The smile on Mrs Khoun Houn’s face as she stands in front of her new fish pond radiates hope and a sense of new possibilities.
Mrs Khoun, a member of the Kuy Indigenous minority group, lives in a remote village in the forests of northern Cambodia, near the Laos border. People in her community, like many indigenous people, have faced historic disadvantage and poverty. They have also grappled with big challenges as their traditional forests have been cut down, which has both damaged the local environment and impacted traditional ways of living and gathering food.
For children in the community, there are many barriers to accessing education beyond primary school.
Tearfund’s local Christian partner Ponleu Ney Kdey Sangkhum (PNKS) is working in 30 villages like Mrs Khoun’s to support people to generate livelihoods and build stronger, healthier communities.
“Ponleu Ney Kdey Sangkhum” means “light of hope”, and PNKS has a vision that “all people in Cambodia are able to live in peace, enjoy their rights, and fulfil their hopes for a life with dignity and happiness”.
PNKS works through local community development groups to train people in leadership, project management, livelihoods, climate-smart agriculture and disaster risk reduction. Through this work, PNKS promotes gender equality and empowerment of women, as well as inclusion and access for people with disabilities.
Mrs Khoun has been involved in a PNKS-supported economic development project which has included training and materials to raise chickens and fish on her property, providing her and her family with food as well as a source of income.
When former Tearfund CEO Matthew Maury met her late last year, she was looking forward to her first harvest a few weeks later.
She is very grateful for the support through PNKS, which has had an incredibly positive impact on her whole family, “providing added food security as well as income”.
“It is a new season of hope for the family to have the benefit of the program,” she said.
Related projects have received support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).
