SONY MACBAIN '17 Recruiting Profile

Growing up in Cambodia I knew that I had no family of my own. I had no one to call mom or dad. I didn’t have a clue how I should live my life. I had no dreams, no goals, and not much of a future. As an orphan you were meant to behave and be a good kid in order to find a nice family. As for me, I thought I was too old to get adopted as I was about to turn 8 years old. So I spent most of my time climbing trees and stealing mangoes. I wasn’t a great kid, but I wasn’t that bad either. All hope of finding a family was lost because I would be too old to be adoptive. I knew what would happen to me if I didn’t get adopted. My future would be lonely and sad. The orphanage couldn’t afford to keep kids that they couldn’t adopt, so they would be sent out of the orphanage perhaps to work in a brothel.

Then my miracle happened in August, 2005 that I never expected. I was adopted by the MacBain family. The funny thing was that they had come to my orphanage to visit but they weren’t specifically looking for a child. They just adopted another child and were visiting my orphanage. However, about 17 months later the time came when I pack my few things, said “good-bye” to my friends, and left the orphanage behind. I didn’t have much just the clothes I had on. A few days later my new family and I were boarded on an airplane heading to the United States of America.

That was 10 years ago and now I am 18. Now I have dreams, goals, and aspirations. I had the opportunities to hone my gifts in playing softball and my creativity in art that I was able to show to people around me. I discovered my talents and those talents blossoms over the last 10 years. I believe that it was a miracle and that God had a plan for me and for my future. Ten years ago if you told me that I would be educated, played sports, and be a productive citizen, and have a loving family I would not have believed you. However I know that I am capable. Today, I know I am an independent and capable young woman who can now achieve my dreams and goals.

When I complete college, I would like to give back to my home country Cambodia because if I didn’t live through the tough time I would not be the independent woman I am today. I would like to study in Art Design or Education in college. I want to play softball for my college to bring pride to my college. I want to model success for the younger Cambodian girls in my neighbor. Perhaps I could go back to Cambodia and offer my knowledge in art and softball to the children in orphanages. I want to inspire them to have goals and dreams to make this world a better place. I want to give children the opportunity to learn and discover what their own skills are and how to develop them.