Soeurn, 54, welcomed us in to her home the other day. Music was blaring from speakers next door as a wedding for a neighbor was just getting underway. The loan officer and I managed to detain her for a few minutes to ask her some questions about her life, family and the effects of her loan. Soeurn is married with eight children, though only three still live at home. Her husband helps with farming jasmine and taking care of the pigs.
Soeurn's loan of $500 is being repaid on schedule as of November. This is the seventh time she has taken out a loan through Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia and the effects the multiple loans have had on the family's standard of living are evident. Their home is of concrete and the interior furnishings of carved wood - an upgrade to the one-room, wooden dwellings of their neighbors. This new loan, funded through Kiva, has enabled Soeurn to purchase four new baby pigs and their feed. The balance of the loan was used to purchase young jasmine plants for her garden and cut blossoms from other women in the village.
One baby pig costs $30 USD, but after five months of care and feeding each is worth $150 or more. It's less than $1/day profit, but the business allows her to be at home to tend the jasmine garden and work on her other enterprises. One day a week, two of her daughters who still live at home, ages 20 and 24, travel to Phnom Penh to sell the flowers at the larger markets. Depending on the season, they can sell these jasmine blossoms for 10,000 to 40,000 Riel per Kilo ($2.50 to $10 USD). The total amount sold varies throughout the year though so it's difficult to estimate average profits.
In the future, Souern hopes to borrow again to continue expanding her business and ensure that her youngest child can pursue a higher education.
MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd.
Posted by Tami Rowan from Kean Svay district, Cambodia
Nov 19, 2007
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