Sopheap

Loan description:

Sopheap Yoeurn is 56 years old and married with nine children. The six elder children are married and live separately. The three younger children are aged between 13 and 17 and still attend school. They live with their parents in Samrong Snor village in Ek Phnom district in Battambang province. Sopheap has been a member of Ek Phnom credit union for over six years. Sopheap and her husband, Phon San who is 65, have worked as farmers their whole lives. They own two hectares of rice paddy located around six kilometres from their home. The yield is only about one and half tonnes per hectare and is just kept for their own family consumption. Separately, they also have another business selling vegetables at Norea market which is about two kilometres from their home. They sell a variety of vegetables including cucumber, cabbage and chillis. Additionally, for the last couple of years they have raised and sold pigs. Sopheap has borrowed money in order to buy piglets and build a pigsty. Sopheap intends to repay the loan over five months (the photographs show Sopheap’s husband Phon).