39 Years Old
Village: Bantath Bosh
Commune: Chnoul Meanchey
District: Preash Neth Preash
Province: Banteay Meanchey
Training: Motorbike Repair
Injury: Landmine - 1990 when he was fighting as a soldier.
Chea Hoeun was a self trained bicycle repairer prior to studying at the CWARS (now named Lom Orng) training centre. His previous business was located a great distance from his home and family. On completion of his training, Lom Orng met with the village chief and organised land for Hoeun to build his workshop on, right near his home.
Hoeun has a 9-year-old son whom he has taught to repair motorbikes. His son also trained at the Lom Orng centre with him, and for some time was ahead of his father with his training skills! Presently Hoeun is saving money to get a loan from Lom Orng in order to buy an air compressor. He also wants to buy a large number of spare parts to stock up his business, as the market is simply too far away to continuously travel to and from regularly.
Hoeun believes his life is greatly improved. To earn money prior to his training, Hoeun would work in rice fields. The work was made extremely difficult due to his injury, and only provided an income for the 3-4 months of the year that the rice is grown. He now has a sustainable income throughout the year, earning 20,000 Riel per day on average, to provide for his wife and five children.
Hoeun appeared to be a determined and hard-working man. He was clearly proud to have given his son the skills to one day start his own successful business, and seemed proud to have his son working beside him. It was great to see his son testing the bike in each stage of repair, and to see the happiness his work brought him.