Poverty Econ Project
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MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Cambodia Rural Poverty Simulation Directions: As part of our unit on Microeconomics, you will learn about budgeting, choice, opportunity cost and trade-offs by participating in a simulation as a family in rural Cambodia. Much like in real-life, your ability to lead a successful family will depend on a combination of good decision making and luck. Throughout the simulation, you will have to deal with real-life problems that rural people in developing countries must face daily. In Part 1 you will create the characters in your family and design their personalities. You will make choices about what investments to make in the family members including education, health-care, food, housing and access to clean drinking water. In Part II you will lead your family through a 6-month simulation. When problems happen, you will have to make decisions which will affect the members of your family and cause you to make difficult choices. You will also keep track of an ongoing budget with income, expenses and savings. In Part III you will reflect on the successes, failures and challenges you faced throughout the simulation. Group Members: Vichayada Wanna (Tangkwa), Witthawin Sinprasert (Win) Your Family Number: 8 Your Family’s Province: Kampot Family Housing Choice: Corrugated Metal
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Characters: ___________________________________________________________ Family Picture
Character Summaries: ______________________________________________________________________ Characters
Name
Age
Kiri
50
Male Child (8-13)
Arun
13
Male Child (8-13)
Rith
12
Male Child (8-13)
Sambath
11
Maly
48
Ary
18
Father
Mother Female Child (14-18)
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Female Child (8-13) Male Child (4-7)
Sophea
13
Dara
7
Father (50)- His name is Kiri which means mountain. He is 50 years old, a leader of the family who love the family more than everything. As his name, he is the mountain of the family, who always be there when the family is in trouble and try his best to solve the problems. Kiri is a hard working man. He works 6 days/week but then starts to work 7 days/week since month 4 in order to increase the income. He is a poor merchant manufacturer who interested in painting and drawing as he gets this skill from his dad. Kiri is a big, loud man, tan skin with black hair and a metallic laugh. Kiri has brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice. His sound is unpleasant and annoying, but he is very kind. For his hobby, he loves to play and spend time with his children and his wife. He usually eats rice and vegetables from month 1 to 4. Nevertheless, he has rice, vegetables, and meat since month 5 as well as an access to medical check up in that month because the family earn enough money and this also help to increase his health percentage. He consume dirty water until month three and finally start to drink clean water since month four. He has an access to sanitary products since month four as well. “Being a father is tough, but it’s worth it for the family” (Kiri). Male Child (13)- His name is Arun means morning sun. He is a 13 years old older brother who love to help people and take care of his siblings. He has black hair and cheerful eyes. Arun always bring smile to the family as he loves to tell the fun time he has experienced in that day to other members during dinner time. He wants to help the family earn money as he works 5 days/week and starts to work 6 days/week since month four for more income. Furthermore, he is neither working abroad nor g oing to school. He think it’s more important to help mom and dad work here and take care of them. Arun eats rice until month three then starts to eat rice and vegetables in month four, and end up eating rice, vegetables, and meat since month 5. He has dirty water for 2 months then drinks clean water since month three. He is a family man in kid’s version as Kiri is his idol who always do the best for the family. He has access to sanitary products since month four, as well as an access to medical check up in month 5. Arun is interested in technician as he likes to repair and fix equipments in the house. He works at the paddy field with Rith and Sambath, his another two brothers. “Life is tough, but I don’t let myself down” (Arun). Male Child (12)- His name is Rith means power or strength. He is a 12 years old hardworking kid who helps the family work 5 days/week and finally starts to work 6 days/week since month four in order to earn more money. He is not working abroad because he’s too young and doesn’t have enough maturity. He is fine of not attending school and work for the family. He has a black hair and sparkling charming eyes. He loves to compete strength with the oldest brother. Arun and as his name he always win the competition between his brothers. He is the one who stop the fight every time that his two brothers get into the fight with other kids because he loves to protect people. He has a muscle from his hard working which provide energy for him to work. Rith has only eat rice for the first two months then eat rice and vegetables in month three because he start to work 6 days/week. However he also has meat for the first time in
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
month four to increase his wellness which continue until month six due to the family status is getting better. He drinks dirty water in the first 2 months then has clean water after month two. He is confident on what he deserve to do and he is happy on what he has. He get health check up one time in month four and an access to sanitary products in the same month which the sanitary products is continue until month six. He is interested in football and sports. Rith works with Arun and Sambath at the paddy field. “I will use this power to push on and protect my family” (Rith). Male Child (11)- His name is Sambath means great wealth or fortune. He is a 11 years old hardworking kid, who always concern about the money and try his best to show other brother that even though he is the youngest brother but he can help the family to gain money. He has got black hair and tan skin. Sambath has a powerful mentally strength that he can solve problem at hand and he can handle any bad situations by himself. He provides a good leadership ability to put forward family. Moreover, he is not working abroad and attending school because he is too young to take care of himself and he also want to spend time with family. Usually, Sambath works 5 days/week, nevertheless he starts to work 6 days/week since month 4 like other kids to earn more money. He eats rice only for the first 3 months, then has rice and vegetables on month four as he is working harder and this help to increase his wellness. However, he has rice, vegetables, and meat since month five as the family earn more income from mother. He drinks clean water after month two. Sambath also gets a health check up in month six. He has an access to sanitary products since month four. Sambath is very interested in agriculture and love his work at the paddy field. “Life can get harder and harder but no matter what, I didn’t give up” (Sambath). Mother (48)- Her name is Maly means flower blossom. She is 48 years old kind woman. She has a lot of working abilities as she cans work 6 days/week as her husband and also starts to work 7 days/week since month 4. Maly always teach all of her children to do houseworks and tell them stories before the kids sleep. She is very talented at sewing and love to make scarves for her family member during winter time. She is a calm and relax person who think positive and support family as much as she can because in her opinion, family is everything. Maly always eat rice and vegetables because she needs energy to work and take care of the children. But she starts to has rice, vegetables, and meat since month five as her income is double by the help of international organization that give her financial loan. In the same month, she also get the medical check up. She drinks clean water and has access to sanitary products since month four. She knits and sells clothes with other housewife. After she come back from work, she will prepare and cook the dinner for the family with the help of the children. “Even though I have a rough road and destination, home is where the happiness never ends” (Maly). Female Child (18)- Her name is Ary means knowledge. She is an 18 years old intelligent girl who has a high skill of life. She has a long black hair and loves to observe and try new things. Also, she can understand someone feeling easily. She has positive perspective which make her life happy. Ary always do her best to be a great big sister of the family and she is the only one who is working abroad because she wants to earn more income for the family. However, she comes back in the third month. She eats rice and vegetables, also drinks clean water until
