Hard Situation Family

I asked one of our staff to write a short report on a family we visited this morning. Here's what Pern wrote [edited slightly]:

Hard Situation Family

At 10:15 on Thursday May 26, 2011 Pip and I went to visit a family in Kbal Spean village. When we got to their cottage they said hello and prepared a place for us to sit. Mother was cooking rice porridge, Pip and I introduced who we are and where we are from then asked her permission to ask some questions. The following is information of her family:

Her cottage is situated on a block of rented land in Kbal Spean. She doesn't have her own land. She pays 5000 riels (US$1.25) per month for rent. Her cottage is one room and very old and small with the roof and wall of rubber which have several holes. I think do not really have enough room for all of them. In addition they do not have toilet or enough water to use; they just have jar to contain rain water.

She is married with three sons and four daughters. All of them except for one daughter live in the house. They also have a girl and a boy that they take care of. The oldest son (25yrs) has a mental problem. He was normal but after working for one year without getting paid he became like that. The second son (23yrs) is deaf and mute. The oldest daughter is disabled because of a motorbike accident. She is 17 years old. She is supported by World Vision to learn to sew. One 14 year old girl and 12 year old boy study in pre-school at Mercy Ministry Foundation organisation (MMF). And the other two little girls do not go school. The boy and the girl they take care of do not go to school.

All of them are rubbish collectors. They normally go across the border to Thailand to collect rubbish, except her husband he is a cart pusher, but also works at the border of Thailand and Cambodia. All together could earn approximately 150 to 200 Baht (US$5 - 6.64) per day.

This isn't a hypothetical case study. I met these guys earlier today. And since I've already confessed that I'm not the expert in making decisions that affect other people's lives, I was just wondering if you have any comments or questions... What else would you ask this family? What would you do if they lived down the road from you? Send me an email if you're not sure about posting your comment in this public space. Thanks.