“I want to be a scientist. But as a girl, how could I do it? This is a question my friends and relatives ask me. Regardless of what people think, I will make it happen. I will show my parents and my friends that a ‘village girl’ can do it,” said Sichean*.
Sichean is a 15-year-old student at Bosbov Secondary School. Despite growing up in a small rural village, her ambition to become a scientist raised a few eyebrows in her commune of Bosbov.
In 2022, Samaritan’s Purse implemented STARTING STEM at Sichean’s school. The program began with a career orientation day for students to develop their aspirations, learn about their own capacities, and plan their futures. STARTING STEM focuses on activity-based learning, empowering students to apply their knowledge in day-to-day life.
To facilitate this, a laboratory room was supplied, filled with experiment materials, robotics, and textbooks. Furthermore, student clubs were set up to boost learning among students.
From day one, Sichean embraced all STEM activities hosted by her school, joining the science and robotics clubs, and immersing herself in the science experiments during lab-tech classes.
“I love robots, so I joined the club and learned about them. I feel more confident that I can be a great scientist in the future.
It’s always great to join any STEM activity. It’s what I love. We learn, we experiment, we see things in real-time, it’s exciting!”
“I am happy to come to this school, otherwise I couldn’t have learned all this. I’m extremely busy, but it makes me happy to participate in all the clubs and experiments.
My friends and relatives sometimes tease me when I say that I want to be a scientist, they laugh at me because I am a ‘village girl’, and sometimes I feel frustrated. Thank you, Samaritan’s Purse, for helping my school and giving me the confidence that I can be what I want. I will try my best to show others that a ‘village girl’ can do this as long as I am committed!”said Sichean.
*Names changed for security reasons.
Thank you for journeying with us as we reflect in our 2022 Impact Report on the BIG IMPACT your support made possible.
In this report you’ll see updates from all of our projects, including Operation Christmas Child and our International and Australian Disaster Response teams. We hope and pray that you will continue walking with us on this journey through 2023 and beyond.