Stories of Change
Chhundy and her family enjoy a meal together. Photo: CWS
Winter melon is loaded with nutritious vitamins B1, B3 and C and potassium, which is said to help maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Winter melon is used in many Khmer dishes, especially healthy soups like Samlor Korko. The gourd’s young leaves are edible as salad greens, and its seeds can be dried and fried for a snack. Cambodians also believe that winter gourd has medicinal benefits.
Winter melon: a new lease on life
Phan Chhundy is 48 and lives with her husband, Him Song, who works as a day wage laborer on a cassava farm. The couple and their three children, ages 11, 14 and 16, live in Lbaeuk village in central Cambodia. There they own a small plot – about half an acre – for their house and a vegetable garden. That garden is used for food, and when possible, the family sells some vegetables for extra income.
The family does not own a rice paddy, and their income is quite meager. They used to go hungry. That changed in 2015, when Chhundy joined an educational workshop led by a CWS team member. She learned how to grow different, more nutritious vegetables, like sponge gourd, broccoli and winter melon. Chhundy chose to grow winter melon, which is more affordable to grow and easier to sell than other vegetables.
With her family’s help, Chhundy sells her winter melon and earns a comfortable income. Chhundy and her family now have enough to eat each day. Their nutrition has also improved as she cooks winter melon, along with other vegetables, for her family. Chhundy says that she is grateful to CWS for the opportunity to improve her family’s income. Our team, in turn, is proud of this outstanding outcome, which was accomplished because Chhundy and Him Song were ambitious enough to pursue it.