Duch Mein is 44 years old and he is married to Un Phun, who is 47, and with whom he has four children. The family lives in Tumpung Cheung village, Battambang province western Cambodia, where the family’s staple food – which is never enough for a full year – comes from farming on a half-hectare […]

This blog is the first in a four-part series focusing on CWS water, sanitation and hygiene programs in each of four Asian countries where we work. This one focuses on Cambodia. It’s important to know that the acronym WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. CWS teams from across Asia gathered in Siem Reap, Cambodia […]

Proeung Moeuk, who is 17, lives with his four siblings, who are 21, 14, 12 and 7, in Boeng Popoul village in Battambang province of western Cambodia. Tragically, they are orphans because their parents both died of illnesses in 2014 and 2016. While his two younger sisters and brother attend primary school, Moeuk quit school […]

Chho Chreb is 24 and she lives with her husband Ros Pum, who is 32, and their five-year-old son in Sangkum Thmei village of Preah Vihear province, in northern Cambodia. Chreb and Pum are farmers who own just once hectare (100 square meters) of land on which they used to grow rice, mostly, which yielded […]

Rural Development Association has been partnering with Ang Primary School since late 2016 to promote awareness about water, sanitation and hygiene; and, in 2017 supported school to add a well with water pump so students and teachers have clean water to help them have good hygiene and sanitation. In telling the school’s story of change, […]

Youn Oeun, who is 41, lives with his wife Chhoun Dieb, 38, in Krous village in western Cambodia. They have seven children between the age of 18 and 3. Oeun is a construction worker and the family does not own any farm land; so, the whole family relies solely on Oeun’s daily wage of about […]

Tep Kosol is 49 and lives with her husband, Sin Choy, who is 66 and has been disabled and unable to work for about 10 years. They have four children between the ages of 24 and six; and, even with her eldest daughters’ help, when they left school to take jobs, Kosol has struggled to […]

In early 2018 the CWS Cambodia team was able to support 11 primary schools in Preah Vihear Province of northern Cambodia with tried-and-true water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs to support better basic health and wellbeing for 2,613 students. Recently, gratitude to CWS for our WASH program support came from one of the 69 teachers […]

Sok Yan, 46, lives with her husband, Or Sereivuth, 47, and four children ages 25, 16, 14 and 4 in Rung Roeung 3 village in northern Cambodia. When she met CWS team members in 2006, Yan earned a living by selling vegetables from her garden while Sereivuth was a welder, which did not pay a […]

Oeun E is the Village Health Volunteer of Sophy village in western Cambodia. E lives with his wife and their four children, ages 16 to 19, two of whom are in secondary school. Unfortunately, the other two dropped out of school and help the family earn money with farm work. Besides being committed to helping […]

Nhep* and her husband Oeun* lead one of seven landless families in their village in western Cambodia – and being landless is only one of the challenges they face. Nhep and Oeun have five children ranging from three to 20 years old. One of their biggest challenges is the fact that Nhep, Oeun and their […]

Noun Rany, who is 29 years old, lives in Tumpung Cheung village in western Cambodia with her rice farmer husband, Hing Ryna, who is 33 and their two daughters, who are 9 and 2. Rany joined CWS-supported development activities in late 2016 to help her family improves its situation, and now she is very active […]

Phan Oeun is now 46 and has been a CWS partner for more than a decade from her home in northern Cambodia, where she lives with her husband, You Ron, 52, and their two grown children who were middle school age when the family first met CWS. Now Ron is a Village Livestock Agent and […]

Loy Koemsat is 42 and lives with his wife, Yong Chem, who is 40, and their two daughters in northwest Cambodia. Not too long ago Koemsat earned about 20,000 Riel ($5) a day for his labor when he could find work during planting and harvesting seasons and from collecting and selling crickets and grasshoppers in […]

Imagine I have a bottle of water. There’s a plastic seal on the cap. I unwrap the plastic seal, twist off the cap and take a sip. You wouldn’t see anything wrong with that, the bottle of water is clean. Now, imagine I take a piece of hair and place it in a piece of […]

Proeung Touch is 61 years old and he lives with his much younger wife, Vann Chhorvy, who is only 45 years old, but unable to work outside their home because of a long-term illness, which costs the family a great deal of money for treatment besides. They have four children, ages eight to 21, and […]

Bun Ven, who is 44, lives with his wife, Heng Samoeut, who is 39, and their daughter in Tuek Kraham village in northern Cambodia. These days Ven earns a good living by rice farming and raising chickens with his family, and by helping other poor farmers work hard to improve their lives. However, when he […]

Bun Ratha, 28, lives with her husband, Horm Chanthorn, 25, and their 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Rung Chrey village in western Cambodia. They are farmers living on her mother’s land and raising ducks for a living. But their income is quite low and they have high interest loan payments due from buying the […]

Touch Oeun, 41, lives with his wife Kun Pich, 37, in Rung Chrey village in western Cambodia. Before getting to know CWS partner, Rural Development Association, Touch and his wife sowed and harvested vegetable twice a year. They were better off than some neighbors because of their garden; still, they often they did not have […]

In 2014, as part of CWS work to help poor rural families in Cambodia improve their lives and livelihoods, Nen Aem received a rooster and four hens from CWS, which she kept healthy and productive. The next year she received vegetable seeds too, and with her hard work, ingenuity and perseverance – and thanks to […]