In just one year, Mom Peng and her family have gone from hungry to happy and they owe much of their success to a tiny rice seed that defies the odds during Cambodia’s scorching dry season.
Before the arrival of this impressive little seed, Mom Peng and her family, along with every other family in her community, would go without rice for as many as 5 months. But that was only part of the problem. Despite the best efforts of families like Mom Peng’s, when the rice ran out the money ran out as well. With no rice to sell for income, families were forced to scavenge for food or trade their labor for meager bowls of rice too small to sustain their health.
In impoverished situations, a lack of money can be equally as deadly as a lack of food, as Mom Peng and her children found out when they couldn’t put together the small amount of money needed to take her husband to the hospital, which, in the end, cost him his life.
Fortunately, in 2013, Mom Peng received the training and practical support she needed in order to grow all the food her family needs. She also significantly increased her income.
Today, Mom Peng and her family grow 3 huge crops of rice every year rather than just one small crop. The rice that the family doesn’t eat or store for future use is sold at the local market, generating a much needed source of consistent income.
The family enjoys three nutritious meals every day – hunger is a thing of the past. The children are in school and have a much better life than Mom Peng experienced as a child. The family even has two bicycles and plans are in the works for improving the sturdiness and size of her modest home.
The family enjoys three nutritious meals every day – hunger is a thing of the past. The children are in school and have a much better life than Mom Peng experienced as a child. The family even has two bicycles and plans are in the works for improving the sturdiness and size of her modest home.
Unfortunately, right now, however, there are families in the villages of Bakan and Kab Krolang, Cambodia, who urgently need the same kind of help Mom Peng received.
If you would like to help a family put food on the table all year round and earn a sustainable income, you can give a gift that will help provide:
- High-quality dry season rice seeds that require less water, mature quickly, and produce 2 to 3 times as much harvest
- Training on how to maximize the productivity of rice fields, without harming the environment or the long-term sustainability of the rice harvests
- The knowledge and support needed in order to earn much more income on a consistent and sustainable basis
- A community “seed bank” for members of the community
- Water pumps needed to irrigate the rice fields at certain times
