Years ago, Pouch was in a serious accident as a child. He broke his leg and ever since then, he’s been unable to do any heavy work. Later, he married his wife Chhreb and over the last twenty years of their marriage, they’ve brought up five beautiful children, four of whom attend school.
They used to live in a tiny house that was poorly constructed: it leaked, and they had no toilet or latrine to use. Chhreb and Pouch always work hard but most of their income went to food for the family and school supplies so the children can continue to study. They couldn’t afford to fix or upgrade their home.
Pouch and Chhreb were able to build a new, secure home after they partnered with Habitat for Humanity Cambodia. Their house was completed in September 2021 and now the whole family has space to focus on health and education.
“My new house is perfect and strong, and my children are thrilled to live in it. Now, they try to study every day,” said Pouch.
To improve their livelihood even further, Pouch started work as a security guard. Unfortunately, his work is about 260 kilometres away from home which means he can only come back home twice a year. Pouch sends his earnings back home to support the family where Chhreb uses it as an emergency fund. “I keep doing any work I can to improve my family’s living conditions. I try to cover the daily expenses with the money I earn. I keep my husband’s salary for any urgent need and support my son and daughter’s education. We are determined to send our children to get an education as high as we can, and I am very hopeful that we will change our lives,” said Chhreb.
“This house always comforts us; in the daytime, we use the ground floor to relax and work, while the upper floor is used only for sleeping at night. The house still stands strong as we have never experienced any issues. I also noticed that my children did not get sick as often as before because we can now access the toilet and clean water. With this, we can also save for spending on medicine or health treatment,” said Pouch.
“This new house makes us even more optimistic about our future,” added Chhreb.
This project receives support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and is in partnership with our implementing partner Habitat for Humanity Cambodia to provide access to safe shelter.
Read more stories like Salout’s here.