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
month 4 then after that she has rice, vegetables, and meat as the family earn more money since month 5. Ary is not attending school but choose to help the family and take care of her siblings. She has an access to medical check up in month 6. Ary has an access to sanitary products since month four. She is very interested in volunteering and helping other people who is experienced with bad conditions such as help to aid the people who is affected by the disaster. She weave the appliances for her work same as Sophea and Dara, her little sisters. “Life doesn’t get easier, but I get stronger” (Ary). Female Child (13)- Her name is Sophea means clever and wisdom. She is a 13 years old headstrong kid, who is true to herself. She is very clever and dream that one day she will explore the world. She has a short dark brown hair because she doesn’t like to take care her hair when it’s long. She works 5 days/week. However, she starts to work 6 days/week since month 4. She loves to spend time with her youngest sister, Dara. Also, she is neither attending school nor working abroad because she is too young and she also want to spend lots of time with the family. She drinks dirty water for the first two months, then after that she has clean water. For the food, she eats only rice for three months but later then, she has rice and vegetables in month 4. After that she has rice, vegetables and meat in month 5 and 6. Sophea has access to sanitary products since month four and get the medical check up in month 5. Her works is to weave the appliances same as Dara and Ary. “It’s bigger world out there and I want to see it myself” (Sophea). Female Child (7)- Her name is Dara means star and precious. She is the youngest sister who has dark brown hair same as Sophea. She is a lovely kid who helps to do most of the housework and she has a very good skill at it. She tries her best to keep the house clean and ready for her family to take a rest and feel relax because she knows that her parents and siblings work very hard. Dara loves to sing and dance. She works 5 days/week. Her works is to weave the appliances like Sophea and they go to work together. She’s fine of not attending the school, as she thinks it’s better to help the family gain money and she has so many siblings that she won’t feel bored because she can play with them. Of course, she is too young for working abroad. She eats only rice and drink clean water in month 3 as the family still didn’t have enough income to provide other accesses. Sadly, she suffer from the serious disease that affected her respiratory system due to the poor air quality and died in month four. She will be in Happy family heart forever. Everyone will always love and miss her. “It’s better to help my family work and learn from real life” (Dara).
Monthly Diary: ______________________________________________________________________
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
The diary is mostly written by Kiri and Maly (Dad and Mom) Month 1: Hi, my name is Maly and I’m going to tell what happen in this first month. Let’s me introduce our family. We are Happy family and we have 8 members including, Kiri, Arun, Rith, Sambath, Ary, Sophea, Dara, and I. Firstly, Happy family is sending our child, Ary to work abroad in order to gain more income. We are all concerning about her safety, but Ary really want to help the family as it she would earn more money there than working in Kampot. Moreover, she wants to try new things by explore the other places beyond Kampot so I decided with my husband, Kiri, that we can let her go but she should come back when our family conditions and income is increasing and stable. We hope this will give her an opportunity to take care of herself. In the first month, firewood is available for everyone in the family to give us the warmth. Every members in the family is working because money is the major factor to survive and it’s necessary to use money to improve our live conditions. The trade off is education since the children are fully concentrate on working for the family so they can’t attending the school. The kids always said that “the secret of education is found in our daily routine”. Everyone in the family have to drink dirty water due to the limitation of money. We don’t have to pay the money for water for this month but the trade off is negative health as we are suffered from the dirty water. We’re living in Corrugated Metal, which cost $20 per month and $3 per person but it increases our health and wellness for 15%. From this choice, we chose to build a major base for the family because home is where we need to live and stay everyday. The opportunity cost of living in this house (Corrugated Metal), is drinking clean water as there’s not enough income to pay both things. However, it is better to live in the safer place than using natural materials that can be easily destroyed by the disaster we never know when it will come. For the food choice, every kids have the rice only while mom and dad have rice and vegetables. This give me (Maly) and my husband +20% for the health percentage. At the same time our trade off is that we loses 10% of our health as we work 6 days/week while the children work 5 days/week. The opportunity cost of having the rice and vegetables for me (Maly) and Kiri is rice and vegetables for one or two of the children. We made this choice as me and my husband work more than the children so our health percentage will be decrease and this way we will have enough energy to work. One part of the money is giving away to the local mafia by deducting 5% of income of each person. As well as another 10% of income of each person is giving to the government as a tax. The total expenses for this month is $140.50 and we’re saving $9.50 for next month because we never know what disaster or problems we will face during next month. We can use this money in case of emergency. Sadly, our choice for this month is not really satisfy because the health percentage is in negative and clean water is not available. The kid barely getting health percentage, however we will make a better choice in the future. Luckily, our province and family didn’t get any effect from any disaster and disease yet. See you guys next month. Month 2:
