Kampong Speu province

Currently SSF works in Kampong Speu province, one of the three poorest provinces of Cambodia, as identified by the Ministry of Planning in 2004. Kampong Speu is a highly at-risk province where most inhabitants try to find seasonal work in neighboring locations such as Phnom Penh, Sihanouk Ville, Koh Kong province and Thailand, where they are often exploited and work without pay. In Kampong Speu, education is not highly valued, especially for girls around age 13. Parents often force their young daughters to forge documents saying they are of minimum working age for local factories in order to provide financial support to their families.

"If [the NGOs] want to help me, they should also help my family. Otherwise I can't quit,” remarked one girl victim of the sex trade. Source: AFP

The mountainous province of Kampong Speu is faced with other challenges as well. This province rarely gets enough annual rainfall for drinking water, let alone to water crops or raise farm animals. In order to survive in times of severe drought, people in Kampong Speu sell their assets and what little personal property they have in order to pay off their debts incurred from borrowing money from money lenders, in order to buy meager amounts of water and rice. Water must be brought in from neighboring villages, and oftentimes elderly women get overcharged by those who bring water back to the community, villagers in Kraing Hong village said.

Additionally, the people of Kampong Speu, specifically Kraing Hong village of Samrong Tong district, suffer from severe political discrimination yet. This district, along with Kampong Speu very poor province receives very little aid yet. Thus, it is up to few NGOs and other local groups to create positive, sustainable changes in the community. One of the future goals of SSF includes creating a water-well for a community, so that members do not have to spend $.50 per day on water, at least ¼ of their daily income...[more]