photo: Mane Yun in local Bunong village
06/22/2007

Young people like Mane Yun are the future of the Bunong. The eldest daughter in a family of six children and an absent father, Mane (Mah-NAY) left elementary school to provide for her family in her native village in Mondulkiri Province. A combination of grit and ambition allowed her to resume schooling and eventually take a teaching job near her home.

A natural leader, Mane caught the eye of then Refugees International President Lionel Rosenblatt, when they met by chance along the road in Mondulkiri in 2001. RI arranged to underwrite Mane’s college expenses at the University of Phnom Penh where she became the first Bunong to graduate. Mane then went on to also become the first Bunong to receive a law degree after attending Cambodia’s Royal University of Law and Economics.

Mane memorably describes growing up in a culturally-isolated Bunong village as the life of a “frog in a well.” She has since emerged as an effective and energetic voice for her people. Her infectious personality and winning smile, coupled with her personal success story, continue to win new friends for the Bunong people.