The Daughters of Charity have been working with the poor in Phnom Penh, Cambodia since 2001. Poverty, hunger, and children dropping out of school to help support the family financially are common in the Phnom Penh slum areas. Families struggle with not having enough income to pay for their housing needs and for food. The Daughters of Charity provide microloans to assist families with their small businesses, helping families become increasingly self-sufficient. The Sisters also run a daycare program for children so parents are able to work and earn income while their children are safely cared for.

Testimony

“Leak* is a parent whose child is in the daycare center. Towards the middle of last year she got a lot of problems because her income is quite small against the many debts that she has to pay monthly like the cost of her house which she had borrowed from the bank, the daily food and other expenditures on basic needs, health expenses of her own family and that of her mother of which she took a bigger share as her mother is staying with her, the education of her child and many others. Providentially, her younger sister who operates a mobile coffee shop which she also borrowed from the bank for her seed capital, got pregnant and can not continue her little business at the moment lent to her, her shop. So when the ingredients for coffee and other beverages got consumed Leak borrowed from the center $700 to continue the business and tried to revolved this amount for her continuous capitalization. With this assistance, Leak was able to pay for her monthly installment for her house, pay for her mother’s medical care, daily transportation expenses. Her husband’s salary is also small and just enough to pay for their food expenses, water and electricity expenses and other basic needs. The family is very thankful for the assistance extended to them which solved some of their hard problems.

*Name has been changed to protect identity.