My name is Srey Mao, I live in a rural area of Prey Veng province. I have lived in this district my whole life. Two years ago I moved to this village to start a new business with my family. Before we moved to this village I knew I wanted to open a restaurant. I love to cook and serve the people of my community. We saw that this village was on a main road with lots of traffic everyday and there was no restaurant to serve the community and the people traveling through.
I live here with my husband, and my 4 children, I have one daughter and three sons. I really love this community because it is in a rural village and not crowded. Most of my neighbors are rice farmers, and most of my customers work close to here.
Each day I wake up at 5am to prepare breakfast for my customers. After my last breakfast customers leave, my family and I clean up the restaurant, wash the dishes and begin preparing food to serve for lunch. I am able to purchase the vegetables and meats I need from my neighbors.
Last year we chose to make an investment in our business that has really made our lives easier. The water from our well has a lot of minerals that affect the taste of the food we serve and water we serve our customers. So for most of the first year we were in business we purchased large 20 liter jars of water to cook with and to serve our customers. We also boiled some of our well water to make it safe to drink.
Eventually we heard from our village leader that we could invest 20,000 riel($5) and get a Biosand water filter that would provide all the water we needed to run our business and to supply our family needs. My husband invested a few days helping construct the filters and then paid 2000 Riel to have it delivered to our restaurant.
The filter has been a wonderful investment. I no longer have to boil water to make it safe to drink. The filter removes all the iron, minerals, and bacteria from the water and makes it clear and ready to drink and cook with. Now I don’t have to waste money buying water to serve my customers. They can drink as much as they like and it costs me nothing.
“The filter is very good, easy to use and good for your health. It is easy to maintain just pour in the water and it makes it clean.” – Srey Mao
