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 Farmer Becomes Donor

	Mrs. Kang Thou, 30, and her husband Uy Sam Oul had a difficult life, depending mainly on forest products for income generation.
They had left home at least one week for the jungle to cut trees and collect non-timber products to sell for food for their two children. Nevertheless, the income from the job could not support the household and the children to school. Most part of the income went to treatments as they caught malaria while entering the jungle. She had to borrow money from middleman with high interest rate for the family survival. However, her family living condition has been gradually changing after working with Heifer project for four years. Now her family had no longer gone to the jungle as they have stable job at their farm with the Heifer gifts including a cow, horticulture seeds, fruit-tree saplings, agriculture equipment, and technical and non-technical trainings. She uses the cow not only for reproduction, but also for draft power for rice production on one hectare of land, and cow manure for home gardening development that provides vegetable yield to increase her family nutrition. Her family now has enough food for whole year while she is able to send her two children to school. “I am so proud of becoming a donor that I had never dreamed before,” said Kang Thou while passing on a cow, vegetable seeds and forage trees to Mrs. Ouy Meit and her family at the POG celebration celebration which was held in Thmei village, Kampong Sela district, Preah Sihanouk province, March 4, 2011. She added, “I know your today excitement is the same as mine when I firstly received the gifts from the project. I will visit you very often to share my knowledge and experience on animal husbandry and management, and home gardening so that your family is able to receive good yields to increase food security.” “Words cannot express how happy I am to receive the gift today,” Mrs. Tuy Chhan, a POG family, said with smiling face at the ceremony. She added, “The gifts will help my family get on knee to combat poverty for prosperous future of my children. I promise to take good care of the animal that will produce offspring to pass on to other needy families. Then I will become a donor.” In his remark at the ceremony, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Rural Development Soa Chivorn said, “Heifer Cambodia focuses mainly on poor farmers and low-income self help groups by helping them to increase their family income through implementation of Values-Based Community Development approach. Heifer gifts and activities assist the poor farmers to generate income that triggers enough food and appropriate house through development of livestock and agriculture. On behalf of the Ministry of Rural Development, I would like to highly evaluate the great achievements and successes made by Heifer Cambodia, and I hope the today passing on the gifts of livestock, horticulture seeds, knowledge and experiences is very important in poverty reduction or increase of income of rural people, especially, the people in Kampong Sela district.”   back to top