The elders in our community are bringing back traditions, mentoring students, and raising children who have no one else. That’s why we call them our yeay and ta, our grannies and grandpas.
Why they’re so important to our community
Forty years ago, the Khmer Rouge came close to wiping out an entire generation of Cambodian people. This was one of the most horrific periods in the country's history, but some members of our community lived through it.
Today, these are the people who remember what Khmer culture was really like. That’s why they’re so integral to restoring lost family values, community structures, and Khmer traditions.
Your support helps our grannies guide the next generation
Grannies pass on wisdom, values, and traditions within our community
Grannies and grandpas graduated from the literacy and computer classes
Grannies are fostering abandoned and orphaned children
Meet our Grannies
These are a few of the women who bring our community together as they share their stories and pass on Khmer values to future generations. You can help a granny support her family.
Your donation will contribute to food for their families, a safe home, free healthcare, and a few trips that help them reconnect with the country they knew before the war. Each granny can have up to five sponsors, allowing for support to extend to others throughout our community.
Granny Ream
Granny Ream was born in 1949 in Kandal province, into a poor family with 6 members. She married to a fisherman and had 7 children. Her husband passed away about 2 years after the Pol Pot regime. In 1999, she moved to Phnom Penh. She took her youngest son along with her and left her other 6 children with her parents. In Phnom Penh, she picked up garbage to earn a living. Mostly she didn’t have enough money to pay for the rented room or buying medicine when she was sick. But then, her life changed since she was accepted into CCF Granny Program.
Granny Mean
Granny Mean is a friendly woman who was born in 1940 in Prey Veng. She got married to a farmer in the village. They had 3 daughters and 3 sons but their daughters died of severe malnutrition. Sadly, her husband passed away in the 1990s. In 2018, she moved to live in Phnom Penh to seek for support from CCF. Since then, her life has changed dramatically. She receives support from CCF such as weekly basis, free healthcare services, and a World Housing Home to stay.
Grandpa Sarun
Grandpa Sarun, who used to be a construction worker and lived from hand to mouth, is 73 years old as he was born in 1949 in Kandal Province. He had 4 siblings and he is the second son in the family. He lives in the World Housing home provided by CCF. He likes listening to the Buddha’s teaching via his small radio before he goes to bed.
Grandpa Sok
Grandpa Sok is a friendly grandpa in our CCF Granny Program. He enjoys sharing life lessons and advice with junior students, encouraging them to be grateful for their opportunity with CCF and to gain as much as possible from their education. At the end of the Khmer Rouge regime he and his wife started farming a small plot of land to support their family with 7 children and struggling with daily life by living from hand to mouth...
Granny Theary
Granny Theary was born in 1962 in Battambang province. She’s a hard-working single mother who has to take care of her daughter who is ill. Never having been to school, she joined CCF’s adult literacy program which enables her to read and write Khmer Language by her own now.
Granny Touch
Granny Touch is a friendly and active granny in our CCF Granny Program. She likes socializing with other grannies and sharing her life experience with juniors in the community to encourage them to cherish their opportunities with CCF and to strive to be future leaders.
The Theang treatment
When Theang joined CCF in 2014, she had long hung up her scissors. With a little persuasion, she came out of retirement. Now, Granny Theang has no intention of slowing down. She might be a grandmother of five, but she has more energy than the little ones playing in the community’s pagoda outside her makeshift salon.
Sisters Reunited
Granny Bun Sen aged 98 meets her 101-year-old sister for the first time in 47 years.