UWC Exam: Way To The New World
If I was asked, “Why would I want to study abroad?”, my answer would be, “For a better education and a brighter future” right away!
When I was very young, I didn’t really have any goals in my life. I took classes just because I wanted to be with my friends. I love to follow the flow so I did not have to think and be in charge of making any decisions.
I love my cousin, so I would do anything to visit her. I decided to apply for the UWC exam as an excuse to visit my cousin in Pursat.
I didn’t really want to pass the exam because I knew that the chance for me to compete with city kids was very low. I was not even brave enough to think that I would pass the exam and the only thing that had the answer was faith. I applied 10 minutes before the exam applications closed just because my teacher expected me to do so.
I took a taxi to Pursat one day before the exam and I was 10 minutes late after the exam had started. I really had no ego to pass the exam because I was and am still horrible at math. The only person whom I usually think of is Buddha whenever I take math exams.
Imagine a girl who had never touched a laptop even once in her life. She didn’t even know how to access wifi. She had no clue what UWC was or what the mission of the school was. She had zero ideas. The only thing she was grateful for was if she passed the exam, she would make her family and community proud of her, and only if the Buddha gave her the “luck.” To her, the definition of life and luck was about asking for luck from Buddha. She would let faith take over her destiny because she trusted Buddha.
After the first round of the exam finished, I came back to my cousin’s house and my uncle asked for a debrief. I really had nothing much to say besides smiling and saying, “Wait until the result is revealed.” I did not expect anything, but I trusted Buddha.
A week later, I was cooking at home. My mom’s friend called her and told her that my name and her daughter were on the list. I passed the first round. Well, what a surprise for me! I had no cell phone; I had no laptop, and even if I had I would not know how to check the result online anyway. Thanks to her for telling me. Her daughter and I were going to see each other in the second round of the capital city. Just to double-check, my mom called my cousin and, yes, my name was listed by the 18/20. Really, how was I going to compete with those 17 kids? Wasn’t it ridiculous?
Hmmm…still what a great opportunity to switch from Pursat to Phnom Penh…Ah ha…Nam, what have you done to deserve 2 trips in a month and some extra pocket money? And, yes, I had other cousins to visit plus my big sister was in the capital city. I am going to say that I miss my big sister because it can tell how the chemistry of sisters look like once it comes to sharing stuff- and I hate it.
My mom brought me to the capital city because I was too young to travel that far of distance on my own. Hmmm… she also enjoyed her hobby as well. She went shopping for bonding time with her sisters and left me with my big sister alone.
I was seriously very nervous since I never had a confirmation from the committee, except hearing from the daughter. Thanks to her for letting me know, but still I got smashed on my face once I directly asked her to reconfirm. Her aunt, from the capital city, blamed her mom for the fact that she let me call the daughter while she was in class. I didn’t even get a chance to talk to her, I was a bit disappointed, what on earth and how much I could interfere with her study for just a phone call. Still, it was my fault and I admitted that.
Once my name was called for registration, one of the committees asked me to step out and he wanted to see my real face.
Committee: “Namleng Sina, where were you hiding? I had been digging down for your contact information. You were so hard to reach, and I had to search for your shortlist application.”
Nam: (Smiling with a shy face) I am really sorry. I don’t own either a phone or a laptop…hehe…
The first exam of the second round was happening. DearBuddha, please kindly walk with me through it? What am I even doing here? Competing with city kids and those 17 kids, Buddha… please…please help me.
Maths, English, and Khmer language??? Even Buddhacan’t help me now. Come on, Nam use your brain…think…think…
Everyone walked out with confidence and I walked out with “hehe…just a normal positive Nam, but please don’t ask me how I did.” I just wanted to call my sister to return home.
English: Yes, maybe okay!
Khmer: Yes, it was good. I think I did very well in terms of picking the “heart of the question and throwing my ideas and thoughts.”
Math: I think I played a lottery game during the exam- guessing most of them.
