The Dream of an Education: How Phymean Noun Built a School

As a young child, Phymean Noun dreamed of learning to read and write. But growing up during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror in Cambodia in the 1970s made that dream impossible.

Formal education was not only forbidden at that time but also could result in a death sentence. When the Khmer Rouge government was eventually overthrown, Phymean was finally able to go to school and fulfill the promise she made to herself as a young girl.

Years later, when Phymean was working in Phnom Penh, she met several unhoused and hungry child laborers who were unable to get an education because they had to work to feed their families. Like Phymean, their greatest dream was to go to school. Phymean knew she had to help. She left a stable job and salary behind to start the People Improvement Organization (PIO) in 2002, an NGO that educated, fed and also housed children in need. Since its founding, PIO has helped 8,000 children accomplish their dream of receiving an education.

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Susan Hughes is a freelance editor, writer, story coach and the author of many books of fiction and nonfiction for kids and teens. Her books have received multiple nominations for awards, such as the Forest of Reading awards, the TD Children's Literature Awards, and the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction. Susan lives in Toronto in a tall house with a red door.

Tida Kheav is a Cambodian Canadian illustrator based in Montreal. She grew up in Windsor, Ontario, where she spent much of her childhood buried in books or filling sketchbooks with whimsical characters and dreamy worlds. Today, she brings those worlds to life through both digital and traditional art--and sometimes clay, ceramics or watercolors, too! With a background in social work, she believes in the power of visual storytelling to connect, heal and spark imagination. When she's not drawing, she's probably baking something sweet or dreaming up her next adventure.