Rany Pholly
Rany Pholly was a high school student in Siem Reap who didn't think he could continue his studies because of financial hardship. His parents divorced, and he has four siblings who quit school so he could afford to finish. He applied for many scholarships, and finally received one in 2013 at Passerelles Numériques Cambodia, which had support from Digital Divide Data. After seven months of study, he moved to DDD and stayed for three years, working on newspaper projects, Photoshop projects, support for the mobile companies Smart and Cellcard, and inserting subtitles into archival films of the Khmer Rouge. Before DDD, he imagined he might end up migrating abroad or working in construction just to earn a little income. After DDD, he found much better opportunities in his own country.
What he gained most, he says, was mindset. DDD taught him to have long-term vision, and to move forward step by step to reach his goals. "It wasn't something DDD taught as a subject," he says. "It was more like the culture. Almost everyone shared kindness, good behavior, and a positive attitude." DDD supported students for four years of university but encouraged them to explore outside opportunities; if they could find better jobs earlier, they could move forward. He left after three years when he found a job at a private company importing IT products and completed a master's degree in 2023. His family's livelihood improved dramatically, from living in a small hut to having a proper house and financial stability. His advice for young people: be ambitious with good faith, be confident through curiosity and hard work, and manage time, because it doesn't wait. His hope for DDD: expand offices to every province in Cambodia so young people there can access the same opportunities, because current outreach through school visits, brochures, and social media isn't enough.
