International Women's Day: Cambodia

We're supporting girls and their families who are affected by HIV to continue their education.

Girls and young women often carry the burden of care for people living with HIV. Where children provide care for their parents, 2/3 of these are girls. Not only does this extra work lead to a loss of childhood, it can also disrupt education thereby limiting a girl’s capacity to gain employment or to earn a decent wage later in life.

Ouk Rima is 14 and lives on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Life’s been tough since her mother discovered she was HIV positive and her father died. Stigmatised by the local community, her mother was unable to continue make a living.

The family is now being supported by CAFOD partner Maryknoll which provides ARVs for Ouk’s mother and have educated the local community about HIV. MaryKnoll also provided a loan for Ouk’s mother so that she can transport vegetables to market in order to earn an income. The extra money means that Ouk can stay on at school as well as helping her mother around the home.

"I’m in the ninth grade - I still have four more years before I finish high school. I want to be a doctor. My mum doesn’t want me to drop out of school because she wants me to get a good job. She quit school and ended up doing a difficult job and not earning much money and she wants me to have a better life."

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