Words Sprouting Lives – Poetry from Writing Through

Poetry reveals new horizons for the mind to explore.

There is much already written about the US-based non-profit Writing Through founded by author and teacher, Sue Guiney in 2015. Her organization’s mission is helping the most at-risk children and adults around the world to find their own voices.  The workshops and training are presently done in Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam and are orchestrated by a small staff, partnerships with other organizations, and many volunteer facilitators.

Sue Guiney clarifies the program succinctly in the video The How and Why of Writing Through.

Since I have been living in Cambodia I have watched some of Writing Through’s students present their works publicly, met Sue Guiney, read her novels, and conversed long hours with previous volunteer facilitators. Writing Through’s work and the many hours and expenses of volunteer time is commendable. Yet, it is the young people’s poetry that I feel compelled to share – for this is the testament to all involved.

My reasons reverberate from my own childhood experiences. Since my parents ran the Lewis Carroll Shelf Awards, my home was sheathed by great American writers. It was from these writers that I learned to hear music in words and understand that both personal and cultural transformation begins with the words of poetry. 

Poetry builds fresh connections between the old and the new, and between the familiar and the unconventional. It is a sublime voice of the personality of the human being who makes the poem, and of those who read it with appreciation. Like all art, it is a form of experience.  Seldom are these experiences generated in schools or homes across the world’s landscapes. In Cambodia, these experiences rarely exist.

This is the gift Writing Through offers its students: the gift of experiencing themselves and finding words to spark the promise of self-realization. There is nothing hokey about the process of discovering awareness, self-reliance, healing, self-worth, love, acceptance, empowerment, or respect. And there is nothing hokey about the straightforward words young Khmer people find in a foreign language to mark their tribulations and yearnings.  Instead, they are gifts.

This selection is from Writing Through, An Anthology of Poems from the Magic Pencils, Edited by Sue Guiney. Published in 2019, it is the first such publication by the organization. Sue Guiney generously gave me permission to use the these selections and photos.

Before savoring these students’ pieces, it is wise to recall the reality of education in Cambodia. Unicef’s report outlines why the nation’s children fall behind in school:

While progress is tangible, children in Cambodia are still failing to reach learning standards appropriate for their age. At the primary level, nearly 25 per cent of children in Grade 3 cannot write a single word in a dictation test. Only 27 per cent of 3- to 5-year-olds are developmentally on track in literacy and numeracy, and by the time they are 17 years old, 55 per cent of adolescents will have dropped out of school. 

Cambodian children continue to fall behind in school for a number of reasons, including not being adequately prepared for school, experiencing poor quality teaching and learning, and attending school irregularly. This eventually leads to many of them dropping out altogether. 

Inadequate learning in the early years of life, coupled with insufficient nutrition, leaves children developmentally behind. There are not enough qualified teachers, and the quality of learning environments is poor. There is a lack of basic infrastructure, such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, which particularly impacts adolescent girls and children with disabilities. Violence is a problem in schools, with teachers using corporal punishment. Children with disabilities still experience discrimination. Many parents cannot understand the value of education and most cannot afford to send their children to school, particularly in rural and deprived areas.

To read more poetry from Writing Through, or to obtain your own copy of their anthology of poetry, please visit their website at www. writingthrough.org and their active Facebook page.  Sue Guiney is frequently in Siem Reap, Cambodia and Jess Blackledge is the Assistant Director and also lives in Siem Reap.

Wayne McCallum from HOWL, which brings writers, audiences, and spaces together to create one-off ‘pop-up’ word events can also be contacted for upcoming Writing Through public readings.

Deep appreciation and applause go to the many Khmer students who have worked with Writing Through and are bravely embracing the power of words to improve, understand, and celebrate life’s strifes and triumphs.  Commendations to the many facilitators who volunteer their time, effort and energies to Writing Through and Cambodia.