A Day in the Life of an 12 Year old Cambodian

By: Kristina Chiev

This story is about a 12 year old boy living in Cambodia. He lives in this kind of house and has already left for work. Everyday he would wake up at 4 - 6 am to go to work.

When he wakes up, he goes straight to work while also watching his sister while his family is out taking care of the farming and only he can watch her while working. He does not have the money to afford a shirt and shoes, so he must look for scraps like metal and plastic on this mountain and exchange them for about 10 cents.

This is the scraps that he has found for the day. He does not have gloves to pick the items up but still does so in order to get money to support him and his family. He finds plastic, metal, and even needles. He picks up the needles with his bare hands not knowing where it came from. He is putting himself at risk for HIV/AIDs.

At night, when he can no longer look for scrap metal because it’s too dark to see, he travels the streets of the night market.

Once all the stores are closed, he goes through the garage looking for valuables that he can trade in for money or even half eaten food to serve as dinner. He does what he can in order to support him and his family, even if it meant taking whatever is given to them.

Citations

medipilg. "Cambodia house near Roluos" 10 Mar 2008. Online image. Flickr. 14 Apr 2011.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/24651659@N05/2337426942/>

changinglivescambodia.org. "Cambodia She aint heavy part 1 - I can find if someone wants to sponsor" 01 Jun 2008. Online image. Flickr. 14 Apr 2011.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/aniewbeginning/2829460446/in/photostream>

NhatLe. "STUNG MEANCHEY - LIVING WITH THE RUBBISH" 08 Mar 2006. Online image. Flickr. 14 Apr 2011.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/lequangnhat/672597831/>

longhee.com. "Cambodia_day1_night market" 05 Jan 2010. Online image. Flickr. 14 Apr 2011.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/62296319@N00/4436907425/>

Reese, Tim. "The Frame: Poverty in Cambodia." Blogs. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2010/02 poverty-in-cambodia.html>.