Self-reliance triumphs over suffering

Self-reliance is replacing suffering in the rural village of Chrolong, Cambodia, thanks to the generosity of HOPE donors.

For the first time in their lives, widow Yom Lar and her daughters are living the self-reliant life that so many rural Cambodians aspire to but are unable to achieve, despite their best efforts.

Yom Lar and her children are now drinking clean water from a well dug by Lar and her neighbors. Their new vegetable garden, irrigated with water from the well, yields an abundance of nutritious produce. Extra produce, sold at the local market, has created a sustainable source of income, enabling Yom Lar to send her children to school.

Recently, Yom Lar received a small loan from a HOPE-supported self-help group she participates in. With it, she purchased the materials needed to build a small chicken coop as well as a few hens and a rooster, further improving her family’s ability to produce more food and income. Simple things by our reckoning, but these seemingly small improvements are absolutely life transforming, as evidenced by the dramatic change in Yom Lar’s life.

Before help from HOPE donors transformed Yom Lar’s family, hunger and sickness were constant companions, education for her children was unaffordable, earning income, even the relatively modest amount of money needed in order to be self-reliant and secure, was well beyond her reach.

If you’ve ever wondered about the value of your giving, you need look no further than the smile on Yom Lar’s face and the health of her children to get your answer.