Catching up with the Lang family

During Lent 2018 we told you the story of the Lang family, from Cambodia.

Dad Lang and Mum Toma, struggled to feed their family of six. Depending on fishing and farming to survive, the family was badly affected by poverty and illegal fishing in their area.

Working with our local partner, DPA, we helped the Langs to protect their waters from illegal fishing, so they can catch enough fish to feed themselves and to sell some in the market. We also provided training in new ways to grow rice to increase what they can produce. The Lang family were given rice and vegetable seeds, and training in how to increase their harvests.

Our partner DPA caught up with the Lang family a year later to see how support from generous donations in Scotland, and Aid Match from the UK government, has continued to impact their lives.

Mr Lang told us,

My family’s financial situation is better than before. Most of our money now comes from fishing and farming. I now have enough money to help my youngest son to go to university.

As a family we continued to attend training provided on book-keeping and managing our finances, and topics like leadership. My oldest son now works for a micro-finance institution and earns a good salary of $250 a month.

My daughter attended training on growing food, and now helps me to grow vegetables like cucumber and aubergine, and we rear chickens too. We have enough to eat, and I also sell the surplus to others in the village. We can get around $100 a month.

We are doing much better than we were before. Please continue to support communities like mine for as long as possible.

The Lang’s are just one of many families who, thanks to you, are working their way out of poverty.