SYC Alumni (Cambodia) on Newspaper

SYC Alumnus in Japan

"I participated in Sun Burst Youth Camp in 2004. Recalling about SYC, I remember that at that time I was just only inactive girl, very shy, n keeping quiet most of the time. My expectation from SYC was only fun n traveling experience as I had never traveled abroad. More than I could say, throughout the whole program, experience I gained was greater than my expectation. Remarkably, I could make a change on myself, particularly, from inactive girl to proactive girl. All activities of the program unconsciously inspired me to be a leader of a team work, how to deal with upcoming challenges, especially cooperation of teamwork. After SYC, I found myself more active n sociable especially in intercultural communication. In additional, what was memorable moment of the program was cultural night when I could learn about culture of other participating countries through their dancing performance. Surprisingly, I could dig out my talent in performance, n my creativity which is hidden potential I have never recognized before. From my point of view, SYC has been significantly influent on youth life; not only did I gain friendship from other friends, but also the lesson learnt from team work. Since then, I am more inspired, enthusiastic, and interested in youth activities and intercultural communication.

Until 2006, I applied another Youth Program called Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program. After this program, I become more mature mentally and spiritually in term of leadership skill and youth role for social contribution. After SSEAYP, I become more interested and involved in youth volunteer activities actively. For instance, Sun Burst Youth Camping program in Shihanok Vill, organized by SYC Alumn, is one of the most memorable experiences. What I really like about the program is the activeness of youth, their creativities, mutual understanding and helpfulness.

From all experience I earn from participating in youth activities build up and broaden my perspective on youth roles for social development. Though my contribution I involved are all at low level and do not have great impact on social development, I felt positively that if youth are aware of their role and start to help society from small thing, sooner or later, a big change will happened for our society. From now on, I plan to be involved at higher level. To make this happen, I think the only way is to build my capacity at first. That is the reason why I apply for scholarship. It is my dream since I were at high school. I admit that for me, applying scholarship is time consuming process as I wait and try a few times to make myself ready. A lot of challenges come to me especially between my job and study. I find myself hard to get scholarship, but later, I build a strong commitment to myself that I must get scholarship. Since then, I put all my effort to prepare my study plan, and collect all information related to different kinds of scholarship that suit my ability. Eventually, my commitment and hard work provide a great achievement, which is my current scholarship. I believe everyone can achieve their dream too if they work hard and build enough commitment for it, like one proverb I always appreciate is “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” I hope this proverb can inspire youth to work hard for their future and country."

ASEAN STUDENTS’ INDIA TOUR 2009

Late March, 2009, Mr. Yi Longdy, Mr. Seng Pyseth, Mr. Sok Chamroeun, and Miss The Chanthida, members of the Sunburst Youth Camp Alumni Cambodia (SYCA), got a privileged opportunity being appointed by the Department of Youth of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports as four of the five Cambodian youth to go join in a 12-day tour in India—a programme financially supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of India to boost better understanding about culture, technology, and societies of India among ASEAN students.

Chamroeun (SYC'06), Thida (SYC'08), Longdy (SYC'06), Kanitha, and Pyseth (SYC'06)

It all started with 50 students from 10 ASEAN countries, after having been selected by people in authority in their respective countries, landing in Chennai, the fourth largest metropolitan area of India. Then, the 3^rd Visit of ASEAN Students in India officially began, to end 12 days later in New Delhi, the capital city of India, on April 2, 2009. In Chennai, the starting point of the 12-day visit, the students were given chance to get a glimpse of the advanced technology and of the massive development of the country with the second highest in population and with one of the biggest nations in its gross domestic product. They were introduced to places of various kinds, including the National Institute of Fashion Technology, one of the top institutes having produced many renowned people in the industry of fashion and design. The students also got chance to taste the rich culture of India through their visits to Dakshina Chitra, as well as the shore temple at Mahabalipuram UNESCO World Heritage site.

50 ASEAN Students in Chenai

Typical Indian Vegetarian Food

The 4^th day of the program was in another city, Hyderabad. Visits to the India Business School, the world-class graduate school of business in India, to ITEC City, the place where advanced technology and hi-tech management prevails, to the Confederation of India Industry Office of Green Business Centre, and to the Human Resource Development Centre, where trainings for civil servants of the government are officially provided, were made during the students’ stay in Hyderabad.

Meeting at the Human Resource Development Centre in Hyderabad

Tour around the campus of Indian School of Management

Next destination of the tour was set in the most important financial city of India, Mumbai. With a population of about 90 million people, Mumbai, also known as Bombay, is home to many big commercial enterprises, famous educational institutions, and top talents. Meetings with important people of the TATA International Ltd, the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd, and the Larsen & Toubro Ltd showed the students distinctly how tremendous and successful industries and businesses in India really are. They are huge, capable of managing, with impressive technology, a wide range of productions, producing from some of the cheapest cars in the world to hi-tech trains. Top schools, such as St. Xavier’s College, one of the top 5 colleges in India, and the Indian Institute of Technology, the top-ranking school of technology and engineering only after MIT, are also welcomingly introduced to and toured by the students.

Meeting at the Larsen & Toubro Ltd

Day 7 and day 8 of the program were all in the capital city of India, Delhi. With guides telling about various stories about this city, a great deal of time was spent in the bus going from places to places, from places such as Samtel Color Ltd and the National Rail Museum to places of cultural attraction and values such as the Gate of India, the biggest Mosque in Old Delhi, the tomb of Gandhi, the world heritage monument Humayun’s Tomb, and the Mena Tower. In addition to touring around tourist sites, one pivotal activity during the stay in Delhi was for the students from each ASEAN country to do a brief presentation about their own respective nations, the occasion in which Cambodian students won the 3^rd prize for best presentation of the night.

At the Gate of India


Performance and Presentation in New Delhi

At the Biggest Mosque in Delhi

The remaining days of the programme were mostly spent in the cities of Agra and Jaipur for the students to get better image of how rich India is in its culture having been preserved over its thousands-of-year history, which were made through special visits to some of the most amazing places and temples, such as the Fatehpur Sikri Royal Palace and Tomb of Sufi Saint Salim Chisti, Agra Fort, and, of course, the incredible Taj Mahal, one of the world’s most-recently voted 7 wonders. In Jaipur, the participants of the programme were also led to experience and get closer looks at, for instance, Indian dances, handcrafted products, saris, camel and elephant rides, just to name a few.

At Agra Fort in Agra



Right in front of the Taj Mahal, Agra

All in all, although sounding more or less like simple pay tour, the experience the students have received from the program has gone far beyond that purpose. Apart from everlasting memories and friendship nurtured and grown out of open interactions in all wonderful, fun and, once in a while, hard times, for people from developing countries like Cambodia, encountering with traces of development, from highly capable individuals to outstanding technologies, brought about fresh inspirations, not only for the participants themselves but also for other young Cambodians to whom the stories of the journey and the experience are shared. Such motivation—motivation to build and see the same or even better improvements in Cambodia—is one of the factors that are highly needed for the sustainable development of the current and future Cambodia.

And it ended with a memory to last a lifetime! :D