Come in and find out! Our program in detail:

Prevention

SCC monks, nuns, achars and field staff provide HIV/AIDS prevention through small group discussion sessions, individual visits and larger group events. A variety of materials are also used, including educational videos, booklets and visual cards, which are particularly useful for working with people who are illiterate. In the last year SCC has reached over 6,000 households.

Care and Support

SCC encourages people through the support of the monks and nuns to take care of their beloved ones in their homes and communities. The monks and nuns provide counseling, meditation, social and spiritual support to over 1,400 people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. This includes: providing home based care if they become ill; offering spiritual support and blessings when they are very ill; undertaking and supporting funerals when a person dies and supporting family members after the death of a beloved one. SCC monks and nuns also try to meet some of the basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and access to medical treatment. SCC operates shelters in Siem Reap and Battambang to provide people living with HIV/AIDS temporary accommodation for when they travel from outlying areas for medical treatment at provincial hospitals.

Orphans and vulnerable children

HIV/AIDS created thousands of orphans and vulnerable children in Cambodia. SCC supports over 700 children, who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. SCC visits them regularly and provides counseling and psychosocial support. 100 children get supplementary school education at Beungkak School in Phnom Penh (since 2007) and in Samroang Meanchey (since 2010).  Further SCC provides basic supplies like food, school material  and clothing to over 400 children, advocates on their behalf to ensure that they are adequately cared for in their communities.

Stigma and discrimination

Monks and nuns hold a position of great respect in Cambodian culture, so their participation in HIV/AIDS activities is influential on the attitudes and practices of the community towards people living with HIV/AIDS. They advocate on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS, by working with and educating their families, neighbors, communities, reduce stigma or ignorance related to HIV/AIDS. This resulted in people living with HIV/AIDS and AIDS-orphans being able to remain living in their communities, instead of being forced to leave, which has occurred the past.

Income generation

People living with HIV/AIDS and their families often live in very poor conditions, especially if their health makes regular work difficult and requires expensive treatment. Children suffer the most, and many have to leave school to care for their sick parents or to earn an income to support the family. SCC is operating income generation projects for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, to avoid these situations. Elements of SCC livelihood work are counseling and training in business and entrepreneurialism. People learn in self-help groups and in money saving groups to support each other. Examples of income generating activities undertaken include vegetable production, motorbike repairs, sewing and Khmer crafts.

Community development

The legacy of war has weakened trust and relationship in many communities in Cambodia and therefore reduced the level of solidarity. In response to this, communities need to be rebuilt and social responsibilities need to be reinforced.  SCC monks, nuns and achars play a crucial part in strengthening social and moral norms. They attempt to reduce social disintegration. They found and foster networks such as self-help, money saving and credit groups, peer groups, but also rice banks, cow banks, and cooperatives.
SCC educates local stakeholders and community leaders to promote good leadership, gender equality and human rights and to enhance technical capacities to develop communities. SCC also conducts specific activities to improve the environment of the people living with HIV/AIDS and poor families.  Prior to SCC's projects implementation, these communities had neither access to clean water, nor electricity or any kind of garbage collection.
Key activities are: awareness sessions on sanitation and hygiene, primary health care, waste management, disaster preparedness and environment education.

Drug users and people most at risk

SCC recently started education service to prevent HIV/AIDS among drug users (DU) and drug users with HIV/AIDS (DHA). The program  educates DU/IDU on HIV prevention and raises awareness of risk factors and safe practices. Outreach services provide condoms and hygiene materials to high-risk groups. Further it provides access to ART for participants found to be HIV positive. SCC advocates against discrimination to protect the needs and concerns of DU/IDU and offers social and spiritual counseling. 

Advocacy and Human Rights

Based on lessons learned SCC staff understand much better than before the need to increase their involvement in advocacy work, in order to improve the quality of care and livelihood of women and men living with HIV and AIDS and their families. Part of our advocacy strategy is supporting any collective action made by PLHIV and their families, to demand proper access to health and welfare services and education. In the case of forced eviction, SCC will refer to land right NGOs; both at the local and national level, to ensure proper compensation support or taking collective action with the community and other NGOs, to advocate against the eviction process. We broadly educate PLHIV, OVC and the poorest of the poor about their rights and help them to assert and claim their rights effectively. To proceed with this advocacy work, SCC staff will be trained on advocacy skills, and these acquired skills will be further enhanced through field visits of SCC staff to other institutions that have similar programs. 

Collaboration

For the past few years SCC has worked closely with stakeholders  such as Head Monks or community leaders and now SCC enjoys full support from Head Monks, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. SCC also works in collaboration with home based care teams, hospitals, and other HIV/AIDS organizations, and has established an effective referral system and network. In Phnom Penh, for example, SCC works closely with home based care and support group teams such as the Cambodian People Living with AIDS Network (CPN+), Women’s Organization for Modern Economy and Nursing (WOMEN), and Key of Social Health Education Road (KOSHER). These groups often invite SCC monks to participate in home care visits, community education activities and support group meetings.

