Siem Reap, KH – Single mother’s hardwork inspires community – 1 Apr 2016

MSO, her two children, and niece in front of their organic vegetable garden

MSO is a single mother doing her best to provide for her small family. She started her organic vegetable garden with the help of the Peaksneng Thormacheat’s Garden Shop in 2015 and is now able to provide nutritious food for her two children every day and earn income from selling her excess vegetables. Her struggles did not go unnoticed by her community.  When they saw how hard she was working to provide for her family, the community pooled together funds to build her a new home!

MSO is a deaf mute living with two children and her widowed mother in Peaksneng Village outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Before entering the organic vegetable garden program, her family did not have enough to eat and was forced to forage for wild vegetables and to eat wild shellfish, frogs, and snails. She worked as a labourer at local farms but some people did not hire her because of her disability. She was introduced to Peaksneng Thormacheat’s organic vegetable garden program by a neighbor, in hopes that the garden would help MSO provide enough food for her family.

Since building her garden, she has had success growing chili, morning glory, eggplants and long beans to feed her family.  Her income from market sales is around US$5 per week. MSO says that she always loved planting vegetables but didn’t know how to grow them without expensive chemical products.

A local leader saw MSO’s efforts to better her family’s life and decided to fundraise throughout the community to help MSO build an improved home. They were able to raise enough money ensuring that her new house provides secure accommodation for the whole family.

Now that MSO knows organic growing principles she says, “I am not going to stop growing organic vegetables. Now, I will expand the garden so that I can increase my income and buy chickens.”