Before the crisis:
Reaya worked for three years as a security guard, earning around US$100 a month. He sent half of that back to his family in Prey Veng in south-eastern Cambodia.

How has life changed since then?
Reaya’s employer paid him late each month, making it difficult to meet his expenses, so he quit his job as a security guard. This month he hasn’t been able to save or send money home. Like many of his friends who recently lost their jobs in garment factories, Reaya has gone to work on a construction.

What’s difficult about life during a financial crisis?
The construction industry has shrunk in the past six months, and Reaya found it difficult to get a job. He doesn’t have any money saved, so he has trouble planning for the future. Since this is his first month of work on the construction site he doesn’t know how much he will get paid at the end of the month, so doesn’t know if he will be able to send money home.

How is he getting by?
Now that Reaya has a job, he says, there is plenty of work on his construction site. He says the construction company that he works for will probably send him to other provinces as it is a big company and seems to have enough work in other parts of the country.

What does he predict for the future?
Reaya says he worries a little about the future because the economic outlook is so uncertain. When the time comes to deal with the problem, he will deal with it then. If he has to, he will go back to his hometown.

April 2009