ABSTRACT
Tina Punthea was born into a poor family as the Khmer Rouge was losing power. Today, she is a mother of four children and must navigate the contemporary education system, which she believes will provide a way out of poverty for her family. She is poor and a supporter of the opposition party, so her choices are limited. Without access to foreign donations, which are only given to ruling party supporters, Punthea goes to extraordinary lengths to support her children's education, at one point crossing illegally into Thailand to find a higher paying job so she can pay her children's private tutoring fees. Punthea provides a complex account of the realities that families face in contemporary Cambodia where paying for education is a fact of life. She exemplifies the social injustice in a system based on the ability to pay for various educational services.
