My name is Siv Vatana — writer, engineer, mother, and a woman thriving in Cambodia’s digital and development sector. A quiet blogger, drowning in unspoken thoughts, looking back on a decade spent helping others tell their stories — and finally returning to tell my own.
I’ve been a writer longer than I’ve been anything else — I just didn’t always call it that.
It started in 2015, right after finishing my engineering studies in water resources and rural infrastructure. I launched my first blog — nothing serious, just a place to write whatever crossed my mind, hoping a few friends might enjoy it.
Then life moved on. In 2016, I joined Open Development Cambodia, and what began as a research and content role slowly grew into almost a decade of work I cared about — turning complex research into clear, bilingual Khmer-English information for the public.
I never fully stopped writing for myself, but my energy went where it had to go — into deadlines, reports, and other people’s stories. My own blog sat quietly in the background, visited by a handful of close friends, if anyone.
Then I left full-time work and started caring for my young kids at home. Life slowed down, and in that slower pace, I finally had room to look back. My old blog was still there, closed for years, like a diary I’d forgotten to reopen. I realized I’d neglected something that mattered to me for far too long.
So here I am, eleven years after that first post — no longer just an engineer, or a content manager, or a project lead, though I’ve been all of those. In 2026, I’m a freelance consultant, working alongside other experts on projects that matter. And I’m a blogger again, for myself this time, telling the story of how I got here — and hoping, one day, to write something even longer than a blog post.
Thanks for reading this far. I hope you’ll stay for what comes next.
