Sisary, our Cambodian star!
by Sue Walters
Photo Credits : David McNie
The day had come! It was a typical November morning in Glasgow . . . pouring with rain, dark and cold . . . but the weather didn’t matter because this was the morning we had been waiting for! Sisary Kheng was about to graduate from the University of Strathclyde with a Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Studies.
Eight years earlier this young Cambodian lady had been a delegate at a conference in Glasgow and was staying in University accommodation in the centre of the city. It was June 2001 and she and a colleague, both employees of the Cambodia Trust in Phnom Penh, were strolling past the Barony Hall, the magnificent setting for Strathclyde’s degree congregations.
A small crowd had gathered outside waiting for the doors to open and the procession of academics and students in their colourful gowns to emerge. I was in that crowd. The young woman asked me what was happening and I suggested she might like to wait to see the spectacle. She agreed and while we waited we chatted and soon exchanged email addresses. She was thrilled to be in Glasgow, she spoke beautiful English and I was keen to make her feel welcome in our city. The procession was as impressive as ever and the young woman, who, I had discovered, was called Sisary, said very excitedly “I would like to graduate from Strathclyde University!” That was the beginning!
Through the emails which followed over the next few months, I realised that Sisary was a very special person indeed. She was utterly dedicated to her work for the Cambodia Trust and determined to make a difference to the lives of her compatriots who did not have the advantages of her own robust health, good education and strong family support. I asked if I could try to help her to achieve her ambitions in any way at all and it soon became clear that a post-graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation Studies, or better still a Masters Degree, would be her goal . . . but where could she study? She had a full-time job and family commitments in Cambodia. I needed to make some enquiries. I couldn’t believe our luck when I discovered that Strathclyde University offered both these courses on a “distance-learning” basis for eligible students!
Sisary applied, was accepted and began her course in October 2002, a little more than a year after that first chance meeting. The fund-raising began in earnest, as we needed around £10,000, but the generosity of hundreds of ordinary folk, touched by Sisary’s story, amazed us! Sisary came to stay with my family in 2003 and again in 2004 to sit exams and having passed those she set about writing a thesis, which was to lead to her Master of Science degree.
Other exciting projects in her own life intervened . . . she travelled to conferences in all parts of the world, she went to work for a while for the Cambodia Trust in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, she took a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of La Trobe in Australia . . . oh, and she got married! Throughout all these events the thesis was taking shape and was submitted to the external examiners in September 2009.
When she heard that she had been awarded the degree, Sisary decided that she just had to come back to Glasgow to fulfil that dream! And so it was that on November 6th 2009, Sisary Kheng walked across the platform in the Barony Hall in Glasgow, wearing her gown and blue and gold hood over her beautiful Cambodian national costume, to receive her Masters degree.
Suddenly that gloomy morning took on a very special glow as we remembered our first meeting. Now Sisary had indeed graduated from Strathclyde University and the future was, and is, hers!
View photos of Sisary and Sue on our Flickr photostream