Organizational strengthening

After much consolidation of these activities, SCC is now in a position to scale up its work. Additionally we move towards new challenges such as the vulnerability of young girls and women to become infected with HIV, the complex area of child protection, the mobilization of other religious networks, community development, hygiene and sanitation in poor settlements and the sustainability of income generating activities. SCC is also investing in organizational strengthening, focusing on the broad areas of organizational management and governance; administration and finance; program management; and external relations. This includes building the capacity of staff, monks, nuns and achars to continually enhance the quality of services provided by a committed team of our agency.

Case Studies

1. The story of Mrs. Khann Arn's family

The farmers Mrs. Khann Arn, (51) and her husband, Mr. Duch Royaul, (49) lived with five children (amongst 4 daughters) at their homeland in Ou rang Ov district, Kg. Cham province.  They  haven’t had own farms, so they hired land from others to do rice farming. They decided to leave their homeland to live and work as construction workers in Phnom Penh. They earned around 12 000 Riels/day together. The parents stopped their two daughter’s going to school in order to support the family.  The daughters earned about 30,000 Riels per month each.  In 2001 the area, where they were living, was destroyed in a severe fire and all people living there were fled to live to Somromg Mean Chey, Sangkat Kmounh, Khan Sen Sok. The family still faced difficulties., because income decreased and the husband  got sick very often and had skin diseases without knowing the reasons why. In 2002, staff of Maryknoll came to the community and asked the people whether there is somebody willing to do the blood test for HIV. They decided to do the test.  She was negative, but her husband positive, which made her feel extremely terrible until getting unconscious for his result. Mrs. Khann Arn's family was selected by SCC looking for participants in of the target group in July 2009. She participated in the education awareness sessions organized by SCC. Especially the HIV/AIDS awareness, the training concerning small business skills and a capital loan provision afterwards helped her a lot. After getting small business skills and a capital loan from SCC plus her husband’s profits (around 20,000 to 25,000 Riels) per day from the construction work, she started operating and extending the business, which helped her family in terms of having enough food, and be able to send their children to school. Moreover, she has been loved and respected from the members in the Self-Help-Group and suggested her to be their group leader. Now, she can save money for the family members and her husband takes medicines regularly and has access the health services based on the doctor’s appointment.

2. How a widowed woman living with HIV/AIDS deals with life?

Mrs. Hay Nary is a 50-year-old widow, living with AIDS. She moved from Phnom Penh after Pol Pot period. As a teenage girl she got married to a man in Battambang in 1984. 1986 her husband abandoned to get married to a new girl. Until 2004 her living was on a day-to-day basis. In 2004 her husband came to live with her again after his fifth wife died. She did not agree to live with him, but her mother in law and her husband forced her. During 2005 her husband was heavily sick, and all her money that she saved many years was spent to cover his medical treatment. She took him to VCCT and the result was positive. Later he received ART treatment. When he got better he went to smoke Yama (drug). Unfortunately, he died and left her with two daughters again. Hay Nary decided to make a VCCT test herself and the result was HIV positive. Being sick and very poor, Hay Nary forcedly decided to stop her children going to school so that they can help making money to support the family.

In 2005, her family was selected as target group of SCC in Ek Phnom district of Battambang province and referred her to get OI treatment 29/04/2005 in Battambang referral hospital. SCC’s intervention aimed to alleviate suffering of its beneficiaries through the provision of physical and practical support, HIV/AIDS, anti-stigma, gender and human rights education. Hay Nary has also received SCC support services such as regular home base care, counseling, meditation instruction, basic health care, referral to healthcare service, access to support group meeting, two business plans for income generation, i.e. for selling in her house. First she received 120,000 Khmer Riels (approximately 30 US$) as a start-up capital, later she received another 200 000 Riel. Day to day her small business runs better. The villagers, particularly her neighbors expressed love and treat her family as close relatives. She mentioned that “Currently, the villagers are always inviting me to attend ceremonies and wedding receptions. My business keeps me very busy, but it brings some income every day. Even though those activities keep me busy, my health still can be tolerated”.

3. Mrs. Por Pat and her husband live in Samrong Takok Village with her two children

Por Phat was diagnosed in 2003 after the SCC staff and volunteer next door noticed that she was ill and told her about VCCT. Her husband also has HIV-infection. Por Phat became very sick with her OI infection before she started on ARV. SCC staff and volunteers taught them about nutrition, self-care and medical adherence.Por Phat attended a meeting of a local self help group, where she learned about living again. When she sees other PLHAs she is very happy to meet them and learn from them. Once her health improved, she asked for financial support from the home care team to sell the kralan. Besides selling kralan and because of her health improvement she has been able to the field for other income. Now she can get a benefit from 5000 – 10000 Riels per day from her own business. Por Phat lives with her husband and two children aged two and five. The two of her children are yet tested. She sells her kralan with her bike at the bus-stop and everywhere.