Between 95 and 97 per cent of the families in this area are displaced farmers whose average land holding is between half and one hectare. They grow one crop a year which barely sees them through to the next harvest. Most experience rice shortages four to five months before the next harvest. It is mid morning. Girls and boys neatly dressed in blue skirts or shorts and white shirts play, chat and giggle.
Boys are busy running around in the open field chasing each other and playing pranks.
One . . . Vision- built community center and chats and giggles with her friends. In class there is a sparkle in Sokhin's large black eyes as she looks up at the chalk board and diligently jots details in one of the notebooks provided by World Vision under the sponsorship program. Her hair, neatly combed in the morning, is disheveled after skipping rope. Her pierced ears don't carry the usual gold wire, an indication of the family's inability to save from their meager earnings.