“Families started to move to Affordable and Low Cost houses in Andong”

“I just moved in my newly built house about a month ago, and the experience is totally different from my previous house. In this brick house, there is proper toilet, clean kitchen and rest area, and I feel safer here,” 40-year old Ms. Prak Sokha said while making handicraft products.

Sokha is a single mother and is one among many families living in Andong Community, Phnom Penh who were in need of adequate housing. Before receiving a new home built by HFH Cambodia partner People for Care and Learning (PCL), she used to live in a small  old thatch house with many holes in front and the roof. “Sometimes cats and dogs entered my house and leave their waste inside when  no one is at home. It was not that I didn’t lock the door, but the hole in front of my house was too big to cover.”

There are currently 4 family members in the house including her son, Sok Panha, 14, her God daughter, Prak Somanita, 10 months old, her nephew who just moved in, Sun Luka, 12, and herself. As a breadwinner, Sokha has to work hard to support her children to school and ensure they all have enough to eat. She is presently working as a small handicraft pmaker and a nanny for the babies around the community. Sokha’s children now have enough space to study and have better lighting through ther state electricity and water connection.

The houses that Sokha and other 19 families are living in are a part of Phnom Penh Housing and Community Development Project’s (PPHCDP) partnership with PCL, funded by The Charitable Foundation (TCF). It is a one-year project that started from October 2012 and will finish by 30 September 2013. 70 brick houses, sized 4m x 5m, with zinc roof will be completed for 70 families in Andong Community by this September. So far, 20 houses are already completed while the 36 others are in progress. The house only costs $1,000 to build and has all the basic  features for adequate housing.

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Housing and Community Development Project is currently operating in 8 peri-urban  communities around the capital, Phnom Penh; serving families living in relocation sites. PPHCDP delivers housing solutions through construction of houses, repairs, renovations, water and sanitation facilities, electricity and water connections, livelihood training and construction skills training. Since the program began in 2004, PPHCDP has formed 24 Local Associations with over 81 members combined and provided over 2,000 safe, decent shelters.