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Hello, I’m Kiri and I’m the narrator for the month two. During this month, the sickness has come and Sophea, our 13 years old daughter is suffered from the sickness, which affected our family to focus on health and wellness. She has a cold and fever that I think she gets it from the others kid at her workplace. Dara is very worried about her sister, she is the one who always use hot towel to rub her body in order to reduce the fever. We have to pay $5 for Sophea’s medicine and her income will be decrease for 40%. Luckily, we did save $9.50 dollars from last month, so that the cost for medicine didn’t effect our budgets that much. The opportunity cost of having medicine for our daughter is sanitary products. Medicine is more important than sanitary products as it helps to heal the sickness. We still don’t have to pay for the water, the trade off is negative health because the dirty water reduce 25% of our health percentage. At the same time we still got a safer place to live that can keep everyone safe from natural disasters. Also, everyone is getting firewood. I already warn the other kids to take care of their health and be aware of the fever from other people outside the house that they can suffer while they are working or playing outside, especially Dara because she works at the same place as Sophea. Overall, our life is still the same as last month. My wife (Maly) and I, we start to teach our kids how to read and write that maybe sometimes they can write the diary. The health percentage is still in negative but we promise that it will get better in the upcoming month, that’s our goal. Like previous month, Ary is the only kid who is working abroad. We hope she is doing good and sleep well. We still need to pay tax for the government, as well as the the bribes for the mafia. I’m really mad at them that why we have to give our money to those mafia who did nothing for our family! I hope that the government might take an action and get rid of those evil. We still living in Corrugated Metal. For this month the total expense is $144.60 and we save $8.90 which decrease a little bit compare to last month since Sophea is sick. We save lots of money for the next month as we have learned that anything can happen all the time, for example when Sophea is getting sick during this month. Maly and I already have a conversation that the kid still eat the same as we didn’t provide them any clean water or sanitary products so we need to improve that in the future. Arun, Rith, and Sambath always say that it’s fine for them that I can just provide clean water to Sophea and Dara because they are ladies. However we all will still working hard and together with Maly, I will make a better budgeting so we have enough money to buy clean water and sanitary products for every kids in next month, or improve our food choices. Month 3: Hi, I’m Maly and I have a good news for this month. “You can’t see it now, but that thing you didn’t get will someday be the best thing you never had. Let it go. Better is coming”, that what’s my father had said and it’s happening in this month. In the first day of the month, Kiri came back home with smile face and we all excited what happen. He told that there is going to be a big change in our Happy family and it is. Many things change compare the first two months. There are two big news. First, the government come to help and we earn 40% of subsidies of our income from them! Arun and Sambath is very happy, they runs around the
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
house. Rith jump to hug Kiri while Sophea and Dara walk to hug me. I’m very happy for our family. Second new, our lovely biggest daughter is now back to live with us as we have more money. Dara and Sophea is very interesting, both of them are ready to listen their big sister’s story. Sadly, Sophea is still sick but we still give her medicine and we still pay $5 for her medicine and her income still deduct by 40% but really we hope that she will get better as soon as possible. This month, all of our kids drink clean water, this means their health are no longer decrease by 25%. As a result their health and wellness get out from the negative percentage. Because Sophea is still sick, Rith wants to work more for 1 day as he want to get more money for her. The trade off for working harder is bad health as if you work 6 days the percentage of health and wellness reduce by 10%. For this reason, I (Maly) decided with Kiri that this is his first time working for 6 days so we give him a better food by having rice and vegetables which increase his health 20% and he might need to gain more energy. There is no jealousy in our family because everyone understand each other. As always, we pay tax for the government and those aggressive mafia. Everyone is getting firewood and still living in Corrugated Metal house. The kids are very happy to drink fresh water. The opportunity cost of having clean water is an access to the medical check up. We made this choice because if we drink clean water, our health percentage won’t reduce by -25%. The trade off for having clean water available for the kids is that the wellness of mom and dad is still in the negative because there’s not enough money for them. However, we will make a better plan so that we have a stronger health. The tradeoff of having Ary back is that even though we earn more income but we have to pay for her stuffs, taxes, and bribes. The opportunity cost is clean water for mom and dad. But that’s not the problem because we think that nothing is better than every members is living together. Overall, we gain more money but at the same time we spend a lot of money too in order to increase the health and wellness of the family and have Ary back. Finally, our expense for this month is $194.36. We save $8.30, as our goal for next month is getting sanitary products so we decided to save some money and really need to work harder. To conclude we made a better change for this month, Yay! Month 4: Welcome back to our month 4 diary and I’m Maly. This is the worst month of Happy family, as our precious daughter and sister of the family, Dara, was effected by the serious disease as her respiratory system was infected and passed away. I will never forget the moment her heart stopped and mind keep beating. At first, the doctor said that she might have a percentage to survive, however her health percentage is very low that finally she couldn’t take it any longer. Kiri blame himself that he should work harder to earn more money that he can give her a better opportunity. However other kids and I talk to him that he already did his best for the family because no one want Dara to die, she is a wonderful and lovely kid that no word can explain how much we love her. Everyone is very sad but the family has to move on and do better so that we won’t repeat the mistake. My mom told me after my dad passed away that
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
“those we love don’t go away. They walk beside us everyday unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear”. Hopefully, Sophea was get rid from the sickness that she has suffered and fight within 2 months. Her income was no longer reduce by 40%. A good new is that Mom got the financing loan from the international organization. As a result, her income will be double in the next month, also she was no longer lose health working for 6 days. Hooray! Nevertheless, she still loses 10% because she will work 7 days/week start in this month. Everyone, except Rith is eating the same in this month, which is rice and vegetables, this help to increase the health percentage by 20%. Clean water is attainable for every members. I’m so glad to see all of my kids eat a better food and they all love vegetables. The opportunity cost of having a better food choice is better housing choice. Better house cost a lot more money and give the family +30% (increase from Corrugated metal +15%) while vegetables give +20% for the health which is cheaper and give more wellness, so this is the reason we chose to improve our food choice first. I’m happy that finally no one is our family is having a negative health percentage. As always, we still pay