I think I did well in the Khmer language because I love to read a lot of Khmer general knowledge books since I was very young. I used to play games, questioning each other to earn points if we got the correct answers. I chose to answer, “Why do you want to get a scholarship to study in Singapore? And what do you think about environmental issues?” Meanwhile, I heard the others were talking about which movie did they like…blah blah
The second exam began after a 10-minute break and examiners were randomly grouped up. Each group was equipped with many pieces of newspapers and tape. The aim of the activity was to build a bridge, freely designed, with any supply tools we were given. Seriously though, it was hard. We had 15 minutes to work with our team.
Listen, team, if you have any ideas to contribute, just throw it all out to the group. I was the one who took the initiative and, frequently, made sure that everyone was on the same page and pace. We came up with an idea of making a long bridge as possible. We rolled a lot of paper as standards to hold the bridge and we stacked paper on top of each other. We had very good communication in the team and we managed to get it done. Everyone in the team was happy except one girl who was not really satisfied because the majority did not follow her ideas. I attempted to check up on her and made sure that she was okay with everything.
Time was up!!! Those facilitators asked each group to give them a short debrief, “Why do they design the bridge, and what is the meaning of the design?”
Each group did a very good job in terms of designing. Some chose to build like the Kisona bridge because it looks good and strong; some chose to build their own design with their fancy ideas; sadly, one group was not able to finish their bridge because the wind blew it away and they even argued with each other.
Our turn was last. As soon as the question was asked, I asked my members to describe their ideas and make sure everyone got a chance to talk. I was the one who concluded the debrief, the team ideas, and added my personal preference. “So basically we built the bridge as long as possible. The bridge was called the Diplomat Bridge. The motive behind the bridge was to connect a good relationship between Cambodia and Singapore. We wanted to tie the relationship of both countries closer, so then they can exchange resources within the trade to boost up the economics of both. Meanwhile, Cambodia is a less developed country. We indeed need help from Singapore in terms of human resources, education, solutions toward the environmental issues which will help to develop Cambodia and leverage the living standard of Cambodian people. It is called “a connection of flowing.”As we are applying for this scholarship to study in Singapore, which is why my team decided to build a bridge to lead to success for all”. We called the bridge, “ Singapore-Cambodia Diplomat Bridge or the bridge of connection.” ‘(Back then, I was only 13 years old. Becoming a diplomat was always my big dream of life). Please don’t ask me where I got the ideas from. I also could not believe that I could have such a thing as that within the age limit.
Once the second-round was finished, my name was called last among those candidates who were qualified for another round. I am blessed, I thought I did not make it, because they were supposed to choose only 6 students. Since the candidates were very competitive, they had to add another two which increased to 8.
The next day, we had the final round of interviewing and each candidate had 15 minutes. Oh boy, you had no idea how nervous I was, once I saw those candidates walk out of the interview with disappointed faces…it was a warning signal, I got to be prepared.
I was one of the last ones since my surname is “Sina”.
“Namleng Sina”, my name was called.
I whispered to myself, “ Dear Buddha please help me no matter how busy you are.”
I shakily walked, but still-smiling has always been my magical pills. My life’s principle is, no matter how difficult a situation I am facing in life, I just smile because smiling is a way of unlocking those obstacles and opening up a way for me.
Once I arrived in the room, I greeted the committees in the Cambodian way because it is very important for me to carry my identity. I sat down, smiled, and tried to give eye-contact to those committees as much as I can in a very polite way.
I first introduced myself and gave my background information.
The committees, Kevin, Ms. Mcdonald, and Bong Nareth. Three of them surrounded me which frightened me quite a bit.
Kevin: Namleng, tell me why do you want to get a scholarship to study in Singapore?
