Sovan moved from Takeo Province to Phnom Penh over a decade ago in search of improved living conditions and opportunities for her family. A mother-of-three, she works collecting recyclable waste to support her family. Two of her sons are currently in school and she hopes to send her youngest daughter to school when she reaches the right age.

One of Sovan’s sons is currently an ISF student and is being supported to study in grade 9 at state school. Sovan became a beneficiary of ISF’s Soap For Hope project because of ISF’s Education Programme and has been receiving the soap as part of her monthly food parcel for the past three years.

She believes it’s a great initiative and teaching children and community members about the importance of washing their hands and bodies with soap can prevent disease. Sovan and her family use the soap to wash their hands, face and body and says it makes her feel good, fresh and clean.

In addition to making her feel better and improving her health and well-being, she says receiving the soap has also helped her economically as she can save the money she would’ve spent on buying soap at the market to invest in her children and their education.

Sovan has seen ISF’s teachers instill life lessons in her son that have carried over into his everyday life such as how to be responsible, how to treat other with respect and how to share the workload at home. Her dream for the future is for all of her children to finish school and her son to pass his final exams.