You must have seen the video of a young Cambodian boy who is nonchalantly switching between languages while selling souvenirs at Ta Prohm Temple in Angkor Wat on Facebook right? If you haven’t, you’ve definitely missed out one of the most impressive and sensational videos of 2018. The Facebook post by Malaysian travel vlogger Venus GWC last November received thousands of views and shared over 34,000 times.
Thuch Salik, the boy’s name has impressed the eye of the world with his ability of speaking over 10 languages. Isn’t that crazy?! It was revealed that the boy could speak Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Malay, Thai, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, and Filipino, among others; only learnt through tourists. That is just plain incredible! However, the boy’s family did not live in comfortably, in fact had to result him into selling souvenirs every day which earned him at most $20 per day just to help his family’s economics.
Image via Mothership
Thanks to the power of social media, a YouTube video by Global Times revealed that in mid-May this year, the boy had came to study in China, Hailiang Foreign Language Middle School in Zhejiang with his dreams and started a new journey for his bright future.
Despite his petite figure, Salik seemed to be getting along warmly around his peers. “At first they thought he is younger” expressed his peers, only to find out he is actually around their age.
Deputy Principal of the school revealed that Salik is the first student in their international programme that exclusively gathers young brilliant minds to make the fullest potential of their talents. Feng Hailiang, the chairman of the board directors of Hailiang Group discovered the Facebook post and immediately took initiative to help the boy’s education.
Every child should have fair access to quality education. So we started the talent program in China, since there are such kids in the world. Our basic and higher education may have some positive impacts on BRI countries. Improving the child’s understanding and communication of Chinese culture.
— Piao Huashun, Deputy Principal of Hailiang Foreign Language School.
Go watch this heart-touching video from Global Times for further details of the boy’s current ongoing. For the soft hearts, grab your tissues first because this just hit right into the feels.
Let’s us pray for the boy’s bright future and make his dream of enrolling into Peking Univeristy comes true.
