soksabbaai children's clothes
Since January 2010 soksabbaai is owned by some of the former employees of soksabbaai.
The goal of soksabbaai has always been to train and empower the people to become capable workers who can build their own stable future. We are very happy to see that now they are ready to stand on their own feet and are working very hard to make it all happen.
On this page we would like to introduce to you some of the people behind soksabbaai.
The soksabbaai team is small. The members are all trained on-the-job to acquire all sorts of skills related to sewing and designing. Besides that, they have been involved in other areas that are important for a small tailoring business, like purchase, sales, stock control, administration and accounting.
Om Neisim
Om Neisim
Om Neisim does not work at soksabbaai anymore. Since January she has started sewing from home and taking orders from people from the community where she lives. She had been wanting to try this for a long time and with all the changes for soksabbaai she finally decided to give it a try.
Because Om Neisim joined soksabbaai since it started and because her live has changed so much since then we want to let her share her story with you.
Om Neisim was the oldest in our team and has worked at soksabbaai right from the start in March 2004. She was born in 1949 in Kompong Cham province. She has got 6 brothers and sisters of which 3 are murdered during the Pol Pot regime. She studied until she was 15 years old. When she was 26 years old, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge conquered Phnom Penh and came to power. The whole family was separated from each other in 1977, and that was when they last saw each other. Om Neisim has only found her mother and one of her sisters back. Her father died during Pol Pot as a result of a disease, her husband has been murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
With her first husband she has got 3 children, 2 boys and a girl, and they are all married now. As a widow, life was too difficult, so she re-married in 1982 and had 3 other boys. Her second husband physically abused the children and that's why she left him in 1991. She has 2 grandchildren.
Om Neisim didn't have an easy life. Year after year she has been struggling to supply food for her family. She always was a very dedicated Buddhist woman, but in the nineties she became a Christian. The difficulties didn't go away, but she experienced great support and comfort from God.
All of her children are living in or around Phnom Penh now and they are doing fine. The three youngest children live at home and from her salary they are able to go to school.
One of these younger children, Phiejerie, has worked at soksabbaai for a year in 2009. Her job at soksabbaai made it possible for her to help provide for her family and also save money to study after finishing school. Being able to study is a big thing, especially when you are from a poor background. Phiejerie wants to learn English first and then continue to study to do secretary work. Besides that, she also wants to be a Sunday school teacher.
Chenda
Chenda
Chenda is in her late-twenties and the third in a family of 4 children. Her family lives in Kompong Thom, about 200 km North of Phnom Penh. She comes from a simple farming family, without riches but also without real poverty. Her family has got some land to grow rice but the harvest of the last years has been poor. Her mother sells fish at the market.
Chenda hasn't been able to finish high school, because she has been going out too much, according to her own perception. Going out in Cambodia merely means hanging out with friends, there isn't much to do, and if there was, most teenagers wouldn't be able afford it. When she failed her exam she wanted to start work in a factory but couldn't get in because she didn't have the right papers. Then she was able to join the 1 year vocational training program at WEC. Her mother and her aunt supported her to bear the costs of this training ($10 per month).
After she had finished the training, she started to work with soksabbaai. Chenda was good at what she knew she could do, but acquiring new skills was always a big challenge for her. Over the years she has learned many new things though and has gained much more confidence in her abilities. Now she has even become the manager of soksabbaai and she is doing a great job.
We are truly impressed by what she has accomplished and how she has developed herself during the past few years!
Sawi
Sawi
Sawi does not work at soksabbaai anymore, but just as Om Neisim she was one of the first who joined soksabbaai and just as Om Neisim, her story is one worth being told.
After a couple years with soksabbaai Sawi started her own workshop in the province she came from. Full of confidence she took the step. When she joined soksabbaai Sawi was very timid and shy, but during the years she worked at soksabbaai she really developed both her skills and her character. And her workshop is growing and going really well.
Sawi is in her mid- wenties and is the fourth child in a family with 6 children. She is the only one of her family that has worked and lived in Phnom Penh. The rest of her family lives in Kampot, about 120 km South of Phnom Penh, and so does she now that she has started her own workshop. She comes from a poor family of farmers. They have a bit of land and grow rice. The harvest is sometimes good, sometimes not. If not, money needs to be borrowed to buy rice.
Sawi studied halfway through high school and when she was 17 years old, she stopped to find work in a sewing factory in Phnom Penh. She worked for 2 years and she sent part of her earned money back to her family in Kampot.
Just like Chenda, Sawi joined the vocational training program at WEC and was offered a job at soksabbaai right after she finished the training. As said before, she was very shy and timide at the beginning but has changed greatly, which was fantastic to witness. She always liked creative challenges and that shows in her workshop too.
Sauphieje
Sauphieje
Sauphieje is 32 years old and in her family she is the oldest of 5 brothers and sisters. She had 6 years of primary school and then was pulled out by her family.
Her family has always lived in Prey veng province and Sauphieje came to Phnom Penh to try and find a job. Her cousin already lived in Phnom Penh and helped her get settled.
Sauphieje wanted to become a really good sewer and she is becoming one! For a very long time she thought of herself as no more than a student at soksabbaai, even when she was already hired as an employee. Now she is one of the owners of soksabbaai and is really growing in skills and confidence.
Besides becoming a really good tailor she also wants to learn several other professions, just because she likes to be able to do many different things. Sauphieje works very hard, knows what she wants and is a real asset to the team.
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Thank you for showing interest. By ordering at soksabbaai you help the girls to build a stable future for themselves and their families.
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