Me: All of my life, I have always looked for an opportunity to study abroad because I want to get a better education. I personally feel that education is the main essential for citizens of any country and education is the way to change the world. I want to contribute to my country and help my country develop, which is why I applied for this scholarship to get an opportunity to absorb knowledge from Singapore. I will bring back the knowledge as a weapon to help my country, community, family, and people. I want to have a better future and inspire younger generations. Also, I believe that this scholarship is meant for the students to make a difference in their countries, which made me feel that I am in the right place. ( Oh’ O…did not see where that comes from).
Kevin: Cool…so why Singapore and what knowledge will you bring back to help your country?
Me: Singapore is rich in resources and it is well-known as the cleanest city in the world. As a future diplomat, which is a job I have always dreamt of, I want to promote environmental sustainability in Cambodia and raise awareness of the issues. Cambodian people should be educated and introduced to ideas of how important it is to be aware of environmental pollution and we need solutions to address such issues. Therefore, I want to learn from Singapore and bring the knowledge to contribute to my community. From an economist standpoint, Singapore is one of the wealthiest countries and the living standard is highly developed. While Cambodia is confronting extreme poverty and underdevelopment. This is the main reason I attempted to get a scholarship because I want to be part of the solution- I want to make a difference and make it happen (My English was not very influenced back then, please keep that in mind)!!!
Kevin: Interesting…!!! Well, Namleng!!! You mentioned that you want to get this scholarship, but your math score is quite low (me: Oops). What do you think about this issue?
Me: Hmmm….learning is not a one-day process; instead, it is life-long learning. I know that I am horrible at math, but I am good in other fields. Since learning is a process of building up from one day to another, I am sure that I can improve my math skills. Also, I have time to work on it and I can take part-time. (Please keep in mind that I did not speak influence English, but I tried. Thanks to the committees for being very patient with my broken-English.)
Kevin: Yeah, but if you fail your class, you are going to get homesick. What will you do, once you get homesick?
Me: I am going to hang out with my friends, call home, and read comic books ( I love to read comic books in my language).
Kevin: What if you don’t have any friends?
Me: I will try to make friends.
Kevin: …not one like you…
Me: There must be at least one person who will be there for me. I don’t believe that everyone in this world hates me.
Kevin: Are you sure? It is very hard to make friends…
Me: Even if people hate me in this entire universe, I am confidently claiming that at least one person will be there for me, and you know who the person is? “ IT IS YOU. YOU CHOOSE ME BECAUSE I AM QUALIFIED FOR THIS SCHOLARSHIP. YOU CHOOSE ME BECAUSE YOU SEE THE POTENTIAL IN ME AND YOU LOVE ME. THEREFORE, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF ME AND I AM SURE THAT YOU WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE AND BE A BYSTANDER.”
Kevin, totally speechless, and the other two committees shook their heads and enjoyed our ongoing conversations. The interview went for 25 minutes.
Kevin was smiling and told me that he hopes to see me again.
I walked out, laughing at the conversation. Everyone was looking at me and wondering what took so long.
2 hours later …the result was released- from the second reserver, the first reserver, one of the candidate’s names was called. I still did not hear my name… then “NAMLENG SINA” was called the last.
My sister and I-we naturally hugged each other and were enthusiastic about the result (Trust me, we don’t love each other this much lol). I could not believe my ears, it took me a week to believe that I was really selected for the scholarship. What a miracle?!!!!
Once I got back home, my father asked me to debrief my exam process. I told him everything and he had his eyes wide open. He said, “ How dare you, little girl, you are so brave.”
Everyone mentioned how lucky I am…just a normal, rural girl, could compete with a lot of other city kids. Maybe….she was lucky..and, yeah, I really thought so. I really thought I was just lucky…. However, after the awakening, I realized that maybe “SHE Is her own Buddha; Buddha is within HER; who captivates her own faith and future.” (According to Buddha, anybody can be a Buddha as long as we must see the golden inside us. We must believe in yourself)
Simple principle, if am not qualified “enough”, there is no way that I got selected. I must have something within me, and it is the thing that others don’t have, and they can’t see. Only, I have it, I own it!