During my visit to Kratie in January 2023, I meet with a poor farmer named Sokhim who lives along the Mekong river in Kratie province. She is a recent widow whose husband passed away after a lengthy illness leaving her to raise five children on her own.

Sokhim’s husband was building a new house for the family when he fell ill. The family has been living in the half-finished house for years now.

Sokhim and her children use to have to carry water bucket by bucket up the steep and uneven bank from the Mekong river for their needs and to water their garden. This was exhausting and dangerous during rainy season where the steep bank is slippery. Now, from her garden, she makes enough to hire someone to pump water up her homestead a few times a month.

MCC’s local partner Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) taught Sokhim a number of environmentally friendly and climate change resilient agricultural techniques. One technique was how to make her own organic liquid fertilizer.

Other techniques included planting marigolds, zinnia, mint, and other plants that act as natural pest controls. She also plants fruit trees throughout the garden – like banana and papaya – to provide shade so that the hot sun doesn’t wilt her vegetables.

Unlike most farmers in the village, Sokhim does not grow rice. It is too physically intense for her so her family stopped after her husband’s illness. To compensate her vegetable garden is larger than most. She is relying on it to gain enough income from it to finish her house, support herself, and support her five children. The cost of living has increased in Cambodia due to global inflation and the war in Ukraine, which has increased fuel/transportation costs, but that has also meant that the cost vegetables has increased significantly. So, even though her daily expenses have increased, Sokhim is actually earning more money than she was in the past since she is able to sell her vegetables at a higher price.

Sokhim is a member of a village vegetable producer group, which was started as part of the MCC project there and doubles as a village savings group. The group sometimes sell their produce collectively to fill big orders and to bargain as a group in order to secure the best prices for everyone. They also purchase agricultural supplies together, so they can bargain for bulk prices and reduce the cost of transportation to their remote village. Sokhim has also received microloans from the group’s revolving fund and training on sustainable agriculture as part of the project.

Like all of the participants in the MCC/CRDT project, when she started Sokhim was classified as living below the national and provincial poverty line by the Cambodian government. But her income is increasing thanks to her impressive vegetable garden and she is on the trajectory to escape poverty through her own efforts.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
    this is God, whose dwelling is holy.

Psalm 68:5 NLT

In December I wrote about visiting the farm of another widow, Samun. She lived in a different province, Prey Veng, and was supported by a different partner, ODOV. It’s striking to see that two widows, in two different provinces, supported by two different partners have taken all of the training provided to them and taken it further than many of their peers with whole families. It defies stereotypes.