As the oldest daughter in an ordinary Kampot Province family, Keo Monida has struggled in her studies and work for success.

At the age of 30, Keo Monida is a midwife at the RHAC Tuol Sangke clinic. The success that she has achieved is not only for her, but also for wider society.

Monida is a brave and confident girl. Her home was far from the school which made it hard for to get to classes on time. Eventually she decided to leave home and move to a friend’s house which was closer to where she studied.

Living away from parents for most of the time make let her feel hopeless, or tempt her to give up her study. In contrast, she was hard-working until she finished high school with results that satisfied her.

After graduated from Samdech Chea Sim Angkor Chey High School in 1999, Monida continued her studies at the Kampot Regional Nursing School for 3 years. Her favorite subject was law, but because of circumstances, Monida changed her mind to find another area of study. Finally she decided to become a nurse and midwife.

With the skills of nurse and midwife, Monida left her hometown to find a bright future. This time she had to live alone in a rental house and even though she wanted to visit her father, it was difficult because of the distance. Monida got a job as nurse and midwife in Dosith Polyclinic in 2005.

As a midwife provider of RHAC Clinic, Monida’s duty is to discuss cytology with patients in order to seek treatment solutions. In the meantime, because her work allowed her to meet different people, Monida also met with many problems in her career when talking to them.

“As a midwife provider, I have to have art of questioning to get the real words because the levels of patients’ knowledge are different,” she said.

“In order to get believable answers, I also have to offer them confidence through my hospitality, so I always speak politely without any discrimination for any patients, and avoid using rude words.”

Although her work needs a great deal of mental and physical strength in order to satisfy and offer good services to patients, Monida is happy in her career.

“Although being a midwife provider was not my most first choice of career, after studying and working in this career, I really love it because I can achieve something for society, especially patients depending on my work,” she said.

“Everyone always meets with obstacles, but the importance is whether they deal with them or disappoint themselves. To me, all problems have solutions, so as long as I am strong and confident, I can deal with them.”

With nearly a decade’s experience in her career, she aims to open her own midwife provision service in the future.