![\"circus](\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_163801_resized-169x300.jpg\")
What is your job at Phare?<\/strong><\/p>\nI am a technician. I manage the lighting and sound, and sometimes I help build sets and the stage.<\/p>\n
How did you first come to Phare?<\/strong><\/p>\n I come from Battambang. I am one of eight siblings. My family was very poor and my mother was always sick and my father also. So when I started to go to public school, it was too difficult. I studied far away and after school I worked as a laborer to make money, on construction sites. When I came home, there was no rice, no food.<\/p>\n At this time, I came to know Phare through my brother, and I thought that I\u2019d like to study. I had been thinking about starting a company, but I didn\u2019t have money. So after two years and a half I began to study with Phare Ponleu Selpak as a technician. It was like a practical apprenticeship, I learned from people who had done this kind of job before. I studied sound, lighting, stage management and electrical design. Two years later, in 2008, I became part of the staff in Battambang, then moved to Siem Reap.<\/p>\n How has Phare changed your life? I like working at Phare. My life is better. I know a lot more than before. Before when I started I was small, now I\u2019m the big chief for the technician group.<\/p>\n If you\u00a0weren’t\u00a0working at Phare, what would you be doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n If I wasn\u2019t working at Phare, I\u2019d still be a laborer in Battambang. I\u2019d have continued like before.<\/p>\n What is your favorite part of your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n My favourite part of my job is making electronics. It\u2019s difficult, but I enjoy it. I want to study more. Maybe electronics repair.<\/p>\n What was is like to arrive at Phare for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n When I started at Phare in 2008, there were six technicians. Now there are fewer because some people didn\u2019t like it and quit. It\u2019s difficult because we do everything, not just sound and light, but lots of things. It\u2019s too much for some people.<\/p>\n What is your life like outside of work?<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of my family lives in Battambang. They don\u2019t come to visit, but I go visit at least once a month to see them and my daughter. I have a lot of family in Battambang, lots of nieces and nephews. When I go there, there\u2019s maybe 100 people to visit and see.<\/p>\n My older brother studied painting and drawing, and is now a theatre teacher at Phare Ponleu Selpak. And I have another brother who studied as a circus performer and now lives in France with his wife. I haven\u2019t visited them, but I hope to.<\/p>\n What do you hope for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n I hope to create my own sound and light company, where I can rent out equipment or sell equipment.<\/p>\n Meet Sopheak’s wife Darytha, Phare’s costume manager, here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n![\"20150414_163950_resized\"](\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_163950_resized-169x300.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Circus](\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_164234_resized.jpg\")
<\/a>I live in Siem Reap with my wife, who also works at Phare. She is a costume manager. She is also from Battambang and started working at Phare two years ago. We have a nine-month old daughter. Her name is Kahnanita. She lives in Battambang with my family because my wife and I work full time and don\u2019t have much time.<\/p>\n
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