Cambodia Project Results

Thank you for your donations in 2018 to this important project. Here is some information from Habitat for Humanity about the results:

Hi Jill,

I would like you to meet Sok Mel and her family. Thanks to your fundraiser, they now have a safe house. Sok Mel is 28 years old, her family has four members: her husband Mai, their daughter Sophy (18 months) and their son Phy (1 month). The family lives in a small village near Siem Reap, in the Angkor Thom district. Most of the people living in this village are farmers and some people go to find jobs in Siem Reap City as construction workers or as servers in restaurants. This family lives under the poverty line and gets income from informal labor. Sok Mel and Mai both work to ensure they have enough food. Sok Mel used to work at a farm, but now they have children and she is a bucket weaver. She sells the buckets at the market for $ 1,15 per bucket. It is a good job for her, because she can take car of the children and still earn some money. Mai is also a farmer, mostly in the Siem Reap district, and sometimes he works in Thailand. Their old house was very sub-standard. The walls where made of palm leafs and the roof was made of old sinc plates. Sok Mel said “Before it was difficult to live in my old house, while it was windy or raining. I always got out of my house because the roof and walls were leaking and shaking. It was not safe and the pillars were old.”

After they moved into their new house and after the livelihood training from Habitat for Humanity Cambodia, Mel Sok says: “I feel extremely happy and it is changing my family completely better than before. Besides this, the repaired house provides me and my family with a new life”. She added: “I sleep well at night since I don’t worry anymore about rain and wind. I feel safe when I go far from my house to work, and my health is getting better through the education on clean water, sanitation and hygiene provided by Habitat for Humanity Cambodia.” Apart from the above support, Sok Mel understood well about how to fix the house and recognized the importance of keeping the house clean. As a result, her house is a good environment for her. “Thank you so much for supporting my family. Wishing you success in all you do.”

Project overview:

All Habitat houses in this project in Cambodia are built with a toilet, providing access to proper water and sanitation to enhance the quality of beneficiaries’ lives. The homeowners are now living in safe, adequate, quality dwellings with access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. The sense of security and the cohesion of families are enhanced through the provision of disaster-resilient housing solutions and sanitation facilities. Homepartners are also trained in good sanitary behavior and in maintaining their homes.