining CCF.
And graduated at the same time as brother, Mak Thong, with a degree in Marketing. She now has a job in stock management.
Narin is in her second year at university, while her younger sisters, Sok Him and Thary, are in high school. Thary will travel to California in July to represent CCF and Cambodia at the 2026 Global Youth Leadership Summit (GYLS).
I don't want my children to be like me
All the sacrifices Saren has made and the things she has endured in the past, are worth it to see her children succeed and have the opportunities she didn't.
"I want all my children to have a good future. I don’t want them to be like me.”
She continues to push her younger children to stay in school and find a better life.
“I cannot rest now,” she says. “I need to push my children to graduate.”
Because for Saren, motherhood is not just about survival.
It’s about changing the future — for her children, and for generations to come.
