Son Sophea was born in a remote area which is located in Kompong Cham province. She immigrated to Australia 16 years ago to reinforce her education. She then decided to return back to her homeland in May 2010 to bring back her knowledge and experience she has gained from Australia to share and contribute to Cambodia, which is still a developing country.

Sophea was introduced to Attitude Centre for Education (ACE), by one of the founders of Cambodian Kids Foundation and was very interested with the projects of ACE. Since then she started to volunteer for ACE for 15 months assisting in various projects of the foundation. Prior to embarking on her volunteering with ACE in Cambodia; she had worked more than 4 years for a private sector in Australia where she was able to develop teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills. As she was studying at university she also had worked as a Nurse for 10 years in Australia, where she was able to further develop excellent team work in a cross-cultural environment.

Sophea graduated from Deakin University, Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Planning and a Diploma of Nursing. She also graduated from the same University with a Master of International Finance in 2009.

Jaap van Dokkum became involved with ACE in September 2011. Previously, he was a senior lecturer in sociology and research practice at The Hague University in the Netherlands. In this capacity, he has supervised many BA graduation projects. At The Hague University he was also connected to the department of International Cooperation as a researcher and lecturer on Development Cooperation and Globalization In 2003, he obtained a master degree in Development Studies and subsequently worked as a consultant and researcher on several projects for different NGOs from the Netherlands. He is a regular visitor of West Bengal in India and has conducted research and project work in rural West Bengal.

Jaap has gained experience in organizing and managing higher education, curriculum building and participative teaching methods. From his years in development cooperation, he has gained experience in capacity enhancement through participative learning; training and knowledge sharing. Another focus is local development (rural and urban), and general project organization. In his free time, Jack is an officially qualified volleyball trainer and a keen ocean sailor.

Nov Synoeun was born in a very poor village in Svay Reang Province. Her family decided to move to live at Dey Krahorm community slum, Phnom Penh, for 12 years from 1997 to 2009. Synoeun started working at Attitude Centre for Education in February 2009. Her responsibilities at ACE are as a Training Facilitator, for which she helps to organize the local and international training that we provide regularly across Cambodia. Apart from that Synoeun has been promoted to be the Dormitory Coordinator in our Leadership Training Centre (LTC) in January 2011, which is one of ACE's projects. Moreover, Synoeun used to participate in many leadership trainings, including a one-year leadership program at ACE and most of the short courses that are provided by ACE. Prior to employment with ACE, Synoeun accumulated one year of experience in volunteering with our partnership organization AZIZA School, a project of Village Earth for youth team leaders in Dey Krahorm community slum. In addition, Synoeun is a Camp GLOW organizer for the Peace Corps Cambodia as well. Synoeun will start her university in 2012 in the field of Social Work at Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Heng Mien is from Siem Reap Province. He moved to Phnom Penh in 2007 and he lived for five months in an Orphanage Association in a slum (Dey Krahorm) where he had seen the domestic violence, gang, prostitute, drugs and illiteracy. Mien had worked as Data Entry Officer at Digital Divide Data Organization (DDD) for 3 years. On July 2011, Mien has awarded from DDD, the internship program as Operation Support and also sent him to work as part time job on Saturday at Infinity General Insurance Company, which provided the general insurance services. Mien moved to live in ACE in February 2011. He was promoted to be a team leader of the Leadership Training Centre (LTC) after staying in ACE for two months. Being a team leader, he has prepared and monitored several activities, and also provided advice and motivation to team members willing to work and learning by heart. Apart from that he has also joined many life skill training and social event to help people in slum by providing porridge and hygiene and sanitation to the kids. Mien is currently a second year student of bachelor degree in Environmental Science at Pannasastra University of Cambodia and will graduate in 2013.

Ms. Sao Chakrya: Project Manager

Sao Chakrya was born in Kep province which was the last region left by Khmer Rouge. Most of the children in Chakrya’s village have no chance to continue their study, they would work very hard and earn a little income. Chakrya moved to Phnom Penh in November 2009 and has became ACE scholarship resident. She started to volunteer for ACE for three months before she became the education officer and had a great chance to work with the people who were evicted from slum community in Phnom Penh. Chakrya was then promoted as the project manager at Rudi Boa Centre. Besides her working hard at Rudi Boa Center, Chakrya also involves with many other activities at ACE which has changed her life to become a strong girl and never give up her dream. In October 2011, Chakrya was promoted as the project manager of Weekend Training which she organizing the local and international training that ACE provides regularly across Cambodia. Chakrya is also a second year university student majoring in International Relationship at University of Cambodia. Chakrya’s dream is to be able to establish NGO in her home town where education is the main focus and more over she dreams of becoming the trainer as she believes that this is the way that she could share her knowledge to others and the way that she could help to change Cambodia to be one of the well developed countries in the world.

Chann Raksmey comes from Pursat Province has been with Attitude Centre for Education (ACE) since September 2009 as a scholarship resident. Raksmey is a very actively volunteer and assists in many programs that are provided by Attitude Centre for Education, including assisting with the weekend training program and youth team leaders, as well as teaching some life skills to the students of both Rudi Boa Centre and ACE dormitory. After one year and half of remarkable and passionate work, Raksmey was promoted to be an Outreach Coordinator, where he provides lessons like leadership training, counseling, child protection, gender promotion, domestic violence awareness, social justice, human rights, mental health and even porridge delivery to the kids at Rudi Boa Center and Wat Than slum community. Apart from that, Raksmey has done many internships with local and international organizations to build his professional experience and practice such as: Community Sanitation Development at Trotrung ning Akpiwat Sokapeap Neak Kre Kror (TASK), Cambodian People Living with HIV/AIDS Network (CPN+), Home-Base Care of ID Dept. at Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope (SHCH). Raksmey is also a rotaractor of the Rotaract Club of Phnom Penh Metro, in which he has held the position of secretary of the club from 2001-2012. Raksmey will graduate his Bachelor's degree in Social Work at Royal University of Phnom Penh in 2012.

Sun Rathana, originally from Kompong Thom province, has become ACE scholarship resident in January 2011. In February 2011, she was promoted to be the accountant of Attitude Centre for Education after volunteering for two months. In her current role, Rathana is managing all finance activities, grants, accounting, monitoring daily expenses, and reporting to the organization. She joined Rotaract in June 2011, in which she holds a position as treasurer of Rotaract Club of Phnom Penh Metro. She is studying in her second year in the field of accounting at Vanda Institute and first year of English Literature at Asia Human Resource Development Centre. She will graduate with her bachelor's degree from Vanda Institute in 2013.

Ngoun Sreyphea comes from Banteay Meanchey province and has become ACE scholarship resident in April 2011. She was promoted as the Bookkeeper of ACE in November 2011 after volunteering for a few months. In her role as a bookkeeper, Sreyphea responsible for recording all the transaction on a day-to-day basis, preparing the monthly statement of the foundation, monitoring the daily expenses and report to the accountant. She is also volunteering in Weekend Training Program. Sreyphea joined the Rotaract Club of Phnom

Penh Metro in June 2011, in which she volunteers as the treasurer of the club. Currently, she is studying in her second year of accounting at Vanda Institute.