38 years old
Village: Kasin
Commune: Thmar Pouk
District: Thamr Pouk
Province: Banteay Meanchey
Training: Bicycle Repair
Injury: landmine - in 2003, when he was farming in an area riddled with landmines left over from the Khmer Rouge insurgency.
Due to his injury, Houb had no skills or employment to enable him to support himself or his young family. He has a young baby son, for whom he is saving money to send him to school once he is old enough.
Houb enjoyed his training with Lom Orng, in particular the business side of the training. This taught him to keep detailed records of his business transactions, and to balance his books.
Like many other graduates, he would like to take part in further training with Lom Orng. However until his baby son is older, he feels it is important to take care of him and his wife.
On average Houb repairs two to four bicycles per day, earning about 5000 riel daily. His business is very new, so he is looking forward to it growing in the coming years.
I was deeply touched speaking to Houb. As we were talking about his family, he mentioned that his young daughter had drowned in Battambang at the Pchum Ben ceremonies last year. Despite this second tragedy in his life, his determination to make his business successful and provide a good life for his wife and infant son was unbroken.
Houb's positive attitude and confidence in his abilities was truly inspiring to me.