Meet our amazing staff
At Flame we believe that it is not just what we are doing but who does it that is important. Many of our staff have already traveled the same journey that our clients are on. Who better to lead the way?
INTRODUCING: Thai Seagnmey
WHAT IS YOUR JOB WITH FLAME?
My name is Seangmey, I heard about Flame and applied to be a teacher there for the kids in the After-School Program at Sen Sok and I got the job! Now I get $220 per month and I send $100 to my mother. I stay with my friends family and they accept and love me. They are Christians and they help me a lot.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED FOR FLAME?
Two years
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
I love painting with the children, its really enjoyable and the kids always ask me to paint with them.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
I love to read and do some singing.
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND/HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING FOR FLAME?
I’m the 3rd of 4 children and when I was young it was really difficult. My father is a buyer of plants and vegetables to sell to others. He keeps all the money for himself and never gives any money to my mum. He would often be drunk and he gambled a lot. Often he would gamble with our possessions and even our house. My father borrowed a lot of money from a bank to start a business but he gambled all of that also. He used the house title deeds to borrow the money and then he had no money to pay the instalments so my mother had to try and find extra money to make the payments. After 3 years of very hard times for us the bank loan is finally paid off but we have nothing to show for it.
My mother had to sell clothes in the market to have money for food for us kids and because she didn’t have enough money, she also took some loans from the informal money lenders and that added and extra big financial problem to my family.
My sister tried to help my family by stopping her study at Grade 7 so she could go to work in a factory and she is still there today. She is now 23 years old and her life is set on that path now. I feel so sorry for her. My oldest brother studied until Grade 12 but my Dad never paid anything for our study, he kept it all for himself. When my oldest brother started at University, we had a motorbike but my father sold that in a gambling game so my brother didn’t have any transport to get to University.
My mother’s sister knew of an organisation that could help us by taking myself and my youngest brother to live there. It was called the “Somroung Children’s Farm” and I stayed there and studied from Grade 9 until Grade 12. My brother is in Grade 11 and he is still there. I was a very good student and the manager of the Somroung Children’s Farm chose me to be a teacher of the other kids in the organisation. During my Grade 12 year I tutored other Grade 12 students. I know I am clever but I am also very disciplined and I work hard at my study so I know that I have the ability to study medicine and do well.
On the day that I sat my grade 12 exam my father came to the school to encourage me to do my best in the exam. I asked him where my mother was and he told me that she was dizzy so she stayed at home. After my exam I found out that actually she was in the hospital for a kidney stone operation. My Dad sold our family motorbike to pay for my mother’s operation, but my father hid this information from me so that I wouldn’t worry during my exam. I passed my Grade 12 exam with a B grade
I won a scholarship to study Biology but I gave it up because my family really needs the money and I need to support them. I hoped that I could just take one year off and then try to find a way to study after I had helped my family a bit. I stayed with my Uncle in PP and I got a job teaching English at a private school and my salary was $110 per month and I gave my mother $50 of that each month so she could buy food and goods to sell to make money. I also pay some to help my youngest brother. My workplace was far away from my house and because I thought that my family’s problem was not as bad as before, I tried to find a different job that was closer.
During my year off while I have been working with Flame, I can see that the poor kids need a doctor more than another teacher so I have decided now that I want to study general medicine and I will decide later if I need to specialise. I used to live in the countryside and there are many people who don’t have enough money and it’s very hard for them to have medical care. One day when I was in the countryside I saw a team of doctors who were running clinics for poor people. They were from the church and on a mission and when I saw that I knew that I wanted to be like them.
I really want to help the kids in the province. They have no medical help. My big dream is to be a doctor and to work with the church or organisations to run health clinics for the very poor in the countryside. I need to sit an exam to see if I can pass to get into Medical school. It will be hard because I have had 1 year away from school and studying, but I will study very hard between now and the exam to review all my Grade 12 lessons and I am confident I can pass.
I am so excited to think that Flame might help me to study medicine but I am worried about my mother. For the first year, I will need to focus on my study but after that maybe I can get a part-time job and keep helping her with some of my salary.
WHAT MESSAGE OR ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE?
This is my favourite bible verse:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding