The Spotlight is on...ROS Kunthea!

ROS KUNTHEA. Photo courtesy of Our Strength website

Our interviewee today is ROS Kunthea. She is the director of the local development organization Our Strength in Battambang.
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“Your sex is from your body but gender comes from your community’s understanding. Women can be doctors, NGO managers, hard workers just like men; we just have to change our culture and communities.”

- Our Strength founder Ros Kunthea at Camp GLOW in Siem Reap. _____________________________________________________________________________________

Our Strength is a community based organization in Battambang that focuses on reproductive health and relational services for women in Cambodia. The name Our Strength calls upon Cambodian women to focus on the strengths they already have and show every day. It also focuses on utilizing that strength for the empowerment of all and to make the future brighter for Cambodian women. Our Strength has worked with Peace Corps on numerous Camp GLOWs, educational workshops, and nutrition trainings in past years. They have an energetic staff of young women led by Ros Kunthea, better known as Theary. Theary is the co-founder and current director of Our Strength.

Introduction:
My name is Ros Kunthea (Theary), Director at Our Strength NGO, I am 32 years old, I am married and have one son. I am currently four months pregnant. I originally come from Siem Reap province. I work with the women’s health team, and I teach reproductive health to women in the community. I also teach about domestic violence. I want women to know what services are available to them. My goal is for women to understand health. I want to educate them so that they can advocate for themselves. I want women to be able to protect themselves. In the future I also want to be a teacher at a university.


What activities related to Gender Development are you involved in? We have many activities. First we go to the villages to meet the village chiefs. It is important that we all work together. Then we do home visits so that we know how many women in each village have health issues. We plan for meetings with women in villages A village chief will gather women for us and then we prepare a workshop for the women. After, we talk with VHV’s who want training VHVs. The VHV’s help assist in the training with the Our Strength staff. We then offer to take those who are sick to the hospital.  We work in village communities by listening and responding to women’s health and social needs. After attending the workshops women have a better understanding of their health



How did you get to where you are today?
I have been with the program since its inception in 2009. My previous experience in community development and women’s health education includes work with Cambodia Health Education Development, Caritas International, and Siem Reap’s Catholic Church Rural Development Project. I was born and raised in Nong Chan refugee camp on the border of Thailand until I was 11, when I moved to Siem Reap with my adoptive mother and two brothers. Now. I am planning a future for my family, including my husband and son in Battambang. Service to women grows out of my experiences growing up in a refugee camp and resettling in Cambodia.

I observed women suffering disproportionately under the burden of war, displacement, food insecurity, and lack of access to basic health and education services. I am passionate about constantly improving the quality of Our Strength’s work by listening to women so that our programs may better support those without other access to health services or education. My hope is to see women grow in their knowledge, skills, and confidence, so that they can gain strength to protect themselves, their families and communities. I am especially committed to working towards Our Strength’s sustainability, by investing in staff education and capacity building, so that our organization may support itself by providing services to other organizations and groups in Cambodia.


What do you think is the most important issue facing Cambodians today?
I think reproductive health, sexual health, and gender and violence education are the most important issues Cambodia is facing. Many women and men are still shy and don't want to talk about their health problems or to talk other about the problems in their family. Other issues include

- Women’s knowledge of health issues are still limited. 

- Culture and social barriers about value and power are still affecting men and women.

- Many women think they should be submissive to their husbands.

- Many men use violence because they think this will earn money for the family. 

- Many women are afraid to do advocacy with men.


What kind of advice to you want to give the youth of Cambodia?
I want all the youth of Cambodia to try to study hard and not only study in school, but to find and learn more from other forms of information, social media, family, community, or other NGOs about health and other problems. Also, after they know how to help they are able to find a solution and share this with other people in their community.


What is your favorite thing about your country?
My favorite thing is its women and students, even though we have poor families we try to spend time to learn more about health and life.


Finally, I have confidence, even though my NGO is a small program, that we can help many people. Many women talk to me and explain that they were very happy with the workshops. Our Strength educates and shares knowledge to women. It helps give them information that they may have not known about before regarding their health from women of their same age.



Spotlight interview provided by Community Health Education PCV Nicholas Branch