A Discussion with Sun Arm, Coordinator, Anatha Project, Arrupe Center, Battambang, Cambodia

With: Sun Arm Berkley Center Profile

May 28, 2013

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, undergraduate student Annie Dale interviewed Sun Arm, coordinator of the Anatha Project at the Arrupe Center in Battambang, Cambodia, in summer 2013. In this interview Arm discusses the work of the Anatha Project, the program's greatest challenges, and why she enjoys her work.
What’s your title? What is your job?  

I am the coordinator for Anatha Project.    

And what does the Anatha Project do?    

The Anatha Project focuses on giving out scholarships. We focus on children that have nobody else to take care of them and help them go to school. We focus on the street children. A lot the time, these children live with people other than their parents. Most of the parents don’t take care of them because they’re divorced, they abandoned the children, or they don’t have the money to take care of them. They don’t care for them. Another program we do, in addition to our main project of giving scholarships, is a house-building program, which focuses on the families already in our program.    

And how many families do you work with?    

In the beginning of the year, we had 300 families. Some of them move around or leave, mainly for the Thai border, so now we have around 284.      

And the other families drop because they don’t want the help anymore?    

Most of the families that leave do so because they need money. They want to work to earn money to support themselves and their family. They want to leave for Thailand. Some of them they get married; they’re still young, but they get married. Last year we had around ten kids get married.    

So what kind of scholarships do you give?    

We supply all of the materials they need to study. We even supply them with clothes, like their uniform, and shoes. We support their family, also. Many families get blankets, shampoo, soap, detergent, a water filter, and medicine. It depends on the season. We also still give them rice—about fifteen kilos per month.      

And that is so that they have enough money for the kids to go to school?    

No, we give all these materials because we don’t want the kids to go to work. That’s what changes for them. The families in our program usually have around five children. That’s why it’s not enough for them.    

So when you work with the family, do you only focus on one kid or do you try to get more than one to go to school?    

We focus on one kid—our kid—then we support him or her. We try to give advice for the other kids and work with the whole family. Even the parents come to us when they have a problem or need something. We feel like sometimes we are parents to the parents of the kid. If they have a problem, they come to discuss with us.    

So what do you do on a day-to-day basis? What is your work like?    
We visit the kid at school to check if they are attending regularly or not. We check to see if their grades are high enough to pass. And we also visit the family. We want to know the condition that they are living in.    

And are all the families living in Battambang?    

Some of them are far, and some of them are near. We work with four districts and have around thirty villages. For some villages, we have many kids and others have just a few. It depends on the situation that we see in the villages. We see that even though some families are poor, they are also lazy. In our program, we want them to improve when we help them. Most of the villagers are not lazy, but we check with the chief of the village to make sure the family we are giving to deserves the help. We pick the family based on their need and their character.    

So you give scholarships in the form of school materials and rice. You also have some kind of microfinance program.    

Yes, we provide microfinance to some families. In the beginning, we just start with $50, but some have increased to be about $300. We give most of them just $50 to start small businesses.    

What kind of businesses do they start?    

They usually start small, small business that are mostly related to women, such as selling cakes or fried noodles.    

So one form of microfinance is giving money to a family so they can start a business. Are there any other forms of microfinance you provide?    

Yes we have also five cows. The family takes care of the cow until it is grown, and they can sell it for money.    

You also have a microsavings program. Can you explain that to me?    

Our microsavings program is very small. Sometimes for one month they save just around one thousand reel. It’s very little. Many of the families do not want to keep the money themselves because they are afraid they will spend their savings. They want to keep it with us. When they have a lot of money, they can use it to buy something. For example, one family plans to build a house. If they don’t save with us, they will spend all of their money on gambling or when celebrating the Khmer New Year. With us, they know we will not let them have the money for that.  

And you also build houses for them?    

Yes.    

Do you actually build it, or do they build it?    

