Of pigs and fishes

Yet to truly eradicate poverty, we must work together day by day, every day. Tun Phorn, from Cambodia, has seen that power of working together in his own life.

Tun Phorn is a survivor of the brutal regime of Pol Pot. It is with great pain he remembers:

“Pigs today live better than we did back then.
Everything was destroyed.
Children were not allowed to live with their parents.
Many people died. From sickness, starvation and lack of medicine.”

The seeds of the help the ALWS family now gives to people like Tun Phorn were sown not long after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. It was during these very troubled times that Lutheran World Federation (LWF) entered Cambodia.

By working hard to empower local people, LWF grew into Life With Dignity (LWD). LWD is now the trusted Cambodian partner of ALWS, and also delivers substantial Australian Government support for Cambodia through ALWS.

Tun Phorn describes the change in his family’s life this way:

“When LWD came alongside us in the village,
it meant we didn’t have to go out and beg.”

Through ALWS, and partners like LWD in Cambodia, we have the privilege of standing in solidarity with people living in poverty, honouring their dignity, and empowering them through rights-based sustainable development to have their voices heard.

Tun Phorn describes our partnership a little more simply:
“LWD explained they didn’t want to ‘give’ us anything … but wanted to build our capacity. LWD didn’t give us a fish, but taught us how to fish, and showed us the best place to fish”.