“You have changed a lot since working with Youth Star. It is the right place to develop your self,” said my father. My name is Chhay Theara and I served as a volunteer in the community of Chhaang Daang, Baray district, Kampong Thom Province. I served for 12 months then extended to 15 months because I thought that this programme was beneficial for me, the local youth and the community.

Being raised in a medium class family with constant support from my parents, I did not face any great difficulties during my childhood and teens. This made me idle, ungrateful and developed a really bad temper. After graduating from university and with supporting from my parent in finding jobs, I still did not pay much attention to working. I frequently changed jobs which made my parents worry and despair about what I was doing with my life. They wanted me to become a compassionate person who thought about others. At the time, I was not that sort of person, but I cared about how my parents felt; I never intended to make them worry. I then started to look for jobs or any training which could help me improve my life and my behavior.

Luckily, my friend told me about Youth Star, I was very impressed with their mission and vision which provided opportunities and promoted the core values of the youth. I decided to apply and was successfully selected as a volunteer. In the Pre-Departure Trainings, I learnt new lessons and skills and could not wait to apply them in the community. I had never been so focused and committed to anything before like I was during my service. On the way to the community, I kept imagining what it would be like once I got there. I only thought about positive things in the community, however, I faced many challenges. Initially, the community did not value volunteerism; there was a lot of discrimination and a huge number of gangs.

Even with support from both the local authority and Youth Star, I still lacked confidence. After a while, I used the challenges to drive me to do everything I could to overcome them. I decided that in order to change the perception of villagers, I had to change myself first and adapt to the community’s way of life. It was an achievement that I managed to change myself to become a better person doing good for others.

I always paid attention to how I behaved because all eyes were on me. Through my service and volunteerism spirit, people who used to discriminate against me changed their attitude and fully supported my activities. They became leading participants in community activities. All the hard work resulted in the setting up of a Youth Club with clear goals; we had 92 members from the local youth. Notably, within the youth club, there were former gang members, and one of them was selected as the Vice President of the club. With support and cooperation with the local authority, our club took a leading role in preventing violence caused by gangs and domestic violence in our community. We made a rule that people drinking alcohol are allowed to attend Youth Club events.

I am also very proud of my successes in education, health and sustainability projects. In addition to tutoring 30 children and 30 youth, I was successful in helping drop outs go back school. People in the community have a better understanding about health issues now. They actually go to the health centre now and drink safer water which has been boiled. I believe the Youth Club can ensure its sustainability through income from vegetable garden and traditional dancing groups. 50% of the income is used for the club and the rest for community development.

My 15 months in the community has been the most valued time of my life. I have learnt about myself, other youth and other communities. My volunteering service changed my attitude and opened my eyes to new ideas and broadened my mind. The community I served is now a greener community, it is violence free and people get along better now.