Fishing villages around the Tonle Sap live a sometimes precarious existence. Photo: Veng Sonita

Veng Sonita
September 18, 2019

Single-income families must endure a precarious dependence, with penury, divorce and emigration looming when things go wrong for a breadwinner

For most Cambodian families, the presence of a father does not just mean a firm or sometimes stern paternal hand guiding the rest of the clan. As usually the main income earner, an ill, injured or absent father can leave a family facing debilitating financial losses.

Some of the devastating consequences can include taking children out of school, houses or property being sold, borrowing money from gimlet-eyed lenders or emigration, according to Am Sam Ath, deputy director of monitoring and protection at the Cambodian League for the Defence and Protection of Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation known by the acronym LICADHO.

Lacking a proper education and just turned 13, the boy Hak soon found himself exhausted by the man’s world he was thrown into – drained by a succession of arduous labouring jobs, from selling coal to picking pineapples to working in a dried fruit factory to long and back-breaking hours hauling 50kg sacks of rice.

For families who can afford it, Cambodia’s burgeoning life insurance industry can help them weather the death of a loved one when times are desperate. A report released by the Insurance Association of Cambodia earlier this year showed that the Kingdom’s insurance industry had grown by almost 30% in total gross premium between 2017 and 2018, with 50.6% of that growth driven by life insurance.

Activists feel that there is more that the state can do to assist vulnerable and dependent families. For Soeung Saran of Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, better information about what assistance is available is needed. “There is very little knowledge about what support systems exist to help families like this,” he said.

The Ministry of Social Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.
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