Saovorak Nov

Saovorak Nov (Vice President) is currently pursuing his Master of Development Studies at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, through the Australian Development Scholarship scheme 2012.

Before coming to study in Australia, Vorak had been actively involved in making real differences to poor communities through his work in the development sector in Cambodia. He worked for a number of non-government organisations for several years and had held various positions starting from being a project assistant to provincial program coordinator. Work had provided him not only technical skills in development arena which includes project management and community development, but also the opportunities to work closely with the poor, especially vulnerable children in different communities. All of these have inspired and helped him built even stronger commitment to bring about more positive change to the poor, underprivileged, deprived and marginalized people.

Vorak has a strong interest in education and his first career is in teaching. He had worked as a teacher for ten years at different educational institutions ranging from teacher training college, university and from public to private schools. As he believes that education is one of the keys to extricate people from poverty and social injustice, Vorak has relentlessly sought and applied new teaching methodologies and approaches for the purpose of finding the most effective ways to impart knowledge to students. From this experience, Vorak has also learned that teaching is a process of intellectual growth where experimentation with new pedagogy and methodologies should be rewarded. Through seeing classes as a community of learning, Vorak was able to maximize the benefits of being a teacher by exchanging new ideas with students as part of the mutual learning process.

Vorak has joined CANS because he believes in the power of unity and solidarity. “As students in a foreign country, we should be united and help each other as much as we can. Also, we should do what we can to help those who do not have the same opportunities like us, specifically disadvantaged children in Cambodia,” he says.