Chheang's story: ice cream and fruit juice
Small loans for daily bread
As a mother and wife, Chheang Leang was eager to find a way for her six children to receive daily meals and access to education. In 2003, though, she and her husband were only earning 25 cents a day from rice farming and palm juice production in her Cambodian village. Then a series of loans changed everything.
Ten times better off now
The loans helped her expand production, start an ice cream and fruit juice business, buy livestock, and increase her income tenfold. "My family and I are happier," she says. "We have four cows, one bicycle, three beds, and three big water jars. We have sufficient food. Particularly, I can send my children to school. Before, only two of them could attend school."
Several loans expand her business
Chheang used her first loan of $25 in 2003 to buy fertilizer for the rice fields and to improve palm juice production. The following year, she borrowed $125 to buy a motorcycle and cart to sell ice cream and fruit juice. A loan of $200 in 2005 enabled her to buy six piglets. She used additional loans of $125 and $200 over the next two years to buy supplies for the ice cream and juice business.Allowing her to keep more kids in school
The family's income gradually improved. With increased assets and income, Chheang and her husband are able to keep five of their six children in primary school. She plans to borrow more to grow their businesses and, with increased income, send their oldest son to high school.
Replacing worry with hope
"Before these loans ... I always worried about my children in terms of their schooling, and about daily food," Chheang said. "What we have now stems most noticeably from loans."
In Cambodia, Chheang Leang used loans to expand rice production, buy livestock, and sell ice cream — efforts that have kept her children well-fed and in school.
