24. The Krolong Temple and School – Cambodia

Imaging being conned by your family while being on a holiday and then being left behind. That what did happen for Michael Sa-Ngoun and his story was told in The Seattle Times.

In Cambodia he had to beg for food as it is custom for monks to do. Every time of comfort and support from his family he had to miss for two years. The support network of friends was also out of reach.

What did it do for the teenager?

A follow-up story done a year later did show that he lived a life with lowpaid job having being staying abroad far away from student-counselors who could have guided him to the right type of education.

Basically two years wasted. The Danish government does actively fight parents who send their children to a foreign country to be straightened up. The risk of them being left behind exposed to an inferior education system is just too great.

Source:

• Tough-love remedy for an unruly teen: Two years. With monks. In Cambodia. (The Seattle Times)
• Tukwila teen a monk no more (Buddhist Channel)