tax, bribes. We still live in Corrugated Metal house and have the firewood for every members. Rith is getting a medical check up, as he seem powerless so that the doctor said he should get some protein so we give him rice, vegetables and meat which give him +35% for health and wellness (increase +15% from eating vegetables). I thought because he stood too long in the sun while he was working very hard at paddy field and also the change of weather. His health percentage is the highest. The health percentage of other members in the family is now increasing for 15% because this is the first month where sanitary products is available for everyone, also the food is better (+20%). Congratulations for our another accomplishment. The trade off for having sanitary products and eating rice and vegetables is that every member in the family need to work harder in order to gain enough money. The opportunity cost of having sanitary products is medical check up. Even though sanitary product give less percentage as it’s more cheaper than medical check up that is more expensive and give more health percentage, but if we choose medical check up, it won’t be available for everyone. To conclude, every kids work 6 days/week and parents work 7 days/week. Everyone is happy to work harder because we gain more money and can use to improve our food choices. It can be seen that many children still eat only rice in the latest month but now they have rice and vegetables, also they can buy sanitary products. Even though we gain more money from our hardworking, but the trade off for working hard is reducing in health percentage, 10% for working 6 days and 20% for working 7 days. At the end, we save $1.70 and spend $235.08, which is increasing a lot compare to last month due to the improvement of our life choices. In conclusion, everyone get more healthier and stronger! Month 5: Hi, I’m Rith and here it comes to the fifth month! This is my first time to write the diary after my mother and father teach me and my siblings to write since month two. Actually, Arun and Sambath want to write too but I won the arm wrestle! Let’s start then. Everything is mostly the same but it has been one month without Dara in our family. We miss her everyday and we
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
have her as a power to work hard to improve our life. Tax and bribes is still have been paid. I’m really hope that government should do something to those mafia soon. I don’t like to give our family income that everyone work very hard to the people who oppressed the other. Hopefully, no one get sick during this month and that’s mean we neither loses 40% of the income of that person nor pay $5 for the medicine. We still live in Corrugated Metal house that give us 15% of health percentage and we give everyone firewood as always. Also, this is the first month that Mom’s income is double because she get a financial loan from an organization in last month. Ary and Sophea get to do some more housework and learn the sewing skills from Maly that they might use this as a working tool in the future. I try it too but it’s very hard that I think it’s not my skill and other boys in the family. So that Arun, Rith and I start to learn how to do the agriculture from the other neighbours, as we might try to plant some vegetables that we can add up to our meal. Especially Sambath, he was born for it. For this month, we give dad (Kiri), mom (Maly) and Arun a medical check up, as they always work hard the family. As a result of health check up, they get +25% of health percentage. The opportunity cost is medical check up for other member. However, we made this choice because dad always work hard, mom almost get a pregnancy in the past, also Arun was almost suffer from the sickness. Everyone is eating the same thing which is rice, vegetables, and meat which is upgrade from last month and will give our health percentage +30% (15% different from rice and vegetables) because mom income was double in this month so we have enough money for it. The opportunity cost is better choice of the house. We made this choice because food is much more cheaper than the house that will give the same health percentage as food. Also we all drink clean water. The sanitary products is still available for everyone. The trade off for having all those availability of sanitary products, rice and vegetables, meat etc. is that everyone continue working harder and as a result, their health percentage is still decreasing. After the kid had experience by working 6 days in the second month, they build more strength and get stronger. Totally, the total expense is $270.32 and the savings is $6.90. I hope everything’s going great for the next month. Bye Bye. Month 6: Hello everyone! I’m Sophea and this is my first time writing a diary. For this month, no one is getting sick and there’s no disaster. Hooray! Everyone is having rice, vegetables, and meat which still give 30% of health and wellness. Nothing change much for this month. We still live in Corrugated Metal, clean water is available for everyone, everyone eat rice with vegetables and meats, as well as the sanitary products and firewood are attainable because it’s necessary for every member to have a good health and warm. We make all of these choices so we won’t lose our health percentage. Sambath, Ary, and me (Sophea) is getting a medical check up for this month as we never get an access before and we always working hard so everyone want us to check it up. As a result, the health check up give us 25% for health and wellness. The opportunity cost of having medical checkup is better house as the house cost much more expensive.
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Every kids is still working 6 days/week as normal and 7 days/week for mom and dad. The trade off of working hard is reducing in percentage of health and wellness, -10% for the kids, -20% for dad, and -10% for mom (even though she works 7 days because she get the help from the organization since month 4). Nevertheless, this way we can earn enough money to improve our live conditions in the future such as better housing choice and medical checkup for everyone in the same month. Also for now even though we loses health percentage because of work, our live conditions is much more better compare to the first month as we get better food, sanitary products, clean water, and medical check up so it’s worth it. Mom and dad always told me that the diary not only recorded our life and plan, but also reveal the choice that we could make it better and improve in the future. This month we spend $270.32 and save $12.10. We save lots of money as our next goal is better house and everyone access to medical check up! Also, it can be used for the emergency that can happen in the future. In conclusion, during the sixth month of our family, it was quite a big changes because the choice that our family have made is working harder and together with the help of the government and the organization, we have a better food choice compare to the first month, as well as the access to clean water, sanitary products, medical check up, and having Ary back. This means that when we have earn more income, we spent this money to improve ourselves in term of food, medical, etc. The most important thing that we need to improve is our health, as we already learn the biggest lesson from Dara. She will be in our heart forever because we will never forget the brightest little star that always shines on the family. Lastly, this will be the last month in this year that we will write the diary. My family and I hope to see you again in the future. We promise that everyone in the family will always work hard and keep improving our life. We will never give up because we are Happy family :)! “Our life is constantly under constructions, but that’s how life works” (Happy Family).
