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Client, Cambodia
“I don’t need to worry about unwanted pregnancy and I can keep working to support my family.”
Chap Si Yim is 28 years old and has spent the last nine years working in a clothes factory in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh.
Si Yim left her home town 100 kilometres away to get the job, leaving her studies mid-way through, so she could find work to support herself and her family.
“When I lived in my home town of Kampong Thom, I was studying so I didn’t have much money. I had to leave there to find work. I missed my parents when I first came to the factory, but my life is better here now.”
Si Yim met her husband four years ago and they have a son together, who lives with her sister back home. Although being separated from her child is tough, it’s an arrangement that works practically for the family as a whole. They have the money they need to get by, and Si Yim is happy to work so she can send funds to her sister and make sure her son is properly looked after.
"I need to keep working to get the money we need, so having another baby isn’t a good idea. I have friends who didn’t use a family planning method and got pregnant. They were so busy with their kids that they didn’t have time to earn money."
Thankfully, family planning advice is available to all the workers at Chap Si Yim’s factory, so she has been able to talk about contraception with a MSI Cambodia-trained nurse, and find a solution that’s right for her.
"I was very happy to talk to the Worker Health champion. It was the first time I had heard of family planning. She told me about many different methods like the pill and injection, but I decided the implant was right for me. There are no side effects, and it gives me more protection than the natural method. If you use the natural method, you will get unwanted pregnancy."
I have friends who didn’t use a family planning method and got pregnant. They were so busy with their kids that they didn’t have time to earn money.
Chap Si Yim went to the Moul Met Clinic in the centre of Phnom Penh to have her implant inserted. The clinic is part of the network of providers trained by MSI Cambodia, so women can feel confident in the quality of advice and treatment they’ll receive.
"I thought there would be pain during the surgery, but when the implant was inserted I didn’t feel pain at all.
"I will stop using it in a few years when we have enough money to have another child. But for now, I feel happy I don’t need to worry about unwanted pregnancy and I can keep working to support my family."
