:: Artisan stories :: At Artisans’ Association of Cambodia (AAC), we like to focus on the people behind the products. People whose hands have woven beautiful silk and crafted intricate handicrafts. People who have been given the chance of a future because of your purchase of Cambodian handmade goods. These are their stories… Oun Sokny (Peace Handicrafts & Silk) My name is Oun Sokny and I am 22 years old. I was born in Khum Soung, Kompong Cham Province. When I was 3 years old, I contracted polio through an injection. I finished high school in Kompong Cham in 1998 and moved to Phnom Penh to get training as a tailor at the Watthan/Maryknoll Training Center. Since 2002, I have been working for Peace Handicrafts & Silk as a producer and I have recently been promoted to Administrative and Shop Assistant, working in the retail outlet. My current pay helps me to support myself, my mother and two brothers in the provinces. One of my brothers lives with me and I have paid for him to receive training as a TV and Radio repairer. Apart of my fulltime job, I am also studying in the evening for a Business Associated Degree at Build Bright University, with support from World Vision. I will finish by the end of this year and I am looking for more financial support to move on to a Bachelors Degree and Masters, if it is possible. My dream is to establish a local NGO to support people with disabilities and orphaned children in Cambodia. Lay La (VillageWorks Songhkem) My name is Lay La and I am 29 years old. I was born in Kompong Cham Province. I contracted polio in both of my legs when I was one year old. I am the youngest son among three children in my family. I stayed at home, unable to walk to school, until 1997, when I came to Phnom Penh to attend the training course at Watthan/Maryknoll Vocational Training Center. I trained for one year and was then selected to work for Marryknoll for six months. Since July 2005, I have been working for VillageWorks Songkhem as a pattern marker and trainer. My current salary is $130 per month and it helps me support my family. I am not just supporting my wife and child, I also have to support my five younger relatives. They work with my wife and share the profit from selling their sewing products at the local market. In the future, I want to set up my own producer group and retail shop to sell my products, but I need the capital to invest in this shop. Nom Yaun (Rehab Craft Cambodia) In a country where an estimated 3% of the population are disabled, Nom Yaun is reluctant to see herself as a victim. The 39-year-old’s life was turned upside down when she accidentally trod on a hidden landmine in the mountains of Kampot Province over 20 years ago. “After the accident, it was hard to work and hard to dance,” Yaun recalls. “A lot of the time I just stayed inside the house.” Yaun tried to make the best of her circumstances, opting to weave baskets from home for sale at the local market. But she remained frustrated at her inability to leave her home, develop new skills and earn the income she needed to support her family. She decided to move to Phnom Penh to train as a sewer at one of the city’s many textile training centres. During her time at the centre, she heard good reports about a small Cambodian NGO that was looking to hire a team of sewers to extend its range of handmade products. Yaun applied for the post at Rehab Craft Cambodia and was successful, the first of many positive changes in her life. “I know that life is much better for me now,” Yaun says, having spent the past ten years developing her skills at Rehab Craft as a sewer and supervisor of the production team. “I am not discriminated against here like I was when I stayed at home.”