“My mother had severe diarrhea, I could see her stomach getting smaller when loosing stools and bigger when not…” at this end a stressful girl Oun Soknay began to cry out as she could not continue to tell the story of her mother’s suffering.

Oun Soknay, 13 years old became the oldest daughter in the family after the death of her older brother and sister some years ago.

Soknay is now living with her younger sister Oun Chansean, 9 years old, studying in grade 2. Her 74 year-old grandmother, Pin Phoun, struggles with her eye sights and at the same time take care of the grandchildren. Soknay has a younger brother, Oun Chan Song who is 11 and a younger sister, Oun Sokchea age 7 who is adopted by families living near by. Oun Sokchea, is the youngest and the only son in the family, unfortunately, he is deaf since birth.

According to Soknay’s grandmother, their parent Mr. Kong Aiy, 44 years old and Ms. Chab Chansy, 39 years old were divorced in 1999. At that time, Soknay’s mother was already two-month pregnant with the youngest son. Soknay’s father left her mother with all the children without providing any support while he remarried with another wife in the same village. A woman with four children to feed without any job or financial support from the father, Soknay’s mother struggled in silence and fell ill. In late 2005, Soknay’s mother became critically ill. Her relatives sought help from the traditional healers, but they could not help. In the end, her condition did not improve and she was sent to a hospital in Kompong Chhnang province. The doctor diagnosed her illness as HIV and recommended the family to take her back home and advised the family to keep the money for her funeral.

“My grandchild, Soknay did not have enough sleep. She took care of her Mum day and night. One day, she came to me and complained that she tried to feed her mother many times but her mother could not eat anything…she cried and asked how can she make her mother eat.” said the grandmother.

A few days later Soknay’s mother passed away leaving her with 3 siblings to care for. Seeing the children in such difficult circumstances, the village chief reported the case to World Vision Cambodia’s Home Care team. Since then the 4 children were integrated into the Orphan and Vulnerable Children team.

“World Vision Cambodia provided me, my sisters and brother with school materials, food and house ware” said Soknay.

One of the home care team members, Ms. Dara added that “we are in the process of applying for a monthly rice support from the MAAP project to these OVC, we also plan to repair the house of each foster families, provide training to the foster family on how to care for OVC, and build an OVC club to promote awareness to the OVC about HIV/AIDs.”

All children and their foster parents express their profound gratitude and thanks for the donors and visitors for supported them so far. Like all children, Soknay and her siblings have a dream. She wants to be a doctor because she wants to care for all those who are sick. Chan Song wants to be a teacher, though she is not good with literature she promises to study harder. The most lively of all the three sisters, Chansean proclaimed, “I want to learn, learn, learn.”