Sopheap (given name) is a 42 year-old HIV positive women currently living in Sonikum district in the province of Siem Reap, Cambodia. She has been struggling alone to provide for her family since her husband left the family home shortly after her last child’s birth.
Sopheap has four children and has no permanent paid employment. The family’s daily expenditure has become a huge burden for her, and she feels the pressure of being the sole breadwinner, particularly as her children have not yet completed their education; her youngest child is four years old.
She recalls that she used to receive food support from World Food Program (WFP) through Caritas Cambodia, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) in Siem Reap. The food packages were very helpful for her family. However, these packages were cut off in early 2013. Sopheap said this has unavoidably reduced her family’s food ratio.
It has been over two months since the Sopheap’s last food package, as a result Sopheap sometimes has no food on the table for her family. This has forced her into engaging in more paid work.
“I have to work harder now, doing whatever I can for money,” said Sopheap. “But I cannot go far as I have young children I am responsible for.”
Sopheap is one person in over 10,000 households in Cambodia where people living with HIV (PLHIV) or orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) live who are no longer receiving food support from WFP, as from the end of last year. The packages included 25 kilos of rice a month, enough to supply the basic needs of a family.
When asked about her life and her future Sopheap becomes very upset. Tears fall down her face as she explains, “Life is very hard for me. Sometimes there is no food on the table, and my neighbours have to give some to me so I can feed my children. I feel very weak.”
Sopheap dreams of sustaining her family with profits form a small store that she could manage and own. This would cost around US$100 to set up, money that she does not have, and currently there exists no budget support available to her.
According to the 2011 annual report from KHANA, an NGO implementing HIV/AIDS programmes in Cambodia, over 2,600 metric tons of rice were distributed to support nearly 16,000 poor people living with HIV and orphan and vulnerable children during the WFP. The amount of food distributed has been reduced each year while the number of households that need this support has increased.
In early March this year, HIV/AID Coordinating Committeee (HACC) conducted a survey in three provinces (Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap) to study the impacts of the recent food cuts for PLHIV in rural areas.
Mr Thona, HACC’s Deputy Director voiced his concerns over the long-term effects that the food package cuts may have for PLHIV livelihoods. This included fears over PLHIV health and nutrition requirements being met, continuation of education of young children who may be forced into employment and also the migration of families who may move to another province or across the border to find employment – which in turn may severely impacting their ongoing ARV treatment.
Good Job !