Growing up as a child in an ethnic Cham community in Kampong Chhnang province, Leb Ke was raised with Cham as his mother tongue, while traditional Cham songs were often sung by the people of his home village.
As he grew older, however, he began to realize that fewer and fewer of his fellow villagers continued to speak and read Cham.
This decline brought on a deep concern for his native culture and motivated Leb Ke to study and preserve the Cham language and script.
