Ms. Khorn Sokunthea is a twenty-five-year-old person who lives at Pongror village, Kronhong commune, Kamchai Mear district. Her province along with Prey Veng province is the priority areas of Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health (iREACH). Ms. Khorn Sokunthea is a second child among six children of Mr. Phann Kea and Ms. Nai Som Aun. Their standard of living is average as they mainly depend on rice as their main crop for farming. On her younger years, she studied hard and wanted to be famous in the society being a community developer. But she had to stop studying in grade 11 at Kamchai Mear high school in 2004 to help in her family’s livelihood and went to work in Phnom Penh as a garment factory worker. With this job, she got a little money to support her family in her hometown and the rest were used for her daily expenses such as water and light bills, food and house renting, etc.In 2005, she got interested with Mr. Tha Bun who was a farmer and also lived in Pong Ror community. They were married through their own parents’ agreement. As life and jobs for them were difficult, her husband decided to leave his family and worked in Thailand. But Ms. Sokunthea got no information from her husband along time because the information network service was not available in their community. It was difficult and costly to go to Phnom Penh or the other provincials just to make overseas calls.
Until 2006, her life and wisdom in the past were step by step beginning to be hopeful because iREACH project started their program in Kamchai Mear community which aimed to improving life through information and communication technology (ICTs). It also provided important service network to community such as computers, internet, e-mail and community sound information program which related with health, agriculture and education…etc. There are three main objectives of iREACH project in Kamchai Mear district. First, for informing information and communication technology (ICTs) to the country area in the community; second for changing or developing community’s standard of living in the country area that follows by providing ICTs; and third for informing in preparing the ways of government policy. ICTs are gone quickly to Kamchai Mear community because of having iREACH project, which introduced information to the country area in the community.
Ms. Sokunthea always used the project information hub that was introduced and supported by Mr. Pich Rotha is a community facilitator in Pong Ror information hub. Because of the information and communication technology (ICTs) is not yet modern in the community and they still lack knowledge, she met difficulty in her first time of using such the Khmer typing is poor, searching to find the information who want to know in internet is not possible….etc. But then, she used it more often to be more knowledgeable until she could use ICTs by herself and didn’t need support from community facilitator of iREACH project. Three month later, because of her hard work and careful using of the network service of iREACH project‘s information hub, Ms. Sokunthea can now understand ICTs. She could fluently type (Font Khmer) by using Khmer UNICOD, prepared administrative document such as festival, wedding invitation, and other ceremony in village. She could also search other information from the internet system that related with agriculture, health, education, communicate with her relative or friends in inside and outside of country by e-mail. Furthermore she could help and share her idea to the other people in community who wanted to know the information and communication technology (ICTs). This action was referred to by someone as “STEP by STEP” no someone was born wise, they have to study hard for getting success in the bright future.
Relating with iREACH information hub, Sokhuntea spent a bit time with the whole family in her free time from work to use Pong Ror information hub for finding knowledge and information and to setting them to practice in her own family especially relating with agriculture, education, health that are the important information for practicing her own family such as rice crop methodology, vegetable, fruit tree, feeding, and understanding about domestic violence, safety of immigration, traffic law, health prevention, cheating……etc. Now, she has been using information hub of the project which is all the service of iREACH project and community in developing area. Moreover, she also shared lots of her experience on ICTs to the other people conscientiously. Because of her hard work and struggle, she now lives around Pong Ror community information hub and become friendly and sensitive to all villagers in using the information and communication technology. Moreover, iREACH Project appointed her the lead person in the community in ICTs for developing knowledge. Now, she will be trained by iREACH Project for sustainability.
iREACH has made ICTs accessible and understandable to the people in the community who had no ICT knowledge in the past. It also helped them develop their source of livelihood by using information and communication technology from iREACH information hub as being shown by Ms. Khor Sokhunthea as their model. She got knowledgeable and successful because of ICT system which we believe all community can be the same using ICTs system. With that, information which can be readily accessed from project information hub and could be of great use in their daily work and could improve community livelihood as well as its social being.
iREACH has made ICTs accessible and understandable to the people in the community who had no ICT knowledge in the past. It also helped them develop their source of livelihood by using information and communication technology from iREACH information hub as being shown by Ms. Khor Sokhunthea as their model. She got knowledgeable and successful because of ICT system which we believe all community can be the same using ICTs system. With that, information which can be readily accessed from project information hub and could be of great use in their daily work and could improve community livelihood as well as its social being.
