Siem Reap, KH – Rent-to-own home is a lesson in life improvement – 28 Feb 2018

PP’s children are happy and motivated because they feel secure and safe in their rent-to-own home. The family’s living conditions are better than before, and the health of the children has improved thanks to eating nutritious food from their garden. PP says that the experience of living in the rent- to-own home with other families has taught him many lessons in his life. How to share what you have, care for your neighbors, improve your lives, be grateful to others and be happy and contented in a straight-forward and happy community.

PP grew up in Peaksneng Village and is now blessed with a wife and four children. He used to work as a care taker for one of the local farms, and his family earned their living by growing vegetables on a tiny piece of land lent to them by the owner of the farm. But vegetable yields were not enough to support the family, and he did not have the necessary knowledge or skill to improve productivity when the cost of farm inputs increased. Inputs like fertilizers, vegetable seeds, pesticide and herbicide. His family’s living conditions then deteriorated further because the farm’s owner sold the land to a businessman in Peaksneng Village.

Fortunately, a few months later the Catholic Church hired him to work on the church’s farm. Since then, his strong commitment to his family, and his hard work and perseverance have qualified him for a rent-to-own home with sufficient land for a vegetable garden. He is delighted with his new garden’s vegetable yield, which has enabled him to improve his children’s health, and also sell surplus vegetables to earn income that helps him pay the rent.

PP still works on the church farm so the combination of his job and his garden’s income has enabled him to invest in improving his home with solar lights and building a kitchen. He also built a cow pen and purchased a water pump and motorbike, which helps with transporting goods and his children to school.

PP and his wife’s dream is for their children’s education. They shared with Rey, the garden shop manager, that “We want our children to be better than us, so we try to send them to school. We think education is important “.