Girl Who Grew Up in Garbage Dump Earns Scholarship at University in Australia

Living in the garbage dump, working at a very young age to help earn money for her family, Sophy Ron’s future was bleak. But she recently graduated valedictorian and on her way to Australia to study on a scholarship she earned from the University of Melbourne! Wow.

Sophy Ron spent eight years of her childhood surrounded by garbage and toxic fumes while living in a notorious Cambodian rubbish dump nicknamed “Smoky Mountain”.

Her former home, the Steng Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh, has long been a symbol of the country’s poverty. Each day, thousands of people pick through the filth in the hope of finding edible food and recyclables to sell.

On a good day Ms Ron would earn 50 cents, enough for a few cups of rice to share with her parents and six siblings.

“I didn’t realise it was smelly, I didn’t realise it was dirty,” she said.

“I slept there, I ate there, I did everything there, so it became my home.”

Ms Ron said overwhelming debts left her family with no choice but to live at the dump site. The local school only offered a place to one child per family, so Ms Ron missed out on a chance to study. She said she followed her older sister to school and learned what she could by looking through the classroom windows.

From dumpsite to classroom

She was already 11 years old when the Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF) rescued her from the garbage dump and sent her to school. Though she was not able to go to school when she was younger, the young lady soon caught up with the others and quickly exceled in her studies.

As a child Sophy Ron didn’t go to school until she was 11 but thanks to CCF has just graduated from a university foundation year

One of the first CCF students rescued from the notorious Phnom Penh garbage dump as a child has just graduated from Trinity College at the University of Melbourne.

Sophy was the first CCF student to win a coveted full scholarship to the college and is now able to go on and start her degree at The University of Melbourne. She was also given the honour of being chosen as the valedictorian to deliver the closing statement at her graduation ceremony.

Last week, the same Sophy stood on stage in front of her peers and gave a graduation speech in English, a confident and articulate young woman on the verge of the next chapter of her life.

“I was very excited but very nervous,” said Sophy, after the graduation.
“The event went very smooth. It was awesome.”

Sophy was chosen to give the valedictory speech to share her inspiring story.

Her uplifting story of transformation has been featured in Cambodia’s local media in recent weeks, and Ms Ron said she hoped it encouraged others to donate to charity.

“I can’t really describe the feeling. I hope it changes my life in the future,” she said.

“I have this message throughout my life journey: a not-giving-up message. It doesn’t matter in what circumstances.”

Source:abc.net.au, cambodianchildrensfund.org