VUTHEA
I come from a huge family of 14 kids. Even when I was quite young, my dad was retired while my mum was a nurse. Most of my siblings did not stay at our home because they were older than me and had to go out to find money. My family was very poor. Sometimes we would have to eat plain rice alone with nothing else. At other times, we do not have enough rice so we would make a type of porridge and have to go out into the fields to find wild vegetables, berries, herbs, and leaves to cook and eat. Everyday things like salt, sugar, and oil were economically beyond us. We seldom ever had breakfast.
At school, I had one book for several subjects. One side of the book was for Khmer language, while the other side was for all of the other subjects. My teacher would often scold my sister and I because we did not even have a pencil. After school, I worked for my neighbour making rice white wine. I was responsible for the yeast that went into the wine. I remember this well because my hands would burn and my skin would peel off.
Have you seen Asian children who walk around city streets with a big bag collecting empty bottles, plastic containers, and aluminum cans to sell? Well, sometimes I was one of the kids. I also collected a certain type of fruit that some farmers would buy from me to feed their cows. I would try to earn as much as I could and give it to my mom and tell her to buy schoolbooks for me. Someone in my family used to beat me - it was like a leisure activity for them. Perhaps I was a target to release their stress and anger on. I would be beaten with motorbike chains, big sticks, and electric wire. Sometimes my head would be crushed between their legs. To this day, I still do not really know why this happened, but it was not fun. On top of this, I was also sexually abused by someone outside of our family.
When I was 8 or 9 years old, my parents allowed 10 extra people to come to live with us. Things just seemed to go from bad to worse. There was so much noise and no privacy, plus some of them were quite rude. As for food, it is difficult to express how my siblings and I felt. We became malnourished. I wanted to escape my home, I would always leave home before midday and return only at night. Sometimes I felt so sad that I just wanted to commit suicide. Even though I did not know anything about God, I would pray that I could live In Phnom Penh to continue my studies. But I did not know how this could be possible. These were just the dreams of a kid! But fortunately, GOD answered my prayers.
My mum knew Pastor Kasol; it was he who invited me to live at Empower Asia’s Joshua House. This place was good for me to learn everything new; a new family, new relationships, a new school, new friends, new brothers, a new environment, and new knowledge. I adjusted quickly to living there. At the house, we loved each other and helped each other. We also learned to have responsibility and accountability. For studying, I was so happy that I had an opportunity to learn English, computer (I was so happy because it was my first time touching a computer), play guitar, and piano. Plus, now I had enough money to go to school, and I had two nice school uniforms each year, plus a bag, new books, and school supplies… I am so blessed to have been in Joshua House.
Empower Asia continued to support me from my first day at Joshua House until I graduated high school and right until I completed my medical degree. I would train at a hospital in the morning and then study all afternoon, then work at night until 1 am (sometimes up until 4 am). After my three years at a specialist school, I received a scholarship for an internship in plastic and maxillofacial surgery at a hospital in Caen, France. I had to learn French and I worked at a private clinic there which was just around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe.
So, hello everyone, I am Dr. Seng Thavuthea. I am a maxillofacial surgeon, plastic surgeon, and general surgeon. I have two clinics in Phnom Penh where I work. As well, I am the president of a not-for-profit that works to develop medical students’ skills and helps to both treat, and carry out health check-ups on poor people in need within Cambodia. Also, I am the founder of Charming Association which helps in the area of education and health.
I hope that you can continue to help in the same way that Empower Asia has helped me. I am blessed and I want to share these blessings to other people around me.
I pray that I can become stronger for my future. I love Empower Asia. I still want to join and help to develop my country.