Case Study - Teng Mao Community

On the 14th of August, CCPCR visited some families in Teng Mao village, who benefit from the preventive activities of the organization. The visit started with Lek Chot, the leader of the Self-Help Group, which comprises the Rice Bank, the Cow Bank and the Saving Group of Teng Mao village.

“Since the beginning of the activities, I provide capacity building to all the members of the group to improve their knowledge and commitment. I conduct activities so that we can do things together. I want to help them to have sustainable incomes in the future. Sometimes people see what I am doing and are interested in learning. I explain to them the theory and combine it with real practice. It has helped reduce poverty within the group. The members also understand about the importance of education and stopped bringing their children to Vietnam.”   Lek Chot

One year ago, Lek Chot was a farmer enrolled in CCPCR’s trainings on rice production and agriculture. Today he is the leader of the Self-Help Group, which comprises a Rice bank from which its members can borrow rice at low costs, a Cow bank to provide families of human trafficking survivors with cows to increase their incomes and a Saving Group from which every member can borrow money and then repay monthly interests. The members of the Self Help Group also receive trainings on financial management, agriculture techniques, animal raising and are given the opportunity to apply for business grants to start their own small business. Lek Chot has been very successful so far and leads by example. He does not need to buy vegetables from the market anymore since he is growing his own vegetables – dragon fruits, cucumbers, long beans and other kinds of vegetables, without using any chemical pesticides. He also has a pig that is pregnant and a pond that he uses to raise fishes or store water.

Lek Tchot’s dragon fruit plantation

Our staff then met with two women of the village. One of them came back from Vietnam where she brought two of her five children to sell lottery. As of today she stopped going to Vietnam. She is raising pigs and has other incoming business plans. Her husband is working in construction building in Phnom Penh. He sends money to his family every month and comes to visit every two months. Another woman is crying while relating her story. She migrated to Vietnam to work some time ago and was detained by Vietnamese police officers for three months while her children were at home with nothing to eat. She thanked CCPCR for its support because she was able to borrow money from the Saving group and is now raising a cow, which is pregnant and a pig.

The visit continued with a woman who set up a small business thanks to the support of CCPCR.

“ I used to go to Vietnam with my two children. The youngest one is 11 years old and the eldest is 14 years old. I stopped going to Vietnam because I was able to borrow money from the Saving Group and apply for pig farming. I also received a business grant of 800$ to construct a pen so that my pig won’t catch a disease and also to buy products that I can sell to other villagers.”

“I stopped going to Vietnam because I have a job now. If we compare between the money I make when I sell lottery and the money I make when I sell products, it’s better now. If I don’t have enough money I will not go to Vietnam anymore but search for a job in Cambodia and do something else like selling eggs or growing vegetables. My eldest daughter goes to school everyday. I received a letter from the schoolteacher telling me about the high scores she got. My youngest daughter is in grade 4 and is the 3rd best student in her class.”

We ended our tour by visiting a farmer who benefited from some agriculture trainings. He is currently growing a large variety of herbs and vegetables that he can sell to the market.

 CCPCR activities in the communities have a common goal: empowering the poorest families in order to prevent them from trafficking their children. All these successful stories can illustrate the fact that when given the opportunity to increase their livelihood options, people strive to be successful. Many poor families from this village used to go to Vietnam with their children to make them beg or sell lottery. They don’t anymore because they’ve been given another choice and they’ve been taught about the importance of children’s rights. Sometimes, a little boost is all it takes to help people bloom. CCPCR’s activities in the communities not only empower each family that it helps but also empower the community as a whole. Indeed, it teaches them a valuable lesson about the benefit of solidarity and makes every one of them an agent of change that can inspire the rest of the community.