A few years ago Poy and his wife struggled to support their six children as rice farmers. They often supplemented their income by cutting timber in the forest and selling it in nearby villages. Mr. Poy had to ask five of his children to stop studying and go to work in construction or garment factories in Phnom Penh to help them survive.
Then just two years ago, Poy participated in an animal raising workshop through World Renew. Poy’s first attempt at raising chickens didn’t go well. Many of the chickens died. Mr. Poy didn’t give up. Last year he decided to try again, acquiring a few more chickens to raise. He applied the techniques he learned from the workshop, using traditional medicine and natural chicken food. He also built a chicken coop and cages. During the day the chickens run free in the yard when the family is home; at night they are protected from other animals in the coop or cages.
Now, Mr. Poy is seeing the fruits of his labor, or rather, the eggs. In 18 months’ time, Poy sold several chickens, earning about $200. Mr. Poy no longer asks his children to quit school to work in the city; all of his children are attending school, and the family has achieved a much more stable situation.
“I am deeply grateful to World Renew for providing me the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in chicken raising. I hope that I can get a better life from chicken raising in 2015,” says Mr. Poy. In addition, Mr. Poy is sharing his success with others so they can also improve their livelihoods.
Can you imagine trying to grow vegetables in a field like this, with no irrigation? Or what about during a drought? Kasaburo Silver tends this, his field, in varying weather conditions and without irrigation. This is part of the same field, only here Mr. Silver has experimented with mulching.
What a difference! Mr. Silver learned about the power of mulch and other techniques in a World Renew training. Finding available resources to use as mulch is difficult. Mr. Silver worked clearing a field for his neighbor for free so he could take the trimmings home to use as mulch. He even cleared overgrowth from community walkways—backbreaking work—in order to acquire more mulch materials. His family thought he was crazy! But he never gave up.
Now Mr. Silver has productive fields. He can feed his family and earn extra income with surplus crops. And he is sharing his knowledge with his neighbors. These men work hard. And thanks to the generosity of people like you, Mr. Silver and Mr. Poy, and many men and women like them can equip themselves with new agricultural and animal-raising techniques and training from World Renew that increase their crop yields and improve their standard of living.
Will you help another farmer acquire the techniques she needs to thrive?
