During break time at Anlong Kray Primary School, a young 13-year-old boy named Chamroeun is smiling and singing a song with his friends on the playground. However Chamroeun is not singing with his voice, instead he sings using Cambodian Sign Language.

Chamroeun is a friendly boy with a bright smiling face. For most of his life, his communication with his friends, teachers and others has been limited, but is now improving though his use of Cambodian Sign Language (CSL) and the improved understanding of his peers, family and teachers. The first time we met him at his school in early 2018 he smiled, but did not make use of any signs or gestures to communicate. After he started attending sign language classes every Thursday at his school, his communication has improved significantly and he has become more confident using signs and gestures with others.

“I feel good and I like to play with my classmates during break time at school. I like football,” Chamroeun told Save the Children staff in CSL when we last visited him at school. Now he can introduce himself and express some of his thoughts and feelings effectively – he is now able to easily tell people things like his sign name, age, current grade, his hobbies and interests. Sign names are usually different from people’s given names, and they serve as shorthand to easily identify individuals through signs. Such names may allude to people’s characteristics, features or personality traits. Sign names make it easier for CSL speakers to tell us about their friends, teachers and family members. For example, a sign name might consist of forming the letter that represents the person’s name, along with another sign that represents a particularly prominent physical characteristic or personality trait; combined together it makes the person’s sign name.

With funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) Innovation Xchange and in collaboration with Krousar Thmey, a local Cambodian organisation specialising in education for deaf and blind children, Save the Children has developed materials and training schedules to help support deaf children and those with hearing loss, their peers and teachers at 10 target schools in rural Pursat Province in western Cambodia. Chamroeun’s school at Anlong Kray is one of the target schools where the project works, providing CSL courses to students and teachers and direct capacity building training to two in-school CSL Learning Facilitators and the School Principal.

Mr. Chorn Pet, one of the Learning Facilitators at Anlong Kray primary school, told us that Chamroeun used to skip school because he could not communicate with his classmates and teachers. Now, he says Chamroeun is regularly attending classes and he seems much happier. He continued, “Chamroeun often asks me when the sign language class [is happening], he likes the CSL class. I am so proud to be a Learning Facilitator and to support the CSL class. I commit my best to support him to learn CSL, and hopefully he finishes high school and becomes a CSL teacher with Krousar Thmey. I feel confident to provide CSL classes to the deaf students and their peers. [I provide training] to the other teachers once per month. I often visit Chamroeun’s family once per month to provide an at-home CSL class. I believe with sign language Chamroeun can fully participate in his family and community.”

Chamroeun’s classmate, Ranya, who does not have hearing loss, is happy to learn more about CSL. “I like learning sign language, and now I can introduce myself in CSL and I am able to communicate with Chamroeun in class and at playtime at school. I like to use signs to communicate with [both] my deaf and hearing friends. [Before], I wished to help him one day, and now CSL class help us a lot [to communicate]. I would love to have more videos in CSL, which will help my friends and me to learn more and communicate better in CSL.” Ranya said enthusiastically.

Chamroeun’s mother, Mrs. Keang, 54, told us more about their family situation and the difficulties she has faced working as a farmer. “I worked hard to earn money with my rice field, but now I sold [my fields] when my husband became sick. I feel regret in my life because we were not able to afford to send my children to school. I am a mother of eight children. Now there are four people [at home], my husband, my older son and Chamroeun.

Mrs. Keang is proud of her young son and happy to see how CSL has benefitted his studies and their relationship. She explained, “Sometimes Chamroeun works really hard on his studies, studying at night to review the lessons he learned at school with his lamp. He tries to [communicate] with me in Cambodian Sign Language, and I am very happy to learn signs with him. I am an old lady, and not good at learning new things, but I am committed to learn sign language to support my son to go to school. I hope he will learn more and find a good job. I hope he will become a teacher in the future. My son usually rides his bicycle to school every day, one day his bicycle was broken and [so he started] walking to school… and I am happy that he like his studies [that much because] the school is about two kilometers from our home. Now I can communicate more in sign language, [which makes it] easier in our daily life such as asking [Chamroeun] to help with housework… I understand my son’s feelings better now… At home we [would] usually communicate with gestures and pointing to objects, but with CSL I am able communicate better with my son at home.”