School@Chhom Trach - 7 years and going strong!

The very first school we built in 2005, was at a very poor village called Chhom Trach. Now, 7 years down the road, the school is going strong. A couple of years ago it was struggling through a rough patch with a rather amotivated teacher. We had to "incentivise" the government appointed teacher, and appoint one of our own (a retired Christian principal from another school). Now the school is bustling with activity, and the kids seem happy and keen about their schooling.

The school now runs 3 sessions (2 in the morning and one in the afternoon) in  2 classrooms for Grades 1-4.  Grades 3 and 4 are a combined class because of the lack of teachers. There is also a problem of parents often pulling the kids (usually the older ones) out of classes in the afternoon because of work in the fields. We have decided that we will supplement the salary of another teacher/session so that Grades 3 and 4 can be run as separate classes. Then move the older classes to the morning.

The kids continue to receive a free meal once a week. This costs us about US$140 per month.

Supporting the school in Chhom Trach costs us a fair bit. If you feel you can contribute to this effort, please write to me.

So pleased that the folks have taken up the task of cleaning out the wells for the villages. Started on 28th November. Over 6 days they have cleaned a 100 wells....at a cost of US$7.50 per well.

Water quality in Baray

In the recent trip, we were able to take water samples for chemical and microbiological analyses from various locations at the places we frequented.

These places were, from West to East:

a] Boeung Rial:

i) from a water container of their drinking water, obtained from the lake;

ii) direct from the lake source itself;

iii) from an open well.

b] Phum Ley:

i) tube-well at the school;

ii) tube-well at centre of village;

iii) open well at centre of village;

iv) just outside Phum Ley, at a ditch.

c] Andaut:

pumped water from an open well

d] Baray:

i) un-filtered water from open well at SOLAR Cafe;

ii) filtered water from open well at SOLAR Cafe;

iii) pumped water from open well at Khmer Village Homestay;

iv) drawn water from open well at Palm Village.

The results below:

If you need a better print-out of the data, please drop me an email. For reference of what the WHO standards are, please check out their publication:

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/GDW8rev1and2.pdf

You can't imagine where they drink from....

The story of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah during the God-ordained drought reminded me of the water quality project we did during this last trip. We sampled sources of drinking water from more than 10 locations in various villages. I will report of the results later on when I have received them.

What was a horrific eye opener was discovering where some of their unreported sources were. We would like to think they source their water from rivers/streams, open wells and the tube wells we provide. If tube wells easily accessible, they will certainly use them. Do they boil the water before drinking? Often no. We asked if they would carry clean boiled water with them when they go to the fields to work. Their answer? No. Where would they drink from, then? Apparently they just drank directly from the rivulets/irrigation run offs by the padi fields.

We wanted to view some of these streams by padi fields so that we can sample the water for analyses, but this being the dry season, few such streams were evident. Instead a ditch like this with stagnant foul water was often used as well for drinking. Drinking techniques include a cursory separation of surface debris before scooping out water with the cupped palm to drink. Sometimes they would lay their krama on the surface, and using it as a crude filter, drink through the krama fabric.

We were horrified.

A question of attitudes?

In the course of our work in Cambodia we have been through many communities. We try to evaluate the needs of the community, but more importantly, the quality of the village leadership as well as the commitment of the leadership and community to the educational mission in their own community. In simple words, we are interested to know if the community values education and will encourage the children to go to school.

On this last trip we had the opportunity to visit two villages with somewhat similar needs but very different approaches to the problem. The differences highlight just how important community cultural attitudes are in determining effectiveness of what we try to do.

Village A was sited about 1.3 kms from the nearest school. This was a fairly large primary school. The road to the school was a well maintained dirt track which passed through residential housing all the way to the school edge. The village head complained that the children could not go to school because the kids had to walk the 1.3 kms, and that as the school was situated on the main road, the journey was dangerous for the children.

Village B was a small isolated community. The nearest school was close to a temple about 1.2kms away. In the dry season, the children can walk to school through dirt tracks by the padifields. In the wet season however the fields and tracks are flooded, and the children often had to walk part of the way and travel by boat just to make it to school. The villagers were concerned that as the children were too young, and had not yet learnt to swim, this presented a very hazardous journey for them. One of the villagers said that as they felt it was important for the children to go to school, he would marshal them into long boats and ferry them to school.

It seemed to me that while Village A was just prepared to give up over the slightest obstacle, Village B was committed to find their own solutions because they felt education was important.

It was really not surprising, that despite being so isolated, Village B children were highly represented in high school and universities. Attitudes are important.

Follow up at the schools......

