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Getting to Know Poverty

I have helped Habitat for Humanity to do a survey on people living around rail road in Tuol Seng Kae District. It was a month ago that I got the opportunity to get in touch with people in that community.

The reason we did this survey is that people in that area are very likely to be forced to move out of their homes in the near future because of the rail road construction. The plan to restore the railway has been confirm years ago; however, they could not manage to get these people out of this area and they could not manage the fund from ADB very well. Therefore, the railway project has not gone well until today.

By asking 60 families the same questionnaire, I was surprised that the level of information people in the same get is not the same. Some know clearly about what is happening and even advocate for what they want. On the other hand, some other do not understand their situation and what possibly will happen to them. It might show how information accessibility is unbalance.

One thing in common among all the people there is that they want money. Those who know about the relocation plan said they would not leave unless they get the amount of money they want. Even when asking about their living condition, they mostly complained about their low income. However, what I saw was that 45% of them were gambling. I have heard from the head of community that there have been many NGOs that came to help them about their living hardship. I think this might just be a problem of education.

Most of the people there are low educated. Plus, they do not know how to manage the finance, which leads to poverty. All they want is money, but they would not use it correctly and finally they spend all the money again. Most of them said: “Money I earn daily is just enough for my daily expenditure.” That is exactly the problem. Who could help them?

However, there is a bright side of the community there. They do not have much stress even though they complained about money. For example, an old couple I interviewed. They were smiling when I was talking to them. They said they did not want a lot of money; all they want was to see their children and grandchildren living a happy life.


By helping in this survey, I had a chance to know how people live in that community and also how vulnerable they are. I only hope that the relocation which will happen in the future can bring them better lives.

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