2017 MWCC Essays

The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum Essay Contest winners

Brak Srey Pich

The meaning of courage is to struggle, to make effort, to have audacious thoughts, and to dare to make suggestions to help people around us.

My name is Brak Srey Pich. I am thirteen years old and study in 8th grade in the village of Kauk Rovieng in Cambodia. I would like to share with you a story about something that happened in my family last month. At that time I tried to solve a problem with my mother who was seriously depressed. She listened and my courage in trying to help her came to good result.

When my father passed away last month, my mother sadly cried and cried. I had the courage to tell my mother, “Mom, you have to be determined not to miss Dad so much that you are always sad.” I told her that everyone who is born will also die someday. I wanted her to remember that my dad had died comfortably and that he would have wanted her take care of the younger children and be responsible for all the property that he had left for us.” And that time, my mom stopped weeping and she began to realize that what I had told her was important.

A few days later, an uncle came to visit my dad, without knowing that my dad had gone. He asked my mom “where is your husband?” Weeping, my mom told him that her husband had passed away. At that moment, I came home from school and I saw my mom crying. I told her not to weep because dad passed away peacefully. When she heard me remind her like this, she suddenly stopped weeping and hugged me. She told me told me how grateful she was for my good explanation and my courage, calling it “our courage.”

In conclusion I realize that my courage is sometimes just to be honest, like I was with my mom, even when it isn’t easy. Therefore, I would like to clarify that “courage” is not something that belongs to only one of us as a dare to commit to something. It is also something that others can share in and that’s when we can call it “our courage.”

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Meas Bopha

Courage is an effort. It means struggling, endurance, and success in overcoming all obstacles we might face.

My name is Meas Bopha and I have been living in Kauk Rovieng village in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. Today I would like to talk about my family’s issue. Many days when I was back from school, my parents quarreled so much that they decided to get divorced. At that time, I asked my father “why did you and mother decide to get divorce?” He didn’t say much, but during that time my mother told me that my father had a lover so that is why she decided to separate from him.

After my parents divorced, my mother became a breadwinner who was employed to work at a construction company in order to get income to feed us three children. Sometimes she had to go far away to work, so I was living alone with my siblings. After school I cooked food for my siblings. The younger children went to sleep with my grandmother at night and I slept alone so I could go to school, lonely and afraid of ghosts. Sometimes, I was so scared of sleeping alone, I wanted to stop studying, but then I would call up my courage and realized that if I stop studying I could not understand everything. Therefore, I determined that I will always endeavor to study hard to improve my family and my future.

Through my experience I learned the meaning of courage. I thought I would always be afraid of something and might hesitate or not disturb others. But now, I am like the mother who pushes my siblings to be happy, and increasingly courage makes me acknowledge the meaning of both convenience and misery. In conclusion, I realize that the word “courage” gives us a brave idea and helps us to dare to succeed, overcoming all of the obstacles in life. With my courage I would like to wish luck and health to all of my teachers.