Metfone director Ngo Manh Hung and Kampong Chhnang branch director Tran Viet Hung visited the house of Senghai, NOC staff in the technical department, at Sare Ping Commune and gifted his family two oxen for his contribution to the company.
Phu San, the head of the hamlet, came to share the Senghai family’s joy. It was the first time he had seen bosses of a company calling on their staff to give gifts. He hoped Metfone would support for more poor households in his commune.
Each time neighbours visit, Li Chhom’s mother Yau Yin shows off the new pair of cattle. For her, it is not just about the gift but also about pride in her son.
To provide them a livelihood, Hai chose one cow and one bull for Yau Yin’s family. She has built a cattle pen.
“I will take good take care of them so that they have many calves. They will help us improve our lives,” Yau Yin told Hai.
Yau Yin, a rural woman, was not sure how to express her joy and gratitude, and pressed her palms together and placed it on her face, repeatedly saying “thank you very much.”
When the company delegation arrived at Li Chhom’s house, his family brought the honoured guests coconuts, the most precious assets in the house.
Li Chhom was embarrassed at being praised, and kept taking the two animals in and out.
Li Chhom now feels assured about working far away from home since his mother no longer has to work hard thanks to the two animals.
He has worked for Metfone’s Ta Keo branch since the beginning.
“Li Chhom works very hard but never complains. He works for a distant showroom and only he can suffer the job. I can fully trust him when I give him a task,” Hai said.
Now the director will have even more confidence since Mrs Yau Yin told him: “I will let my son work for Metfone for the rest of his life. These cattle are the company’s recognition of my son’s contribution, so I will take care them well.”
More disadvantaged than Li Chhom’s mother is the mother of Vuthy, business deputy director of Metfone’s Kampong Speu branch. She is 70 and very weak but still lives in a 15 sq.m house. Its roof is thatched with sugar-palm leaves, very hot in the dry season, and cannot keep out water during rains.
The kitchen is situated outside. When is rains heavily, Vuthy’s mother cannot cook.
When Metfone executives arrived and gifted a house, Vuthy’s mother cried.
Vuthy told me in Vietnamese that he learnt at the Viet Nam Training Centre: “My mother is very happy. She would like to say something but cannot. She cries because she is happy. My mother’s dream of having a good house has come true.”
This is the picture Vuthy sent me of his new house, which is four times bigger than the current one. He is keen to finish construction of the new house within a month.
In the past Vuthy often worried about his mother. With the new house, he can be assured about his family’s welfare and focus on his work.
“I’m very proud to be the first Khmer employee to become a business deputy director at the branch. I can get everything thanks to Metfone. The company trained me, sent me to learn Vietnamese, and has now built a house for my mother. I don’t know how to express my thanks. I believe Metfone will grow strongly. I would like to make Metfone in Speu province the No. 1 in Cambodia.
“Metfone is not my company, it is my home.”