During our visit we have seen various enterprises used by villagers; here are some examples:
BRACELETS
Kournn Lumong has a daughter in Grade 6 and lives quite close to the school, next to S……..’s family. She supports her family by making bracelets for her daughter to sell to tourists at Angkor Wat. (Margaret will be bringing a supply back to Australia for sale; the proceeds will be used for the school projects.)
RECHARGING OF BATTERIES
Villagers power their meagre lighting (and Mr Ournn’s TV set!!!) with car batteries. Of course, they need constant recharging. One villager has a petrol driven generator and he offers a re-charging service.
Costs are: Small sized battery 500 Riel
Medium size battery 1,500 Riel
Large battery 3,000 Riel
[4,200 Riel = 1 Australian dollar]
CASH CROPS
Sweet potatoes (see post entitled “Staying Alive”)
SELLING TO THE TOURISTS
The usual items sold by children from Khvein village are books (describing some aspect of Cambodian life and history), postcards, bracelets, and Cambodian scarves (“gror-maa”). These items are bought from a man from Siem Reap who acts a a wholesaler to the children in the Angkor Wat carpark. The margin is very small by western commercial standards and someone like G….. may go for days without selling a book. By the way, if they don’t “work” (make a sale), they don’t eat.
Martin and Margaret