This article was written in 2008 while I was working for World Vision Cambodia.
Title: Life after Khmer Rouge
brighter for 78 year-old Hoeurn Chin
Hoeurn Chin’s smile turns her face into
a million wrinkles as she looks up from her fruit stall outside the house where
she lives.
This skinny, 78-year woman was once a mother of thirteen. She lost ten of her children during the Khmer Rouge regime. Some were killed and some died from starvation. The remaining three, and then two grandsons and a granddaughter, she raised on her own after her husband died. Eventually she moved to rural Samlot district, in Battambang province.
Hoeurn Chin can’t help crying as she tells the story of those days.
“I was provided a piece of land by Samlot’s government authority, but that land was not cleared. It seemed like I lived in the forest. I had no food to relieve my hunger, all my children just slept without any food. They were very young and they all were unable to attend school.”
“I used to cry a lot while seeing my grandchildren and my children starving,” she says sadly.
“We had no shelter to protect ourselves from raining, storm or sunshine. All my grandchildren, my children and myself just used the ground as our sleeping mat. We had to think of the ground as our luxury villa at that time. I was very sad about all my grandchildren and my children. Yet I had no choice,” she wails.
She and her children built a simple cottage by cutting down the small trees on her land. “It was not comfortable but it was better than nothing.”
“The whole family tried to make wood charcoal to sell in the village for some income, yet we still had not enough food to eat; our living conditions were still bad,” recalls the old woman.
Ten years ago, seeing the difficulty of Hoeurn Chin’s family, World Vision Cambodia offered their first support to her: a food distribution of 50 kilograms of rice, oil, sugar, and salt. This support, with Hoern Chin’s thrifty housekeeping, provided rice meals to her family for three entire months. They also helped the family to build a better, bigger house.
“I am very happy that World Vision Cambodia helped my family to build the house in 1998, and for the food support, I am thankful,” says Hoeurn Chin, her skinny face rippling with excitement.
In 2005, World Vision commenced an Area Development Program in Samlot. Its aim was to empower the community to make their own decisions on their development, and to strengthen the livelihood of families through improving rice production, animal husbandry and diversification of household incomes.
World Vision staff invited Heourn Chin to attend their animal husbandry and agricultural training at Samlot ADP.
In that short time, her family condition has already improved. Hoeurn Chin has planted all kind of vegetables around her house for farming. She also has a grocery store at home. She earns good money from selling the bananas from her tree; a hand of bananas costs 500 riels (USD 0.125).
Hoeurn Chin is a very active old woman. She has a very good time schedule for her everyday activities - in the early morning, and she waters the planting surrounding her house; during the day time, she sews kids’ clothes and sometimes goes to harvest thatch for some extra income; at night time, she always weaves thatch to sell in the village.
“Right now I live in peace and I have enough food to meet my hunger; but I live only with my grandson; he is in grade 3; he is already 16 years old; I think it’s so hard to get help from my grandchildren or even my children; I don’t think they all still remember what we had faced in the past years while they were young kids,” says Hoeurn Chin, starting to cry again.
She is healthy and strong even though she is about to turn 79 years of age, and works very hard to support herself and her family. Her children rarely visit or bring her any food or money.
"I don't think I can depend on all my children or even my grandchildren, they all have their own families now so they need to earn income for themselves; they all have no time to take care of me as World Vision Cambodia does," cries Hoeurn Chin.
But her tears soon dry as she compares her life now to what it has been.
“A million thanks to World Vision Cambodia for their support to me and my family to be better, I can never forget all the ways they have saved me.”
Houern Chin says that right now she doesn’t need any help from World Vision. “World Vision seems to help me a lot, it has been enough for me. For now I can live by myself, I can stand and work to earn income myself,” she says proudly.
This skinny, 78-year woman was once a mother of thirteen. She lost ten of her children during the Khmer Rouge regime. Some were killed and some died from starvation. The remaining three, and then two grandsons and a granddaughter, she raised on her own after her husband died. Eventually she moved to rural Samlot district, in Battambang province.
Hoeurn Chin can’t help crying as she tells the story of those days.
“I was provided a piece of land by Samlot’s government authority, but that land was not cleared. It seemed like I lived in the forest. I had no food to relieve my hunger, all my children just slept without any food. They were very young and they all were unable to attend school.”
“I used to cry a lot while seeing my grandchildren and my children starving,” she says sadly.
“We had no shelter to protect ourselves from raining, storm or sunshine. All my grandchildren, my children and myself just used the ground as our sleeping mat. We had to think of the ground as our luxury villa at that time. I was very sad about all my grandchildren and my children. Yet I had no choice,” she wails.
She and her children built a simple cottage by cutting down the small trees on her land. “It was not comfortable but it was better than nothing.”
“The whole family tried to make wood charcoal to sell in the village for some income, yet we still had not enough food to eat; our living conditions were still bad,” recalls the old woman.
Ten years ago, seeing the difficulty of Hoeurn Chin’s family, World Vision Cambodia offered their first support to her: a food distribution of 50 kilograms of rice, oil, sugar, and salt. This support, with Hoern Chin’s thrifty housekeeping, provided rice meals to her family for three entire months. They also helped the family to build a better, bigger house.
“I am very happy that World Vision Cambodia helped my family to build the house in 1998, and for the food support, I am thankful,” says Hoeurn Chin, her skinny face rippling with excitement.
In 2005, World Vision commenced an Area Development Program in Samlot. Its aim was to empower the community to make their own decisions on their development, and to strengthen the livelihood of families through improving rice production, animal husbandry and diversification of household incomes.
World Vision staff invited Heourn Chin to attend their animal husbandry and agricultural training at Samlot ADP.
In that short time, her family condition has already improved. Hoeurn Chin has planted all kind of vegetables around her house for farming. She also has a grocery store at home. She earns good money from selling the bananas from her tree; a hand of bananas costs 500 riels (USD 0.125).
Hoeurn Chin is a very active old woman. She has a very good time schedule for her everyday activities - in the early morning, and she waters the planting surrounding her house; during the day time, she sews kids’ clothes and sometimes goes to harvest thatch for some extra income; at night time, she always weaves thatch to sell in the village.
“Right now I live in peace and I have enough food to meet my hunger; but I live only with my grandson; he is in grade 3; he is already 16 years old; I think it’s so hard to get help from my grandchildren or even my children; I don’t think they all still remember what we had faced in the past years while they were young kids,” says Hoeurn Chin, starting to cry again.
She is healthy and strong even though she is about to turn 79 years of age, and works very hard to support herself and her family. Her children rarely visit or bring her any food or money.
"I don't think I can depend on all my children or even my grandchildren, they all have their own families now so they need to earn income for themselves; they all have no time to take care of me as World Vision Cambodia does," cries Hoeurn Chin.
But her tears soon dry as she compares her life now to what it has been.
“A million thanks to World Vision Cambodia for their support to me and my family to be better, I can never forget all the ways they have saved me.”
Houern Chin says that right now she doesn’t need any help from World Vision. “World Vision seems to help me a lot, it has been enough for me. For now I can live by myself, I can stand and work to earn income myself,” she says proudly.
-Ends-
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