Seyha Ban

By Oliver Perkins

It was only recently that 22 year old Seyha Ban first saw what his homeland, Cambodia’ looked like before its lands and people were savaged by three decades of violence and hate.

"You can't even imagine what Cambodia was like, I was shocked," says Seyha of the documentary, Cambodia 1965; a collection of footage shot throughout his country over forty years ago. "Everything was so amazing, before I had only heard stories from all the old people. It was beautiful."

Seyha now lives in Australia. He moved to Sydney in 2007, having spent near 10 years in the care of Sunrise Children Village Orphanage Phnom Penh and its founder and director, Geraldine Cox. A fulltime student at the University of Sydney, he is currently completing his second year of an undergraduate degree majoring in Political economy and management.

Seyha is the first Sunrise graduate to study overseas, an opportunity earned by years of hard study and supported by the generosity of his personal sponsor, whom he met at Sunrise in 2000. "Mum [Geraldine] introduced us because he is very interested in art and I was good at drawing pictures… I drew him a picture and we have been friends ever since."

Following the accidental death of their mother in 1998, Seyha and his three sisters went to stay with their few remaining family members in a provincial village outside Phnom Penh. "Things were really tough in the village," remembers Seyha and after a month his aunty approached Sunrise for help. "At first I didn't want to leave my family, but my aunty was poor and couldn't support us."

Today Seyha remembers his time at Sunrise fondly, for both the support he received and as the place he would be given the opportunity to pursue a world class education. "It [Sunrise] was a great place, you felt like you had a family. It also offers you a good education; they have computer and English classes, music and dance. It's amazing."

Seyha remains in regular contact with Sunrise. Sharing his experience and offering advice to those children, including his youngest sister, who one day wishes to study abroad. He is also a source of inspiration to the few who have already followed in his footsteps and are now living and studying in Adelaide.

"The first year is really hard," Seyha recalls of the challenges undertaking tertiary education in a foreign country and language. "Everything is very different from my country, especially in terms of education. You don’t know how to arrange your time and in Australia essay writing is very important, I didn't even know what an essay was, but its gets easier."

"I always tell the kids at Sunrise 'education is very important, if you want to be like me you need to study'," says Seyha, "and learn how to write an essay."

In the future, Seyha aspires to a Masters Degree in Commercial and Contractual Law, before returning to in his homeland of Cambodia. To Seyha, "Sydney is a great city, except this is not my city, I still always feel I want to go back to my country… Cambodia needs people with a good education."

It is hard to imagine what Seyha felt when watching Cambodia 1965; what it meant to see his country before it was scarred by decades of war. He explains it simply as, "the future." A time when young men and woman like Seyha Ban will return to their country what was lost.