We held our second annual writing workshop this summer for Junior High and High School students in Chanleas Dai. The workshop was facilitated by Ream Nuon, who has recently published a few short stories of his own. During the workshop, the students studied the foundations of writing and drawing. After learning the basics of storytelling, students wrote and illustrated their own adventures. By the end of the workshop, the students had created 12 original short stories. Over the next year we’ll be sharing all these stories with you, translated from Khmer to English, as a regular feature of our monthly newsletter. First up is Paung Paung’s Dream, a story which inspires us all to pursue our dreams, no matter how far-fetched they may seem…

1. Paung
Paung
is
a
big
snail
who
likes
living
both
in
the
water
and
on
the
ground.

2. One
day,
Paung
Paung
wanted
to
fly
to
the
top
of
the
mountain,
but
he
had
no
wings.
Paung
Paung
walked
into
the
jungle
to
look
for
wings.
Sadly,
he
couldn’t
find
any.

3. Then,
he
met
a
crab.
Paung
Paung
asked,
“Brother
Crab
do
you
have
wings?”
“Sorry,
I
don’t
have
any,“
Brother
Crab
replied.

4. AIer
that,
Paung
Paung
met
a
pigeon
whose
wings
had
just
been
decorated
colorfully
and
beauJfully.

5. Paung
Paung
said,
“Brother
Pigeon,
can
you
give
me
your
wings?”
Brother
Pigeon
replied,
“I’m
sorry
I
can’t,
because
I
just
painted
them.”

6. It
began
to
rain
heavily.
Paung
Paung
was
so
exhausted.
He
took
a
rest
under
a
big
tree.

7. When
the
rain
stopped,
Paung
Paung
decided
to
go
back
to
his
home.

8. On
the
way
home,
he
saw
lots
of
feathers.

9. He
was
very
happy
and
collected
all
the
feathers,
and
put
them
together
to
make
two
big
wings.

10. He
put
the
two
wings
on
his
body
and
happily
flew
to
the
top
of
the
mountain.
He
finally
achieved
his
dream!