American Friends Service Committee in Cambodia

In Cambodian villages, as elsewhere, many men beat their wives, sometimes brutally and especially when drunk.  The Quaker AFSC staff of the Local Capacities for Nonviolence program met with women in the Mesang District of Prey Veng province and talked about how they experienced violence in their daily lives.  Beating by intoxicated husbands ranked high, with a few men having quickly been identified as the worst offenders.  As a group, the women have mapped out a strategy for a change.

 Women asked their husbands not to drink with the men who become violent when drunk.  Alcohol sellers were urged not to sell to them.  "Influential" people in the village were encouraged to talk with men about their behavior.  Neighbors offered refuge to women and children at risk.

Working together they were able to make a difference.

Years after the end of the Vietnam War and the horrific reign of Pol Pot, Cambodian long for a less violent society and a more secure economic future for themselves and their families.  The AFSC supports their desires in various ways:

* operating a demonstration farm in Samdach Ta village to illustrate successful soil and water conservation methods that reduce erosion in the rugged highland region and increase food production;

* building water purifying systems using natural filters of charcoal, gravel, and sand to provide a stead source of potable water;  replacing open wells where the iron content adversely affects the taste;

* training volunteers in an intensive 25-day course to become adult literacy teachers in their own villages;

* supporting the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics where Cambodians train to make and fit artificial prostheses for tens of thousands of amputees, victims of war and long-lived landmines;

* providing initial funds for loans to neighborhood groups that together embark on projects such as pig raising and small market stalls to boost income.

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