Cambodia Rural Poverty Simulation Directions: As part of our unit on Microeconomics, you will learn about budgeting, choice, opportunity cost and trade-offs by participating in a simulation as a family in rural Cambodia. Much like in real-life, your ability to lead a successful family will depend on a combination of good decision making and luck. Throughout the simulation, you will have to deal with real-life problems that rural people in developing countries must face daily. In Part 1 you will create the characters in your family and design their personalities. You will make choices about what investments to make in the family members including education, health-care, food, housing and access to clean drinking water. In Part II you will lead your family through a 6-month simulation. When problems happen, you will have to make decisions which will affect the members of your family and cause you to make difficult choices. You will also keep track of an ongoing budget with income, expenses and savings. In Part III you will reflect on the successes, failures and challenges you faced throughout the simulation. Group Members: Vichayada Wanna (Tangkwa), Witthawin Sinprasert (Win) Your Family Number: 8 Your Family’s Province: Kampot Family Housing Choice: Corrugated Metal
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Characters: ___________________________________________________________ Family Picture
Character Summaries: ______________________________________________________________________ Characters
Name
Age
Kiri
50
Male Child (8-13)
Arun
13
Male Child (8-13)
Rith
12
Male Child (8-13)
Sambath
11
Maly
48
Ary
18
Father
Mother Female Child (14-18)
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Female Child (8-13) Male Child (4-7)
Sophea
13
Dara
7
Father (50)- His name is Kiri which means mountain. He is 50 years old, a leader of the family who love the family more than everything. As his name, he is the mountain of the family, who always be there when the family is in trouble and try his best to solve the problems. Kiri is a hard working man. He works 6 days/week but then starts to work 7 days/week since month 4 in order to increase the income. He is a poor merchant manufacturer who interested in painting and drawing as he gets this skill from his dad. Kiri is a big, loud man, tan skin with black hair and a metallic laugh. Kiri has brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice. His sound is unpleasant and annoying, but he is very kind. For his hobby, he loves to play and spend time with his children and his wife. He usually eats rice and vegetables from month 1 to 4. Nevertheless, he has rice, vegetables, and meat since month 5 as well as an access to medical check up in that month because the family earn enough money and this also help to increase his health percentage. He consume dirty water until month three and finally start to drink clean water since month four. He has an access to sanitary products since month four as well. “Being a father is tough, but it’s worth it for the family” (Kiri). Male Child (13)- His name is Arun means morning sun. He is a 13 years old older brother who love to help people and take care of his siblings. He has black hair and cheerful eyes. Arun always bring smile to the family as he loves to tell the fun time he has experienced in that day to other members during dinner time. He wants to help the family earn money as he works 5 days/week and starts to work 6 days/week since month four for more income. Furthermore, he is neither working abroad nor g oing to school. He think it’s more important to help mom and dad work here and take care of them. Arun eats rice until month three then starts to eat rice and vegetables in month four, and end up eating rice, vegetables, and meat since month 5. He has dirty water for 2 months then drinks clean water since month three. He is a family man in kid’s version as Kiri is his idol who always do the best for the family. He has access to sanitary products since month four, as well as an access to medical check up in month 5. Arun is interested in technician as he likes to repair and fix equipments in the house. He works at the paddy field with Rith and Sambath, his another two brothers. “Life is tough, but I don’t let myself down” (Arun). Male Child (12)- His name is Rith means power or strength. He is a 12 years old hardworking kid who helps the family work 5 days/week and finally starts to work 6 days/week since month four in order to earn more money. He is not working abroad because he’s too young and doesn’t have enough maturity. He is fine of not attending school and work for the family. He has a black hair and sparkling charming eyes. He loves to compete strength with the oldest brother. Arun and as his name he always win the competition between his brothers. He is the one who stop the fight every time that his two brothers get into the fight with other kids because he loves to protect people. He has a muscle from his hard working which provide energy for him to work. Rith has only eat rice for the first two months then eat rice and vegetables in month three because he start to work 6 days/week. However he also has meat for the first time in
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
month four to increase his wellness which continue until month six due to the family status is getting better. He drinks dirty water in the first 2 months then has clean water after month two. He is confident on what he deserve to do and he is happy on what he has. He get health check up one time in month four and an access to sanitary products in the same month which the sanitary products is continue until month six. He is interested in football and sports. Rith works with Arun and Sambath at the paddy field. “I will use this power to push on and protect my family” (Rith). Male Child (11)- His name is Sambath means great wealth or fortune. He is a 11 years old hardworking kid, who always concern about the money and try his best to show other brother that even though he is the youngest brother but he can help the family to gain money. He has got black hair and tan skin. Sambath has a powerful mentally strength that he can solve problem at hand and he can handle any bad situations by himself. He provides a good leadership ability to put forward family. Moreover, he is not working abroad and attending school because he is too young to take care of himself and he also want to spend time with family. Usually, Sambath works 5 days/week, nevertheless he starts to work 6 days/week since month 4 like other kids to earn more money. He eats rice only for the first 3 months, then has rice and vegetables on month four as he is working harder and this help to increase his wellness. However, he has rice, vegetables, and meat since month five as the family earn more income from mother. He drinks clean water after month two. Sambath also gets a health check up in month six. He has an access to sanitary products since month four. Sambath is very interested in agriculture and love his work at the paddy field. “Life can get harder and harder but no matter what, I didn’t give up” (Sambath). Mother (48)- Her name is Maly means flower blossom. She is 48 years old kind woman. She has a lot of working abilities as she cans work 6 days/week as her husband and also starts to work 7 days/week since month 4. Maly always teach all of her children to do houseworks and tell them stories before the kids sleep. She is very talented at sewing and love to make scarves for her family member during winter time. She is a calm and relax person who think positive and support family as much as she can because in her opinion, family is everything. Maly always eat rice and vegetables because she needs energy to work and take care of the children. But she starts to has rice, vegetables, and meat since month five as her income is double by the help of international organization that give her financial loan. In the same month, she also get the medical check up. She drinks clean water and has access to sanitary products since month four. She knits and sells clothes with other housewife. After she come back from work, she will prepare and cook the dinner for the family with the help of the children. “Even though I have a rough road and destination, home is where the happiness never ends” (Maly). Female Child (18)- Her name is Ary means knowledge. She is an 18 years old intelligent girl who has a high skill of life. She has a long black hair and loves to observe and try new things. Also, she can understand someone feeling easily. She has positive perspective which make her life happy. Ary always do her best to be a great big sister of the family and she is the only one who is working abroad because she wants to earn more income for the family. However, she comes back in the third month. She eats rice and vegetables, also drinks clean water until