By God's grace we have had 5 good years and completed 5 schools - Chhom Trach, Ta Peuv, O Ta Saeng, Phum Lieu and Phum Ley. Some villages have done better than others.

We have followed up at Chhom Trach a lot more than the others because it is the poorest of the villages, and have been very heartened by the progress it has made. Recently the poly students repainted the exterior and it really made a difference. We are always impressed by the show of their flag lowering ceremony at the end of the day. To imagine the lids were at one time running around naked and filthy, and now being able to line up in a discipline fashion to do the flag lowering ceremony. Just brought a lump to the throat.

The main reason we visit the villages this time round was to continue to impress upon the schools and the students/teachers that we haven't forgotten about them and that remained concerned about their progress. In particular we wanted to encourage the students to be diligent in their studies and to work hard. To this ends we created a scheme to give out prizes to the top 5 students from each grade. We actually started this last year, so this would be second time we are doing this in the school. I think it is making an impact on the kids and teachers.

Light of Life School@Boeung Rial

You can see the floating school at back

We prayed for rain...and boy, did it rain!! We thought we'd have to slosh through muddy fields all the way to Boeung Rial, but God spared us that ordeal and gave us rain in abundance. So much rain that we had to brave in hour long journey in open boats. These ponchos came in handy.....but only to a limited extent because we still ended up drenched.But it was indeed a joyous meeting at the floating classroom.

The villagers gamely braved the elements just to be at the commissioning. Even the District Officer made it.

Me with Ps Samreth.... Poster says Light of Life School with a verse from John 8:12.

Ps Boon Leong preaching openly with Ps Samreth translating. The District officer is at the back.

What can I say....? It was just such a wonderful moment to see the school in stark physical reality. Despite the rain, the villagers were in high spirits. The government was to have appointed teachers, but because the school was so inaccessible, they could not get anyone to take up the job. As a result, we continue to use the part time teachers from Somrong Church to take the classes. Currently 2 teachers ran classes 3 days a week, but thanks the the generous support from a well wisher, we can now pay the teachers to run classes 5 days a week.

Andaut (An Dot)

Approximately 30kms due East of Kampong Thmor, at the junction of Highway 6 and 31, is a pair of large villages called Upper and Lower Andaut respectively. Lower Andaut, where we are focusing on consists about 400 huts with 700 families (go figure the maths... ). The picture above show the approximate position of the village relative to Kpg Thmor and Baray (circled extreme left). But if you Google Earth 'An Dot + Baray', you can see the pair of villages in a bit more detail. The red marker is placed a bit southeast of the 2 villages.

Socka and her husband are moving into Andaut as local missionaries. They are from Somrong (a local CMS church led by Ps Kia) Church, but salaried by Esther's SOLAR Ministry. A church is being started in Lower Andaut through some seed money (USD5000) from the US based Cornerstone Church. Through Socka's pioneering work, the village has already 29 believers who meet regularly in a wooden hut (see above).

Socka's testimony, which we were fortunate to make an unplanned recording can be found here:

Socka's testimony

Socka sharing about her work in Andaut

The village is quite inaccessible except through poorly maintained dirt tracks, and the children have no school. The nearest school is in Upper Andaut, a few kilometers away.

I feel the burden very much to place a school here. I believe this will complement the developing church activities in this village, especially since Socka and her husband are already moving in as missionaries. It will also be very opportune time for a church to step in and 'adopt' this fledgling missionary work.

Sway Teap

There is a village called Sway Teap.

This village is about 4 to 5km from O Ta Saeng. Currently, there is children ministry and cell group at this village. Pastor Kaarl from O Ta Saeng church takes care of this village.

The existing school in the village has only 1 class room and is in very bad shape, looking as if it could collapse any time. This school cannot meet the needs of about 200 school going children.

A well wisher from Malaysia visited the village on a earlier mission trip in November 2009, and was moved to sponsor the building of a school at Sway Teap. Unfortunately some expected funds failed to materialize, and they have a shortfall of about US$18,000. Currently the drill well has been completed and the school construction has begun. Completion date expected to be June 2010.

Please pray that by His grace, funds will be available to enable completion of the school.

Tropeang Russei - a reality check

Tropeang Russei turned out to be much farther than had been anticipated, although large stretches of the road weren't as bad as we had thought so we were able to move along at a reasonable pace. Still, there were stretches where the going was tough. All in the driver estimated about 300kms of dirt tracks that we covered during our expedition. But that included 2 failed attempts to reach Svaychak, a village beyond Touk Pii we had wanted to visit. The tracks even in dry weather, proved impassable for our yellow bus.

Our wonderful yellow bus. The driver was really superb in navigating us through these often treacherous tracks.

