Chhunly Chin: Promoting education through Volunteer for Community Development

by Stephanie Boegeman

At first glance, Chhunly Chin seems like a pretty typical 19-year old. The oldest of four children, Chunnly is tall, shy, and friendly. He also has ambitions to become a tour guide so that he can tell visitors about Cambodia’s culture and history. In the meantime, though, he has committed himself to educating a different demographic: the children within his own neighborhood.

Every evening from Monday to Friday, Chhunly and his friends offer lessons to children in their community free of charge as part of a group called Volunteer for Community Development (VCD). VCD was started in 2010 by students in Chanleas Dai in response to their experiences in various PEPY programs, such as Child-to-Child, Creative Learning Classes and English programs. Chhunly has been involved with VCD since its inception.

What started as a group of 17 volunteer instructors has now grown into an organization consisting of more than 50 young educators in grades 7-12 who collectively teach more than 600 kids in 8 communities in the district. The classes involve games, interactive learning activities, and messages for the social good about issues like respect, tolerance, and fairness. Chhunly specializes as an English and Arts program manager for the VCD team.

One of his many VCD responsibilities involves organizing fundraising performances so that the team can continue to offer free classes. Chhunly leads the team in every aspect of the event, from brainstorming ideas to building and decorating the stage to leading performances in traditional dance, song, and comedy. Needless to say, he has become a role model for his peers who participate in VCD.

Chhunly has put so much time and energy into making dreams come true for the members of his community that we wanted to take a moment to ask him about his goals for the future, too! In this video, Chhunly takes a moment to join The Power of 10 and share his dream with us.