Compared to the average Elon University student, sophomore Barang Phuk has journeyed many miles receive a proper education. The Cambodia native made her first trip to the United States about a year ago, when she arrived at Elon University as a freshman.
But the soft-spoken girl is doing more than making her mark at Elon — she’s making her mark on the world by becoming an advocate for education by speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).
Phuk grew up in rural Cambodia in Siem Reap Province, which is a little larger than Greensboro. The youngest of four sisters, she watched each of them grow up and marry young.
Looking for something beyond Cambodia
But Phuk wanted something more — an education. As a child, she attended a government-supported primary school.
“I had to pay for school supplies myself,” Phuk said. “Education is not a big thing in my village, and my parents did not have enough money to buy me school supplies. I sold mangoes and then bought my own school supplies.”
Phuk describes growing up in a society where education was under-valued and there were never enough resources to provide a substantial education system.
“Teachers only teach two days a week because they are paid low salaries,” Phuk said. “The government pays them very low. They could do other things other than teaching instead.”
At age 13, Phuk began to learn English, and in that same year was awarded a scholarship to attend a U.S.-based private high school in Cambodia. Since she was young, Phuk had been concerned with bringing knowledge she learns back into her community to educate others.
“When I was in grade 10, I started teaching kids English,” Phuk said.
After graduation, Phuk was interested in colleges offering degrees in political science. Though Elon was 8,000 miles away, she decided to consider it.
“So I applied,” Phuk said. “I wanted to go to school in America because in Cambodia we have a poor education system. I always wanted to go and get an education so I could come back and help my community.”
Surviving culture shock
After arriving on campus last fall as an Odyssey Scholar, she experienced culture shock and thus experienced a long adjustment period through her freshman year.
“Everything was so different,” Phuk said. “When I first got here, I wore a jacket because it was cold for me. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.”
But since arriving on campus, Phuk has fully immersed herself in the Elon community.
She is a member of Model United Nations (Model UN) and the vice president of the Asian Studies Club as of this year. Phuk remembers starting out Model UN being shy and too nervous to speak, but she just returned from speaking at an international conference in New York City.
Phuk was invited to be a part of the youth panel of the CGI’s annual meeting. The CGI works to “create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges,” according to the foundation’s website. Their meetings engage some of the brightest and most influential minds to work to solve global problems, like lack of education and women’s rights.
Phuk got involved in the organization because of her connection with WeDu, an organization partnered with the CGI that helps support women’s leadership in Asia.
WeDu asked Phuk to apply to attend the meeting, which landed her on a panel of influential speakers including Shazia Ramzan — a friend and classmate of Malala Yousafzai, and fellow advocate of girl’s education.
During their conversation, Phuk and Ramzan led a discussion about the challenges that young people around the world face and what non-governmental organizations and private sectors should be doing to solve these problems.
“I specifically talked about some of the problems that youths in Cambodia face,” Phuk said. “Domestic violence is a big thing in our country, so youths do not have a chance to get an education because they have to take care of their parents and grandparents to support their family, because their parents don’t have jobs.”
Changing the world
Phuk’s experience at home in Cambodia has inspired her studies here at Elon and beyond.
“I want to do so many things,” Phuk said. “I want to go to law school because I want to be a parliamentarian. I want to study international law or human rights law. I want to be a human rights lawyer.”
Phuk’s desire to work in the Cambodia parliament comes from seeing the lack of women represented in decisions for her country.
“I think the laws in the country that are passed do not necessarily represent the needs of women, so I want to work there so at least there is someone there to disagree with them when they pass a law that does not represent the needs of everyone,” she said.
Esther Freeman, director for the Watson and Odyssey Scholar program, sees nothing getting in the way of this young woman with big dreams.
“She is intelligent, giving, determined and resilient,” Freemen said. “I have learned so much from her. She is pursuing her dreams with a fire that I wish I could replicate. She is truly an inspiration. I can’t wait to see how she will change the world.”