TerraClear has over 30 sales representatives that travel by motorbike throughout southern Laos, carrying filters on the motorbike, driving difficult dirt road, through mountains, to sell and deliver filters and train villagers. The work is hard and demanding.
Most of the sales representatives are men, but in Dakcheung, one of the poorest, most remote and difficult to access districts in Sekong, Pong is the TerraClear sales representative. She is the only woman sales representative!
Pong is 29 years old and has worked for TerraClear as a sales rep for 5 years. She lives with her husband, Joy, and her twin daughters, Boom and Bim, in the city of Dakcheung, in Dakcheung District, Sekong, in a mountainous region that is still one of the least developed areas in southern Laos. Pong says that she loves her job. She goes to villages throughout Dakcheung, riding her motorbike not only to sell filters, but also to teach about clean water, the need for sanitation and handwashing.
by motorbike to remote areas
her use of the TerraClear filter
Since Pong is from Dakcheung, she speaks Lao language and also Talieng, the minority language that villagers speak, so she can easily communicate with everyone in the villages. Working with women in the villages is easy for Pong. Since handwashing practices and the responsibility for providing household water is often part of a woman’s role, it is great to have a woman to teach other women.
TerraClear is lucky to have Pong as a sales rep. Even though the work is physically challenging and often calls for long, hard rides into remote areas, Pong has excelled at her job. Hopefully in the future, more women will be able to take on the role of sales representative, but for now, Thank You, Pong for the great work you do!
