Back to a happy life with family and community in Cambodia
04 December 2007
Living with HIV and a mother of five, Chea* explains how income generating activities supported by Alliance linking organisation KHANA and Battambang Women’s AIDS project have turned her family’s life around.
Chea is seated with her son next to her hut, located a few hundred meters from the Cambodian border checkpoint with Thailand. She is busy braiding thatched roofing sheets for her customers. Braiding roofing sheets and raising pigs in the community to support her family are her daily business. Chea’s husband, a government soldier, died of an HIV-related illness a few years ago. Since then, she has been solely responsible for her five children, while also living with HIV.
“As a widow living with HIV and taking care of five small children, life is really hard. But with support from an organisation here in Pailin, my life is getting better,” she says.
With support from the Battambang Women’s AIDS Project (BWAP), a local nongovernmental organisation based in Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia, Chea receives regular antiretroviral treatment. After her health improved, BWAP helped her generate income by providing a small capital loan. The loan – a BWAP income-generation activity – allowed Chea to begin buying thatch from the villagers to braid roofing sheets. She can make 20 sheets per day and earn about 6,000 riels (US$ 1.5).
“I am really happy that I have a chance to get back to work again. Before getting tested for HIV, I was sick and my energy was low. With regular antiretroviral treatment, I now feel normal. Thanks to BWAP, I have my small business to raise income to support my family’s daily life,” she says with a big smile.
In addition to the BWAP income-generation activity, Chea has also joined her community self-help group in raising pigs provided by BWAP. She receives additional income from selling pigs every three months. “The income from both braiding roofing sheets and selling pigs is equally important for me and other people living with HIV in the village,” she says.
Like other people living with HIV, Chea’s family also gets food support from the World Food Programme. She gets 30kg of rice, one kilo of cooking oil and a half-kilo of salt per month. “The food helps me a lot, and allows me to use the profit I get from braiding to support my children’s school needs, such as buying books and clothes,” she says.
Chea’s children are amongst the 197 people living with HIV and orphans and vulnerable children in Battambang who benefit from the support of Alliance linking organisation KHANA through BWAP income-generation activities. This funding, provided by USAID and the Global Fund through KHANA, has reached 2,261 people living with HIV and orphans and vulnerable children in communities nationwide since 2003. Ing Siv Heng, director of BWAP, which is one of KHANA’s 63 partners, said KHANA support provided through her organisation is very helpful to both Chea’s family and many other similar families in the region.
“I really appreciate both national and international organisations that help provide things such as free antiretroviral treatment, loans, and other support to those of us living with or affected by HIV,” says Chea. “I would like to appeal to all men, especially those who are husbands and fathers, to please not bring AIDS home. Otherwise your wives and children will become widows and orphans like us.”
* not her real name
