Empower HIV+ Women in Cambodia to Start a Business

Thank you for your generous support of our project. Rather than give you just the numbers of women taking part in our sewing class, we would like to share the stories of women whose lives have been transformed through participating in our sewing program.

The sewing program was started in Battambang Province with the contributive supports from Face to Face AIDS Project and Global Giving. The immediate goal of the program was to nurture poverty and HIV-infected or affected and vulnerable women to be able to gain quality technical skills in sewing so that they might be able to support themselves and their families. The SCC-Battambang vocational sewing program gave young women from poor families both pride in their own work as well as hope for a more prosperous future.

Ms. Doung aged 28, Ms. Roeuth aged 24 and Ms. Yib aged 24 joined the sewing and tailoring program with SCC Battambang after visiting Wat Norea Community Centre and taking a look at the program. With the Program they had to stay and learn from Monday to Friday at SCC’s Centre, they also worked outside on Sunday and Saturday for getting income during their learning at SCC.

With their hard work and learning at SCC’s Centre, they improved their sewing skills and would like to start their own business at their communities. At the end of 2013 they decided to leave SCC’s Centre and then later three of them requested the sewing machines from SCC. SCC suggested them to set up as a group for supporting each other and they later accepted it.

SCC decided to provide them the interest-free loans to purchase the sewing machines and the pong machine. Now they have a daily income from these sewing and tailoring. They can earn around 3.25 dollars each per day. They can save the money which is a big help for their family.

Thank you for being part of the SCC family and supporting our work to combat the economic hardships that HIV imposes on women and their families in rural Cambodia.