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
month 4 then after that she has rice, vegetables, and meat as the family earn more money since month 5. Ary is not attending school but choose to help the family and take care of her siblings. She has an access to medical check up in month 6. Ary has an access to sanitary products since month four. She is very interested in volunteering and helping other people who is experienced with bad conditions such as help to aid the people who is affected by the disaster. She weave the appliances for her work same as Sophea and Dara, her little sisters. “Life doesn’t get easier, but I get stronger” (Ary). Female Child (13)- Her name is Sophea means clever and wisdom. She is a 13 years old headstrong kid, who is true to herself. She is very clever and dream that one day she will explore the world. She has a short dark brown hair because she doesn’t like to take care her hair when it’s long. She works 5 days/week. However, she starts to work 6 days/week since month 4. She loves to spend time with her youngest sister, Dara. Also, she is neither attending school nor working abroad because she is too young and she also want to spend lots of time with the family. She drinks dirty water for the first two months, then after that she has clean water. For the food, she eats only rice for three months but later then, she has rice and vegetables in month 4. After that she has rice, vegetables and meat in month 5 and 6. Sophea has access to sanitary products since month four and get the medical check up in month 5. Her works is to weave the appliances same as Dara and Ary. “It’s bigger world out there and I want to see it myself” (Sophea). Female Child (7)- Her name is Dara means star and precious. She is the youngest sister who has dark brown hair same as Sophea. She is a lovely kid who helps to do most of the housework and she has a very good skill at it. She tries her best to keep the house clean and ready for her family to take a rest and feel relax because she knows that her parents and siblings work very hard. Dara loves to sing and dance. She works 5 days/week. Her works is to weave the appliances like Sophea and they go to work together. She’s fine of not attending the school, as she thinks it’s better to help the family gain money and she has so many siblings that she won’t feel bored because she can play with them. Of course, she is too young for working abroad. She eats only rice and drink clean water in month 3 as the family still didn’t have enough income to provide other accesses. Sadly, she suffer from the serious disease that affected her respiratory system due to the poor air quality and died in month four. She will be in Happy family heart forever. Everyone will always love and miss her. “It’s better to help my family work and learn from real life” (Dara).
Monthly Diary: ______________________________________________________________________
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
The diary is mostly written by Kiri and Maly (Dad and Mom) Month 1: Hi, my name is Maly and I’m going to tell what happen in this first month. Let’s me introduce our family. We are Happy family and we have 8 members including, Kiri, Arun, Rith, Sambath, Ary, Sophea, Dara, and I. Firstly, Happy family is sending our child, Ary to work abroad in order to gain more income. We are all concerning about her safety, but Ary really want to help the family as it she would earn more money there than working in Kampot. Moreover, she wants to try new things by explore the other places beyond Kampot so I decided with my husband, Kiri, that we can let her go but she should come back when our family conditions and income is increasing and stable. We hope this will give her an opportunity to take care of herself. In the first month, firewood is available for everyone in the family to give us the warmth. Every members in the family is working because money is the major factor to survive and it’s necessary to use money to improve our live conditions. The trade off is education since the children are fully concentrate on working for the family so they can’t attending the school. The kids always said that “the secret of education is found in our daily routine”. Everyone in the family have to drink dirty water due to the limitation of money. We don’t have to pay the money for water for this month but the trade off is negative health as we are suffered from the dirty water. We’re living in Corrugated Metal, which cost $20 per month and $3 per person but it increases our health and wellness for 15%. From this choice, we chose to build a major base for the family because home is where we need to live and stay everyday. The opportunity cost of living in this house (Corrugated Metal), is drinking clean water as there’s not enough income to pay both things. However, it is better to live in the safer place than using natural materials that can be easily destroyed by the disaster we never know when it will come. For the food choice, every kids have the rice only while mom and dad have rice and vegetables. This give me (Maly) and my husband +20% for the health percentage. At the same time our trade off is that we loses 10% of our health as we work 6 days/week while the children work 5 days/week. The opportunity cost of having the rice and vegetables for me (Maly) and Kiri is rice and vegetables for one or two of the children. We made this choice as me and my husband work more than the children so our health percentage will be decrease and this way we will have enough energy to work. One part of the money is giving away to the local mafia by deducting 5% of income of each person. As well as another 10% of income of each person is giving to the government as a tax. The total expenses for this month is $140.50 and we’re saving $9.50 for next month because we never know what disaster or problems we will face during next month. We can use this money in case of emergency. Sadly, our choice for this month is not really satisfy because the health percentage is in negative and clean water is not available. The kid barely getting health percentage, however we will make a better choice in the future. Luckily, our province and family didn’t get any effect from any disaster and disease yet. See you guys next month. Month 2:
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Hello, I’m Kiri and I’m the narrator for the month two. During this month, the sickness has come and Sophea, our 13 years old daughter is suffered from the sickness, which affected our family to focus on health and wellness. She has a cold and fever that I think she gets it from the others kid at her workplace. Dara is very worried about her sister, she is the one who always use hot towel to rub her body in order to reduce the fever. We have to pay $5 for Sophea’s medicine and her income will be decrease for 40%. Luckily, we did save $9.50 dollars from last month, so that the cost for medicine didn’t effect our budgets that much. The opportunity cost of having medicine for our daughter is sanitary products. Medicine is more important than sanitary products as it helps to heal the sickness. We still don’t have to pay for the water, the trade off is negative health because the dirty water reduce 25% of our health percentage. At the same time we still got a safer place to live that can keep everyone safe from natural disasters. Also, everyone is getting firewood. I already warn the other kids to take care of their health and be aware of the fever from other people outside the house that they can suffer while they are working or playing outside, especially Dara because she works at the same place as Sophea. Overall, our life is still the same as last month. My wife (Maly) and I, we start to teach our kids how to read and write that maybe sometimes they can write the diary. The health percentage is still in negative but we promise that it will get better in the upcoming month, that’s our goal. Like previous month, Ary is the only kid who is working abroad. We hope she is doing good and sleep well. We still need to pay tax for the government, as well as the the bribes for the mafia. I’m really mad at them that why we have to give our money to those mafia who did nothing for our family! I hope that the government might take an action and get rid of those evil. We still living in Corrugated Metal. For this month the total expense is $144.60 and we save $8.90 which decrease a little bit compare to last month since Sophea is sick. We save lots of money for the next month as we have learned that anything can happen all the time, for example when Sophea is getting sick during this month. Maly and I already have a conversation that the kid still eat the same as we didn’t provide them any clean water or sanitary products so we need to improve that in the future. Arun, Rith, and Sambath always say that it’s fine for them that I can just provide clean water to Sophea and Dara because they are ladies. However we all will still working hard and together with Maly, I will make a better budgeting so we have enough money to buy clean water and sanitary products for every kids in next month, or improve our food choices. Month 3: Hi, I’m Maly and I have a good news for this month. “You can’t see it now, but that thing you didn’t get will someday be the best thing you never had. Let it go. Better is coming”, that what’s my father had said and it’s happening in this month. In the first day of the month, Kiri came back home with smile face and we all excited what happen. He told that there is going to be a big change in our Happy family and it is. Many things change compare the first two months. There are two big news. First, the government come to help and we earn 40% of subsidies of our income from them! Arun and Sambath is very happy, they runs around the
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
house. Rith jump to hug Kiri while Sophea and Dara walk to hug me. I’m very happy for our family. Second new, our lovely biggest daughter is now back to live with us as we have more money. Dara and Sophea is very interesting, both of them are ready to listen their big sister’s story. Sadly, Sophea is still sick but we still give her medicine and we still pay $5 for her medicine and her income still deduct by 40% but really we hope that she will get better as soon as possible. This month, all of our kids drink clean water, this means their health are no longer decrease by 25%. As a result their health and wellness get out from the negative percentage. Because Sophea is still sick, Rith wants to work more for 1 day as he want to get more money for her. The trade off for working harder is bad health as if you work 6 days the percentage of health and wellness reduce by 10%. For this reason, I (Maly) decided with Kiri that this is his first time working for 6 days so we give him a better food by having rice and vegetables which increase his health 20% and he might need to gain more energy. There is no jealousy in our family because everyone understand each other. As always, we pay tax for the government and those aggressive mafia. Everyone is getting firewood and still living in Corrugated Metal house. The kids are very happy to drink fresh water. The opportunity cost of having clean water is an access to the medical check up. We made this choice because if we drink clean water, our health percentage won’t reduce by -25%. The trade off for having clean water available for the kids is that the wellness of mom and dad is still in the negative because there’s not enough money for them. However, we will make a better plan so that we have a stronger health. The tradeoff of having Ary back is that even though we earn more income but we have to pay for her stuffs, taxes, and bribes. The opportunity cost is clean water for mom and dad. But that’s not the problem because we think that nothing is better than every members is living together. Overall, we gain more money but at the same time we spend a lot of money too in order to increase the health and wellness of the family and have Ary back. Finally, our expense for this month is $194.36. We save $8.30, as our goal for next month is getting sanitary products so we decided to save some money and really need to work harder. To conclude we made a better change for this month, Yay! Month 4: Welcome back to our month 4 diary and I’m Maly. This is the worst month of Happy family, as our precious daughter and sister of the family, Dara, was effected by the serious disease as her respiratory system was infected and passed away. I will never forget the moment her heart stopped and mind keep beating. At first, the doctor said that she might have a percentage to survive, however her health percentage is very low that finally she couldn’t take it any longer. Kiri blame himself that he should work harder to earn more money that he can give her a better opportunity. However other kids and I talk to him that he already did his best for the family because no one want Dara to die, she is a wonderful and lovely kid that no word can explain how much we love her. Everyone is very sad but the family has to move on and do better so that we won’t repeat the mistake. My mom told me after my dad passed away that
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
“those we love don’t go away. They walk beside us everyday unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear”. Hopefully, Sophea was get rid from the sickness that she has suffered and fight within 2 months. Her income was no longer reduce by 40%. A good new is that Mom got the financing loan from the international organization. As a result, her income will be double in the next month, also she was no longer lose health working for 6 days. Hooray! Nevertheless, she still loses 10% because she will work 7 days/week start in this month. Everyone, except Rith is eating the same in this month, which is rice and vegetables, this help to increase the health percentage by 20%. Clean water is attainable for every members. I’m so glad to see all of my kids eat a better food and they all love vegetables. The opportunity cost of having a better food choice is better housing choice. Better house cost a lot more money and give the family +30% (increase from Corrugated metal +15%) while vegetables give +20% for the health which is cheaper and give more wellness, so this is the reason we chose to improve our food choice first. I’m happy that finally no one is our family is having a negative health percentage. As always, we still pay tax, bribes. We still live in Corrugated Metal house and have