A highlight of Cambodia was meeting a remarkable woman, Sineth, the owner of Alis’ House Homestay. Our host in Siem Reap, who’s name is pronounced with a silent ‘h’, is an inspiring story of passion, charisma and hard work in the face of adversity, and one I feel is worth sharing.

Born as the eldest sister of five to a poor family, she describes her father as a ‘superhero’, working as a soldier, then in land mine clearance, and later as a driver to support his family. Her mother worked hard in what we would call real estate, finding land for people who want to build homes.

Sineth studied tourism for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Siem Reap, an unusually high standard of education for her background. She worked hard in a hotel and as a translator earning money for her family, and was able to develop her passion for travelling. She travelled across SE Asia and Australia in a way that other members of her family could not.

Just as her family was moving from poor to ‘normal’ (her words), her family’s land was removed from their ownership by the state, without payment, putting them back into poverty. The Cambodian government has a very loose relationship with integrity.

Sineth describes this as having been very hard, like the light started coming then it was all dark again, struggling for food to eat. Her mum had to sell their furniture, and her younger sister had to put off education plans to work. Her family worked hard and were able to get enough money to live again.

Despite this, she approaches life and people with an unbridled enthusiasm and a character that you cannot help but love.

She began working for the local government in land management in the Angkor Wat UNESCO Heritage Site, while continuing to work as a translator.

Meanwhile she became close friends with an American called Michael, someone who saw her potential and sought so generously to give her opportunities which she wouldn’t have otherwise had. He went on to support her education and then invested in a small gift shop to help her build up funds, before they went into business together opening a ‘homestay’. This is an arrangement where she opens her family home up as a small hotel of sorts, living on site while they live elsewhere. She thanks Michael for so many of the opportunities she has had in life.

During the day she works hard supporting Khmer people who want to build homes for their families in Angkor Park, ensuring that buildings are in keeping with the cultural heritage of the site rather than modern concrete developments. In the evening she returns to take over from her sister running her homestay.

As a translator in what little free time she has, she works for NGOs interviewing Khmer people who were victims of the Cambodian genocide, seeking justice in tribunals. Through this, seeing the suffering of her people, she has a real passion for helping her nation work through it’s past and find peace in itself. She gave hours of her time to me, answering my questions, impressing the Khmer desire to address what happened and help avoid it happening again, anywhere in the world.

As far as I can see, she works relentlessly hard every hour of every day, for herself but above all for her family as they have pulled themselves from poverty to being ‘normal’ again, while passionately supporting the history and future of her country. It says something about her passion for her nation and its heritage that when I asked her to read this draft, she asked me to include lengthy sections about how her fellow citizens were trying to preserve the historical sites for visitors around the world to see.

I asked Sineth what local people thought of white westerners when they saw us walking down the street. Living in the Anglo-American era of Brexit and Trump I expected the answer to be one of hostility, resentment at wealth and privilege. After spending time with the Khmer people I should have known better, and I love her answer. She replied that local people think 3 things when they see us:

• ‘First, why so tall? What do you eat there to make you so tall’
• ‘Second, how do we communicate?’ [due to language differences]
• ‘Third, why so white? People so white, then burn and go red, then 3 days later white again. Asian people go like grilled chicken’

I asked whether there was resentment, but she insisted no, ‘if white visitors are friendly then we are friendly like neighbours, if visitors try to scam then not friendly’. A compassionate and sincere reply.

It is easy for me to be kind and generous with what I have, as I am fortunate in this world to have a lot. I found it inspring that someone born with so little should work so hard and yet still be so kind and and so generous with what she has, to welcome people so openly. When our society is tending to glorify it’s past and shun outsiders, hers is reconciling the truth of history and welcoming the outside world.

I can learn a lot from Sineth.

Afterword

If you would like to stay with Sineth in her homestay then you can find Alis’ House on booking.com but she is best contacted through Facebook here.

If you enjoyed reading this and would like to read more about our stay in Siem Reap and our visits to Angkor then please check out our post Angkor What? Or see our blog library for other posts.

This post was written with Sineth’s support, and most photos are courtesy of her.