The Girls from Bour Village

Kunthea, Socheata and Channou, three girls on the Spirit of Soccer Football for Hope team, all come from Bour Village, Battambang Province.   The village is a two plus hour drive from Battambang, the provincial capital, with well over half the drive on a teeth-rattling, bone-jarring dirt road.  The pastoral setting with palm tree-lined roads and mountains off in the distance doesn't give the passerby a sense of the problems faced by the villagers.

The village is home to approximately 1000 people and is without running water or electricity.  During the rainy season, the roads often get washed out and it can be very difficult to come or go.  Despite its isolation, Bour Village sports at least five cell phone vendors and cell phone reception is better than most parts of the US.  Most inhabitants are farmers and many farms are backed up against landmine fields.  Water is delivered in giant cisterns on the back of a motorbike trailer and becomes home to mosquito larvae, leading to malaria which is a serious problem faced by villagers in Cambodia. 

Until a few months ago, the local school was nestled up against a 17 hectare landmine field, there's now a 50 meter buffer between the school and the live explosives.  You can still see the landmine signs from the school soccer field.

Kunthea has eleven brothers and sisters and her father is a farmer.  She currently is unable to go to school because the nearest high school is over an hour away by dirt road.  Kids from Bour Village either must move to the village with a high school and stay with a family member or spend $4 and over two hours per day on the back of a motorbike commuting or drop out of school.  Kunthea helps her mother around the house and is a mean soccer player. 

Socheata's family lives too far from the school, so she moved in with her sister, brother-in-law and niece so that she could attend school.  She lives in a one room thatched-roof hut with an outhouse out back.  She is a model student, speaks a little English and is a leader on the team.  Her positive attitude and her smile are infectious.  She sites the lanmines, lack of paved roads and no nearby highschool as the biggest challenges she faces in her day to day life.

Channou lives with her parents and 9 brothers and sisters far outside of town and it takes at least thirty minutes for her to get to school.  Her family is very excited for her to go to South Africa, even though they don't completely understand where it is or what the tournament is about.  They are excited she is receiving vaccinations, soccer training and getting a chance to meet players from other villages.

The fact that these three girls all come from such poverty and face many challenges on a daily basis and still manage to bring so much energy, liveliness and hard work to the Football for Hope Team is inspiring to all who come into contact with them.

And despite their rural and isolated homelife, they are typical teenage girls.  They love to giggle and gossip with each other, are concerned about their appearances and love to shop.