Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Phnom Penh’s most unique tuk-tuk driver

Phnom Penh’s most unique tuk-tuk driver

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Sovannaro (far left) with his wife Ben Sreyleak holding his newborn son and his mother and aunt (far right). husain haider

Phnom Penh’s most unique tuk-tuk driver

TUK-TUK driver Kong Savannaro can be found every morning scouting for passengers in Phnom Penh’s Toul Tom Poung district.

That in itself is not unusual, the city has at least 20,000 tuk-tuk drivers – almost all of whom begin their workday ferrying customers to work or calling out for prospective passengers.

But 31-year-old Sovannaro does not have the luxury of loudly touting for his business. The Phnom Penh native was born hearing and verbally impaired, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage when finding clients.

“Driving a tuk-tuk in my condition isn’t easy. People flag me down for a ride and when they learn that I am deaf-mute, they refuse to go with me. If I get a customer through PassApp and the customer calls me and learns that I’m deaf-mute, they almost immediately cancel the ride,” Sovannaro tells The Post through the aid of a sign-language interpreter from the Deaf Development Programme.

Still, Sovannaro’s challenges have not held him back despite growing up in Cambodia’s post-war era in the early 1990s, a time in which facilities for those with specialist needs were especially poor.

He credits his durability and innovation to his mother.

“[When I was a child] I thought that my mother was trying to kill me because I cannot speak or hear. My mother explained to me that all I have to do is try because I still have my hands, feet and eyes,” says Sovannaro.

Sovannaro relies on notebooks, maps and messaging and translation apps to communicate with passengers. Through these innovative methods, he has carved a small niche for himself, with tourists and expats in particular hungry to support his work.

Cambodian passengers are promptly shown a page from his notebook informing them that their driver cannot hear or speak and are handed a map to point to their location, while foreigners are handed an iPhone so that they can translate where they want to go.

“I remember a foreign man called me and I told him ‘I can’t listen and speak’. I showed him my map and he showed me his location. I took him where he wanted to go and we didn’t have a problem. He couldn’t speak Khmer anyways,” says Sovannaro.

Like mother, like son

Sovannaro’s mother Khy Chanthou is the reason he has this opportunity at all. She herself drove a tuk-tuk in her younger days, and after years of her son being rejected by employers unwilling to hire someone deaf, she took matters into her own hands and spent a year teaching him the ropes.

Content image - Phnom Penh Post

“I understood that my son was deaf when he was about nine months old. I remember I was making funny faces for him and we would laugh so heartily, but when I would call his name when he couldn’t see me he wouldn’t react,” Chanthou says of the day she discovered her son was different.

“At first, I wanted to commit suicide. Afterwards, I decided I have to live for my son because I have to feed my boy and take care of him,” she says.

Chanthou has four sons in total, with Sovannaro’s younger brother also born deaf and mute. But thanks to their mother’s tutelage, both are able to work as tuk-tuk drivers and provide for their six-person household. In addition, their two other brothers work as police officers.

A proud grandmother, Chanthou has tears in her eyes as watches Sovannaro taking turns with his wife gushing over their three-month-old son.

Sovannaro met his wife Ben Sreyleak while at Krousar Thmey Organisation School for people with special needs. The couple welcomed a healthy baby boy into their life earlier this year.

“This is all I could have dreamed for. A mother’s love can overcome anything. No one can understand what love is until they are a mother. But Cambodian boys are a problem, they eat too much. I needed a girl,” Sreyleak says.

To book a ride with Sovannaro you can contact him via Facebook (@Kongsovannaro) or message him via telephone (095 226 095).

His promise to you as the customer is absolutely no small talk.

MOST VIEWED

  • Ministry orders all schools, public and private, to close for SEA Games

    From April 20 to May 18, all public and private educational institutions will be closed to maintain order and support Cambodia's hosting of the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games, said a directive from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Cambodia will host the

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to

  • Angkor Beer strengthens national pride with golden new look and fresher taste

    Angkor Beer – the "Gold of Angkor" – has a new look, one that is more stylish and carries a premium appeal, as well as a fresher taste and smoother flavour, making it the perfect choice for any gathering. Angkor Beer recently launched its new design, one

  • PM urges end to ‘baseless’ international Ream base accusations

    Prime Minister Hun Sen urges an end to “baseless” foreign accusations surrounding the development of the Kingdom’s Ream Naval Base, as the US has consistently suggested that the base is being expanded to accommodate a Chinese military presence. Hun Sen renewed his calls while

  • Khmer ballet documentary debuts April 1

    A new documentary, The Perfect Motion, or Tep Hattha in Khmer, will premiere to the public on April 1. The documentary film follows two intertwined storylines: the creation of a show called Metamorphosis by the late Princess Norodom Buppha Devi (her very last production) and the

  • Water supply authority assures public shortages over early ‘24

    The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) asked for understanding from Phnom Penh residents in some communes where water pressure is weak. They assured residents that all supply issues will be resolved by early 2024, but have suggested that residents use water sparingly in the meantime.