It’s been 20 years now since I left Oddor Meanchey, my hometown, searching for better education and opportunities in the city.On a very hot day in March 2013, I got on a motor to pay visit to...
I used to work at a bar in the UK, serving drinks until 1 or 2am. I didn’t really enjoy the dark drive home. I’d lock the car doors and crank up whatever ‘power ballad’ was on the radio to make me...
Having children for women working in cities is become more difficult. Poor women, especially, have to make the hard decision to go to work or stay at home to look after children.Since the cost of...
As part of ActionAid’s Safe Cities Initiative, I’ve been visiting some of the areas on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, where these women live.Approximately 500,000 workers are employed in...
Outrage is a great motivator, says Robert Chambers, sitting back in his chair matter-of-factly.Professor Chambers, a pioneering academic who has pushed the voices of the poverty-stricken and...
The bridge is cobbled together from two parallel chunks of wood, about a metre long, driven unevenly into the ground to form a ‘V’. My guide – whose shirt puckers as I tighten my grip – lines...
Where there is any discussion, workshop or campaign about garment workers, the topic will mainly focus on demanding decent conditions and better salaries for the workers. But when we ask about what...
Everyone in his community used to call him a wild-boy. At 14, Thon Sarat used to be a very poor boy with a dark brown complexion and long hair. He was excluded and discriminated against in his...
It is World Food Week and between now and the end of the year the world’s leaders will meet for the G20 in Cannes and COP here in South Africa. There has never been a more crucial time to make a...
Lying on the wooden bed with serum injection, 31 year-old Sein Keo is seriously ill after her young daughter died in the severe ongoing flood affecting Cambodia. The day the floods came, she told me...
Saroun is a 33 year old widow, with a 10-year old son who lives in a small village in Oddar Meanchey province in Cambodia, one of the poorest and most marginalised areas in the country. Saroun moved...
Chum Sivphem, 38, lives together with her husband and four children in Kampot village, Rohars commune, Roveang district of Preah Vihear province. Sivphem described herself as previously "...
Bopha, from the Prey Veng province of Cambodia, lives in Phnom Penh in a rented room which is 2.3 metres by 3 metres. She has an eight year old son, who lives in the village with his grand...
Having trained as a health healer after finding that a simple herbal remedy was able to cure her own serious disease, Pho now passes on her knowledge of nutrition and basic health care to her village...
After suffering a serious disease herself, Pho attended a women’s health healer training programme and is now able to provide health support to her local community and spread her knowledge.
Sophat Soarn, 25, used to have to make an hour and a half journey on foot to visit her nearest health centre where treatment was often unaffordable anyway.
