A railway passes through residential properties and local food stalls. As the suburban route continues, an industrial landscape on the right is busting with busy garment workers from fabric to quality control section With every piece labeled with “Made in Cambodia”, each garment factory contributes to the country’s economy as one of the largest industries nationwide.
43-year-old Loch Sinara works at Zhen Tai factory’s bar tack section. A mother of three has been working in the factory for almost 18 years since she finished secondary school in grade 9.
Sinara has had the opportunities to join and learn from peer educators inside the factory, on topics relevant to workers’ well-being. Out of all the training she has received, what stood out to Sinara was the knowledge on nutrition.
The Sewing for Brighter Future project was designed to support factories to establish committees and factory training teams to promote a positive workplace for garment workers, focusing on well-being.
“I have learned about daily nutrition, hydration intake, meal prep and the most important thing I find is the understanding on energy drinks and its consequences,” she said. The training has had a huge impact on her and her family’s daily diet from adapting better practices for her and her family’s daily nutrition to reducing the consumption of energy drinks.
She added, “I have started to slowly change to the way I eat and drink after more understanding on nutrition. I often cook healthy food and avoid sweet drinks. I am also aware that lots of garment workers are facing health problems, because of the unhealthy consumption of food and sugary drinks.”
Each session of the in-factory training included skilled educators who delivered the knowledge using visual and video materials. As the trainers are selected from the management of the factory, their connection with the workplace opens spaces for discussions and encourages the workers to participate in training sessions.
“I believe each of the garment workers deserves education about the basics of health care in their workplace.” Loch Sinara said, as she hopes her peer educators will bring different lessons to the class soon and that more workers would take the opportunity to learn.
Across from Sinara’s stitching sections, several rows of workstation are occupied by workers trimming excess fabrics. A 53-years-old Sophorn repeatedly inspect each pair of pants while removing threads as the final touch. Almost a decade at Zhen Tai, Sophorn took off some time from her usual duty to join the factory training along Sinara.
Her favorite part of the training is basic mental health care support.
“We learn about mental care and its stages from video and visual materials in the training. There’re also explanatory materials on stress management, short clips about persons with disabilities and ,” she said.
Compared to her previous ways to take care of her mental health , Sophorn has improved her stress management skills and learnt to talk about it with her families and colleagues. As somebody who used to struggle with trusting the benefits of such courses, what she has learnt about mental well-being as now become a topic Sophorn is able to share with her colleagues over dinner.
“We who have received the training have now learned to consult with each other who we are close to and trust. I have somehow also reduced my level of overthinking and negative thoughts too,” she added.
Building up the garment workers’ skills to effectively manage stress and take care of their mental well-being contributes to their increased productivity, let alone their overall health and well-being. The garment industry is one of Cambodia’s The garment, footwear, and travel goods sector contribute significantly to Cambodia’s GDP, with a new record in 2023 which accounted for 62.26% of all exports.
With our local partners, CARE Cambodia continues to support workers and promote safe and healthy workplaces where everyone can thrive in their respective roles.
This project known as “Sewing for a Brighter Future (SBF) – Worker Well-being 2.0” aims at improving workers’ health and wellbeing with focuses on policy and system and workplace environment.