Chuk Rathana

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Chuk Rathana by CREDIT MFI -- World Relief in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 - 13 months, CREDIT MFI -- World Relief will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Mrs. Chuk Rathana was not at home today when I went by to ask her about how her Kiva loan has affected her business growth and the impact it has had on her family. I was told by her neighbors that she was at the market quite a distance away running her clothing sales business that very moment. Clearly she is hard at work. Since I can't include a photograph of her in this journal, I have included one of her neighborhood in Phnom Penh.

-Jordyan Edmiston, Kiva Fellow

Chuk Rathana and her husband, Chey Sarun, live down a dirt track next to a canal off a busy road in northwest Phnom Penh city. They were not at home during my last visit, but I had the chance to meet them both on this occasion. We entered the front room of their two room house and took a seat on the clean, wooden floorboards, sitting beside several young women and a newborn baby.

Chuk Rathana explained that these women were her tenants in the upstairs part of the building, which was built partly with the $1000 loan financed through Kiva. The rent of $45 per month goes towards repaying the loan at $100 per month. Chuk Rathana, who sells clothing in the market, also used part of the loan to purchase a larger inventory of clothing to resell. With the money saved by purchasing in bulk as well as the increased revenue by expanding her selection to meet client demands, she now makes three times her previous income, totaling $9 per day in profit. Her husband continues to work as a motor-taxi driver as well as a security guard for a company, earning about $2.50 per day.

The additional income is important in order for the family to finance their children’s education. They have a son, age 16, and a daughter, age 14, who are in high school. Though the schools are ostensibly free for all children in Cambodia, in reality there are fees to cover books, food, uniforms, and the “extra” lessons needed to pass exams. This averages to about $2 per student per day, or 30% of this family’s monthly income.

The Kiva loan is their first loan, but in the future they plan to borrow additional funds to open a business with other family members.

Photo: Chuk Rathana and her husband Chey Sarun stand in front of the second story of their house that they built with the Kiva loan.

-Jordyan Edmiston, Kiva Fellow, Cambodia