Congratulations to Karona for her brilliant achievement in finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Bible college. We are very proud of her for all her efforts in climbing the educational ladder. A brief story about Karona, she came from a broken family from rural Kandal province. Her father left his wife when Karona was in her mother’s womb, her mom had to carry her and her older sister who was about 1 year old. Latter on, her mom remarried and had another baby boy. Karona’s mom had to send her and her sister to live with one of their aunties who live in a rural area of Battambang province. Since she was just a little girl, Karona had to work hard to help her aunty sell vegetables before and after school every day until Grade 2.
She was missing home and her mom. Then she asked her aunty to come back to her mom for a visit, but never returned to her aunty. She started school again from Grade 1 at her hometown, and couldn’t made it to High School. She dropped out of Grade 9. Karona and her sister had to come to find work in Phnom Penh because her little brother was in school. Her step-father left her mom and the family again to go back to his first wife. Though many problems surrounded her, Karona had to push through them. She went from one job to another with a total of nearly 10 years. Her last job was in a garment factory.
In 2015 she came into contact with Women of Hope, started studying English. A few years later she finished High School successfully through the catch-up program. She became a believer back then. She fell in love with Jesus and His Word, and felt a call to study it more in depth by going to Bible college. She pushed through many challenges, especially during Covid in 2019, but she never gave up until finally she completed fours of her university. Huge thanks to people like you who believe in a better future of young women like Karona. She has been working part-time with Women of Hope since 2017 as an admin and a Khmer teacher. She also preaches in New Hope Fellowship.
Karona is one of the ten women who has finished university, and there are other ten young women who are currently doing university.