Host Mom: Sok Sovannara

Host Mama Sok Sovannara

It's come to my attention that for many Peace Corps Volunteers, our host moms are very important figures in our lives. They are the glue keeping our service together as best they can; feeding us delicious fried vegetables, making sure we always have a place to sit, keeping us sane in difficult times during our service, and possibly one of the reasons we don't pack our bags and leave Cambodia entirely.

The latter is my experience with my host mom. Without a doubt in my mind, SHE CARES ABOUT ME. When I first started to travel around the country, I took for granted her phone calls checking in on me – making sure I ate rice and was safe in Phnom Penh, Kampot, or Siem Reap – wherever I was traveling, she made sure to check in. Those phone calls are not as frequent as they used to be and I find myself missing them.

During dinners with my host family, she makes me feel included in the conversation (even though I have no idea what's being said most of the time) simply with a nod of her head and a flash of the most beautiful smile in Cambodia. She gave me a new pair of flip-flops when I lost my third pair in about a month. She gives me handfuls of fruit – durian, jackfruit, apples, bananas, dragon fruit, and papaya (our favorite.) I will never go hungry with her around. I have not found a single person in the village that denies that she is "jet la'aw" or very nice. She is generous and welcoming to everyone and treats my PCV friends just the same as our Khmer visitors.

And when my living situation was really tense, she cried with me. I don't know if I'd still be here without all of her love and support during the last year and a half. She took me into her home and treated me like a child of her own and I am so lucky to have her in my life. And as far as I'm concerned, the (host) moms of Cambodia truly run the world.