“Food to eat forever”

Mrs. Seng Sreyny is 40 years old, living in Angkor I Village in Prey Veng Province with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. 

She said, “My husband and I did not have a good education, had no real job, and no regular income to support our family. After getting married I migrated to Thailand as a factory worker for two years, facing many difficulties. I was being looked down upon by others due to my poverty and ignorance. 

“My husband did not know how to work in another country, and I got tired of that life so I returned to Cambodia. We had some money left over to build a small simple house, but we don’t have enough money to live because of debt. So my husband went to Phnom Penh working on construction but he had to return home due to poor health. We survived in our village doing farming, growing a few vegetables to eat and selling little groceries at home. 

“My family income was not the same as others. Sometimes there was no money for my child to go to school. She doesn’t feel happy when she come back from school because she sees the other children have money. 

“Then I attended the training from KPY on family vegetable growing., I was very happy to receive both the knowledge and some materials such as seeds and water buckets to start up the vegetable garden. Now I understand more about growing vegetables such as making the garden bigger, planting techniques, and how to make organic fertilizer for the vegetables. I never had these skills before.

“Now I never go to the market to buy vegetables at all because I am using my own vegetables at home. This really helps to reduce my daily expenses. Now we got more than enough to eat, so I can sell some to get money to send my daughter to school and have a regular daily income. It is not much but at least it is much better than before when I did not have regular income at all. Since planting, I have harvested and sold it and got about 200,000 Riels (about $50) already within about more than a month!”

“I am committed to continue growing vegetables, whether in the dry season or the rainy season, to have food to eat forever and be able to sell some for my family income. I hope to save some money to expand to raise frogs or catfish. Through the hardships of life, I try to earn money to prepare my children for school until they finish their education so that it will not be as difficult for them.”