They build the houses. For our program, we give them all the materials so they can build their own house. We never give them money, though. We’d be afraid that they would use it in the wrong way. For the house, we give them all of the materials and they start the construction.    

And have there been any lazy families or families that don’t use the money correctly?    

There are many people like that. That is why we are afraid.    

And when you select the family, do you give them the help based on what they need or do you give each a set amount?    

Depends on their need.    

So you give more help to the poorer families? Or do you give equal to all?    

Equal.    

So if you had a family that was doing very well, you would still give them the same amount as the others?      

For the family that has a growing business, we will give them more. For one family, we may give them $50. If they are successful and their business is growing, we may give them up to $300.    

So as it gets bigger, you give more and more.    

If it’s not growing, we cannot give any more.    

How does doing the microfinance, etc. help the children?    

We give microcredit and microsavings to families that can’t survive without it. With our help, they can support their family and they are in a better situation than before. And most importantly, they can support the child’s studying. In Cambodia, even though the schools are public, there is still private teaching. For this, kids need to pay money. Our program will support the family so that the kid doesn’t need to work, but the family also needs to make money to support the child to pay for the extra classes.    

And if they didn’t have this help, would they keep the kids at home to work?    

When they have free time, they ask kids to work also. During holy days, some kids work all the time. Many children are forced to take care of their younger siblings at home.    

But if the family didn’t have the help that you give, would the kids have to stay home and work?    

Most of them.    

And are most of the families farmers?    

Most of them are. It depends on the area. Some other families are business owners, and in some villages, most of them are laborers. 

So you give them the money so they can pay for the private tuition and also so they do not have to work, correct? So what would you say is the biggest challenge for kids to be able to go to school? Is it an issue with money or that the schools are too far away? What would you say is the biggest challenge?    

For children in the town, they have problems with paying for extra classes. Most teachers in Cambodia will fail the kids that do not pay for private classes. They will pass all the others, those that do pay, even though they do not study as hard. For the children in rural areas, their schools are too far away. That’s why they drop school—especially the girls.    

Why is that?    

The parents are afraid their children are in danger because they have to walk very far to and from school.  

And how long do you support the kids? Do you support them all the way through high school? Through university?    

Right now, our program supports the children from primary to university. We now have three kids in university.    

But as soon as the kid decides to stop going to school, that’s when your help stops, correct? Or do you keep on helping the family?    

We stop. For our program, we support the kids’ study. If they stop, we cannot support them anymore.    

So what are some problems that you see during your work? What are some challenges or problems that come up?    

One problem is the children having difficulties adapting to their environment. When they pass from secondary school to high school, or even primary to secondary school, the children there are richer than in their villages. The poorer children usually did not get as good as an education as the richer kids. So when they come to study in high school or in secondary school, they cannot compare with each other. They lose the motivation to study.      

Do the parents give support to you and to the kids?    

Many families have violence. These families do not support their children. They do not care about their education. They want them to work and not to study.    

Why is that? Because they don’t understand?  

It is difficult. Some parents are jealous of the kid and sometimes they have arguments with the kids. They say, “Who was the person that gave birth to you, was it your school teacher, or was it me?”    

So the parents never got an education and they don’t want their kids to have one.      

It’s just a few families, not many.    

And after all the help that you give, does it equal the amount of work that the kid would be doing?    

It’s equal.    

Why did you want to work for Anatha?    

Yes, so before I started to work for Anatha, I didn’t like the very poor kids, the beggars, and the ones that were sniffing glue. I was asked to work with this program, but I said: “I don’t like them, so it’s useless for me to work with these kids.” It’s so funny right? But I met a few kids, and it changed my mind. Do you know why?  

Because you wanted to help.    

Yeah. In the beginning I didn’t want to work at all, but after I met a few of them, I thought, this is the right program I want to work with. And they told me they don’t want to beg for money from anyone. They are not proud of the life that they have. They are not proud that they don’t have an education. 
Opens in a new window