In 1986, Mam So Im was forcibly evicted from the Kompong Cham province land her family had lived on since the ouster of the Khmer Rouge regime. She said the land was taken with government approval and used for a rubber plantation.
In 1991, she lost her husband, who left her for a younger woman without getting a legal divorce. The heavy burden of supporting six children was left with the 39-year-old woman.
In 1994, two of her children died, and she fell deep in debt trying to pay for the health care which ultimately did not save her children.
Mam So Im came to Phnom Penh and became a construction worker to support her remaining children. The family lives in a pagoda and survives on food given them by monks and students. The children have no access to proper education.
Mam So Im’s story was similar to many others gathered in the Participatory Poverty Assessment, a survey of poor people in 154 villages nationwide conducted by the Ministry of Planning in conjunction with the Asian Development Bank.
The survey, conducted between last October and December, collected approximately 3,000 villagers into 169 focus groups and asked them about their needs and concerns.
The 12 project surveyors listed five key reasons for Cambodian poverty: the lack of food security, lack of draft animals and livestock, lack of land, lack of housing and lack of proper clothing.
Minister of Planning Chhay Than said the PPA survey would be used by the government to prepare its Second Socioeconomic Development Plan 2001-2005. “With these findings, the government can have a better strategy to address sensitive problems for the reduction of poverty in the future,” he said.
More than a dozen of the poor people surveyed attended a workshop in Phnom Penh Wednesday. They said they are glad the voices of poor people are being taken seriously by national policymakers.
Mam So Im said she hoped the government would move from strategizing against poverty to implementing programs to cure it.
“What I need now is housing and for my children to go to school,” she said. “The state must help with this.”
