Cherteal

Welcome សូម​ស្វាគមន៍

ឈើទាល I Cherteal

“Life is like the Cher Teal tree, one can only flourish if one knows one’s roots.” – Sothy

Hi, I’m Sothy!

សួស្តី! As the first generation Khmer Krom living abroad, it can be mighty confusing to figure out who you are or why you are here. This site was created for two reasons. Firstly, to help you explore your culture, identity and ultimately help you find your place in the world just like what I am doing right now. Secondly, to help advocate for the voices of the Khmer Krom people, who like the cherteal tree, stands unrecognized as the Indigenous Peoples of the Mekong Delta and its surrounding region.

Whatever reason brings you here, know that you will learn, find inspiration, belonging and be unstoppable in helping to make our world a better place.

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● Latest Posts

  • Celebrating Our Rights As Indigenous Women

    Happy International Women’s Day! To all the women of this world, today is the day we celebrate, our worth, our value and our accomplishments.  As a Khmer-Krom woman growing up abroad, I feel very blessed to live in a society that promotes and protects the rights of women like myself. Thanks to my parents and Read more

  • Three Values My Mother taught me

    My mother is awesome. If you ever met my mother, you will be amazed at her energy and her positive outlook in life. She is one of the strongest women I know and I am so blessed to have been birthed by her. My mother and I were not very close but as I grew Read more

  • Signs of Spring and The Work of Women

    As I venture outside to welcome this day, I am greeted by a symphony of songs orchestrated by nature. Beep. Beep. To my left, a bird chirps loudly, sounding like a beep of a car horn, constant and persistent as if it wanted to be the loudest of all. A few moments later, a small Read more

  • The Value of Learning and Education

    As I am dropping off my kids this morning, I had a brief flash back to my childhood, thinking about the time that I was at school. And how lucky my children are to be in a place that supports their growth and they could fully learn without fear of being in danger or in Read more

  • Finding strength in moments of fatigue

    សួស្តី  hello!  From the depth of my tiredness, I wanted to reach out and say hello. I wonder how you are feeling?  If it’s anything like the weather here in Florida, you may just want to stay in bed a little longer, or just turn over and pretend you don’t have to wake up just Read more

  • Creating a peace practice and praying for Burma

    Today, I wanted to talk about the idea of creating a daily, weekly or monthly peace practice.  I think it is very important to do so in the world that we live in today. A peace practice could be simply taking a few deep breaths to appreciate the very air that we breathe,  performing an Read more

  • Balancing Food Abundances with Intermittent Fasting

    Food to the body is like the air to our lungs. It is a vital source of energy that fuels our body and nourishes our soul. Our relationship with food begins the moment we are born. From the first drop of our mother’s milk to the last meal of the day, food is our constant Read more

  • Cambodia’s Greatest Love Song

    Well, according to me anyhow :).  Perhaps you have heard it and is a favorite of yours! Since it is the month of love, I wanted to share a translation of a Cambodian song, originally by Sinn Sisamouth. Considered to be the King of Khmer music, Sinn Sisamouth was a popular writer-singer in the 1950s-1970s. Read more

  • For the Love of One’s Identity and Religion

    It was Friday, February 8th 2007. I was staying at a hotel in Phnom Penh city, Cambodia, when the phone rang. Two hundred Khmer Krom monks were conducting a peaceful demonstration, one that has not been seen in decades. Read more

  • Blessings of The Basic Things in Life

    Sometimes when I think back to my childhood, it’s hard to believe that I am really the same person. That once, I was a child that walked through a forest littered with landmines and snakes. That we drank water from ponds and lakes filled with lilies and leeches. Read more

  • A Month of Love and Blessings

    Is it February already? Where did January go? Feels like I just blinked my eyes and another month has passed. And what a month! From the launch of this website to heading back to work and restarting my fitness, it’s been busy. I wanted to take a moment to THANK YOU, my readers and subscribers. Read more

  • Cambodian Stuffed Bitter Gourd Soup

    Bitter Melon or gourd is like wine, the first time you taste it, may send you to a place that you don’t appreciate but after a few sips, you may begin to like the taste and goodness that it brings. Bitter Melon, referred to in Khmer as Morash, is a tropical vine of the family Read more