the firewood for every members. Rith is getting a medical check up, as he seem powerless so that the doctor said he should get some protein so we give him rice, vegetables and meat which give him +35% for health and wellness (increase +15% from eating vegetables). I thought because he stood too long in the sun while he was working very hard at paddy field and also the change of weather. His health percentage is the highest. The health percentage of other members in the family is now increasing for 15% because this is the first month where sanitary products is available for everyone, also the food is better (+20%). Congratulations for our another accomplishment. The trade off for having sanitary products and eating rice and vegetables is that every member in the family need to work harder in order to gain enough money. The opportunity cost of having sanitary products is medical check up. Even though sanitary product give less percentage as it’s more cheaper than medical check up that is more expensive and give more health percentage, but if we choose medical check up, it won’t be available for everyone. To conclude, every kids work 6 days/week and parents work 7 days/week. Everyone is happy to work harder because we gain more money and can use to improve our food choices. It can be seen that many children still eat only rice in the latest month but now they have rice and vegetables, also they can buy sanitary products. Even though we gain more money from our hardworking, but the trade off for working hard is reducing in health percentage, 10% for working 6 days and 20% for working 7 days. At the end, we save $1.70 and spend $235.08, which is increasing a lot compare to last month due to the improvement of our life choices. In conclusion, everyone get more healthier and stronger! Month 5: Hi, I’m Rith and here it comes to the fifth month! This is my first time to write the diary after my mother and father teach me and my siblings to write since month two. Actually, Arun and Sambath want to write too but I won the arm wrestle! Let’s start then. Everything is mostly the same but it has been one month without Dara in our family. We miss her everyday and we
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
have her as a power to work hard to improve our life. Tax and bribes is still have been paid. I’m really hope that government should do something to those mafia soon. I don’t like to give our family income that everyone work very hard to the people who oppressed the other. Hopefully, no one get sick during this month and that’s mean we neither loses 40% of the income of that person nor pay $5 for the medicine. We still live in Corrugated Metal house that give us 15% of health percentage and we give everyone firewood as always. Also, this is the first month that Mom’s income is double because she get a financial loan from an organization in last month. Ary and Sophea get to do some more housework and learn the sewing skills from Maly that they might use this as a working tool in the future. I try it too but it’s very hard that I think it’s not my skill and other boys in the family. So that Arun, Rith and I start to learn how to do the agriculture from the other neighbours, as we might try to plant some vegetables that we can add up to our meal. Especially Sambath, he was born for it. For this month, we give dad (Kiri), mom (Maly) and Arun a medical check up, as they always work hard the family. As a result of health check up, they get +25% of health percentage. The opportunity cost is medical check up for other member. However, we made this choice because dad always work hard, mom almost get a pregnancy in the past, also Arun was almost suffer from the sickness. Everyone is eating the same thing which is rice, vegetables, and meat which is upgrade from last month and will give our health percentage +30% (15% different from rice and vegetables) because mom income was double in this month so we have enough money for it. The opportunity cost is better choice of the house. We made this choice because food is much more cheaper than the house that will give the same health percentage as food. Also we all drink clean water. The sanitary products is still available for everyone. The trade off for having all those availability of sanitary products, rice and vegetables, meat etc. is that everyone continue working harder and as a result, their health percentage is still decreasing. After the kid had experience by working 6 days in the second month, they build more strength and get stronger. Totally, the total expense is $270.32 and the savings is $6.90. I hope everything’s going great for the next month. Bye Bye. Month 6: Hello everyone! I’m Sophea and this is my first time writing a diary. For this month, no one is getting sick and there’s no disaster. Hooray! Everyone is having rice, vegetables, and meat which still give 30% of health and wellness. Nothing change much for this month. We still live in Corrugated Metal, clean water is available for everyone, everyone eat rice with vegetables and meats, as well as the sanitary products and firewood are attainable because it’s necessary for every member to have a good health and warm. We make all of these choices so we won’t lose our health percentage. Sambath, Ary, and me (Sophea) is getting a medical check up for this month as we never get an access before and we always working hard so everyone want us to check it up. As a result, the health check up give us 25% for health and wellness. The opportunity cost of having medical checkup is better house as the house cost much more expensive.
MUIDS Social Studies: Economics
Every kids is still working 6 days/week as normal and 7 days/week for mom and dad. The trade off of working hard is reducing in percentage of health and wellness, -10% for the kids, -20% for dad, and -10% for mom (even though she works 7 days because she get the help from the organization since month 4). Nevertheless, this way we can earn enough money to improve our live conditions in the future such as better housing choice and medical checkup for everyone in the same month. Also for now even though we loses health percentage because of work, our live conditions is much more better compare to the first month as we get better food, sanitary products, clean water, and medical check up so it’s worth it. Mom and dad always told me that the diary not only recorded our life and plan, but also reveal the choice that we could make it better and improve in the future. This month we spend $270.32 and save $12.10. We save lots of money as our next goal is better house and everyone access to medical check up! Also, it can be used for the emergency that can happen in the future. In conclusion, during the sixth month of our family, it was quite a big changes because the choice that our family have made is working harder and together with the help of the government and the organization, we have a better food choice compare to the first month, as well as the access to clean water, sanitary products, medical check up, and having Ary back. This means that when we have earn more income, we spent this money to improve ourselves in term of food, medical, etc. The most important thing that we need to improve is our health, as we already learn the biggest lesson from Dara. She will be in our heart forever because we will never forget the brightest little star that always shines on the family. Lastly, this will be the last month in this year that we will write the diary. My family and I hope to see you again in the future. We promise that everyone in the family will always work hard and keep improving our life. We will never give up because we are Happy family :)! “Our life is constantly under constructions, but that’s how life works” (Happy Family).
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