Although it's not a major theme of the novel, Somaly Mam proves the importance of education to be able to be independent and break out of the chains of slavery. Somaly's ignorance is evident in numerous parts of the story and it continues to hold her back from her true potential because she has no capability of knowing what she can do without being educated about the world around her. One part that I found small but had a huge impact on me was when she was at the hotel with Dietrich and didn't know what a shower, toilet, sink, etc... was. To be that uneducated and cut off from the world in the 80s and 90s is thoroughly unbelievable. Another example was when Somaly talked about the lack of sexual education of her and the girls from her town. They believed, because adults told them, that if a boy held your hand or merely touched you, you would become pregnant. The ignorance of these people holds them back from the world because their small, small world is all they know. They only know what is told to them.
Once Somaly began schooling with the Alliance with the help of Pierre, quite immediately her whole life changes. In France, she gets jobs that pay good money for her to keep for the first time. She begins to learn French and, because of that language barrier being broken, she is able to wait tables and earn money. Whenever she learns, she excels and distances herself farther and farther away from the prisoner of ignorance she once was. When she returns to her village where her town once saw her as a savage, her education and marriage to Pierre transform her into a powerful, respected woman instead of a dark-skinned nobody. Education is the key to open up the eyes of people to the world they know nothing about.
This link gives information about Cambodia's education system, or lack-thereof due to the Khmer rouge abolishment of education. Although they have somewhat of an education system again, it's a very poor one that needs improvement.
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