It has been twenty-two months since Cambodia has lived in the grasp of the Coronavirus.
All major segments of Cambodia’s economy are affected. Most of the peoples works in factories, tourism or farming. Due to the pandemic, factories are either closed or cut back; agriculture export severely curtailed; and tourism (which accounts for 37% of the country’s GDP) is currently nonexistent. Cambodia lacks social welfare system to support their citizens during such an unprecedented event. Many Cambodians have exhausted their saving, taken our personal loans, and sold their personal belongings to survive.
Here, at Phoenix International Foundation, we have regularly traveled to Cambodia since 2018. Through our relationships with our Cambodian partners, we developed a grassroot Emergency Food Sustainability program to support the immediate needs of several villages on the brink of hunger.
The Food Sustainability focuses on three farming programs: fish farming, chicken farming, and vegetable farming. The program will provide interest free loans and technical assistance for families to establish family farms. Each farm will be able to provide food and income to sustain a family. The original loan will be repaid over a year. This return of investment will enable us to grow the program and to support more families.
Our first phase is to provide support for 200 families in the rural villages in the Siem Reap region. Our projected budget is US$56,000.
This is a grassroot effort that will be supervised by Phoenix International Foundation and our local partners. There are widespread discontents among citizens, and uproars are frequent. Impending famine is now a distinct possibility.
We need your help now to avert the humanitarian disaster.