Battambang, KH – Saving to make home water tight before the rains – 30 Sep 2019

The SSS family are saving to replace a wall made from palm leaves that has rotted and now has holes, which let in rain when winds are strong. The wood they will be using is not the best, but it is what they can afford at the moment.

Termites will be able to eat it, but termite resistant hard wood costs a lot of money because of limited supply. Treated wood costs more also. The wood they will purchase could be soaked in water for a time to make it resistant to the termites, but the family cannot wait. They want to replace the wall before the rainy season.

Part of the money for the wall has come from savings from eating vegetables from their garden, instead of spending $2 per day buying them in the local market, and also from selling surplus vegetables from the family garden. SSS also earns money as a laborer and from fishing.

The family is replacing the wall to make the home safer, healthier and watertight.  This will make it suitable for solar light, which they plan to save for so that their children can study after the sun goes down.