Tropeang Russei turned out to be a resettlement village in process of forming up. The provincial government had apparently allocated a large swathe of land for handicapped veterans and their families to occupy. On paper there were approximately 370 plots of land allocated out.

I think most of it went to relatives of veterans rather than the veterans themselves. Most of the allocated plots have not yet been occupied. The land seemed rather inhospitable as there was little in terms of steady water supply for irrigation of crops. The current occupiers eke out an existence through a fledgling charcoal 'factory' and foraging in the nearby forests for valuable woods to sell. This unfortunately pits them against nearby villagers as they compete for the same resources. The impression we got was that they weren't really on good terms with their neighbours. There apparently is already a school only about 1.5kms away. The village leadership wanted to press for a school and a dispensary/nursing station for their own village, and expected that these facilities would encourage the other allocated families to move in.

Given the uncertainty with respect to the future of the village, we felt that it was not timely for us to place a school in Tropeang Russei. Perhaps at a future date, when the village is a bit more mature, we can reconsider the options.

We took the opportunity to deworm the kids

Tropeang Russei

Just north of Baray District is the district of Santuk. We have been told of a community there called Tropeang Russei (Bamboo Pond) consisting of about 700+ families. It is very poor and suffers from governmental neglect. Geographically the region is forested, and families are often displaced because of timber concessions.

Pastor Kea has been entering the region on his own initiative and resources, often in response to requests for help. He has specifically asked for our assistance in this very neglected and remote rural community.

I intend to go in with Kea sometime about the second week of January to evaluate the needs and to see what can be done. It is only about 40 kms from Baray but it takes about 4 hours to get there, so you can imagine the state of the roads.


Please pray for us.... and for the needs of Tropeang Russei.

The 'Fishing Village'

Back in 2001, after we had helped out with the 2000 flood relief work, we were told of a very poor and neglected fishing village. We responded then to what was to become a recurring refrain over the years:"Can you help?"

We soon led 2 trips into the village with supplies and a medical-dental team. In those days we naively thought it quite quaint that an armed police escort had to follow us around. Later we found out that the area was frequented by bandits, and in fact one bandit group had narrowly missed us, though they had specifically intended to intercept us. God's hand of protection had been over us!

The 'Fishing Village' is a village with no real name. The nearest recognizable village was one called Boeung Ria. The village was a semi-nomadic village that lived on the edge of the Ton Le Sap tidal flood plains. Two or three times a year, as the water levels rose and fell, and as the water edge moved, the village will dismantle and move according to the availability of dry land. Their huts are made of wood and palm leaves, but secured with string rather than nails. There are about 60-70 families in that cluster, but the cluster breaks up as they relocate to dry ground.

After our initial visits, the local pastor, particularly Pastor Kea, had continued to follow up with the villagers. Families began to be converted and gradually the character and mood of the village community also began to change.

Pastor Kea

Setting off by boat

We revisited the village this last trip because there was a request for a school. The village had become tired of being illiterate and did not want the next generation to be illiterate. They wanted their children to go to school. Currently the nearest school was in ChakTaLeuk, a long distance away by boat, and which was pretty much inaccessible to the children. Could they have a school close to their village, perhaps a floating one?

Unarmed escort

This last trip, we were also escorted by a police officer, but he was unarmed and largely superfluous as the bandits had long been disbanded. A ceremonial presence.

The village we visited was recognizable, but only in form. The poverty was still there. And so were the portable huts which reminded us of the booths the Hebrews had occupied when they moved through the desert after fleeing Egypt. But the people were not so despondent, so lost. There was a refreshing sense of hope and purposefulness.

Pastor Kea's brother-in-law, a young man named Kimsour, functioned as a pastoral assistant and had been regularly ministering to the villagers. Every Sunday afternoon, he held a small worship sevice in the home of one of the parishioners. He told me there were 8 Christian families there now. And though many had not formally accepted Christ, they were very open and often attended their meetings.

Kimsour in front of the home where they have their regular Sunday afternoon worship

Chern Chern doing her toothbrushing drill

Deworming

Pastor Teara distributing fishing nets

We stayed long enough to attended a last minute call to the villagers to meet for a song and prayer session. There under the tentage, we fellowshipped with them as they sang a few songs of praise. We prayed with them. My wife was particularly taken by the little girl who could not only sing praise songs but also pray aloud.

It was a wonderful time. And it made me reflect on how wonderful it was, that there in the middle of nowhere, in a village that had no name, we were able to pray and fellowship with families who shared our same God. Just reminded me of the wonder of being in God's family.

School @ Phum Leav

By God's grace we overcame all those problems digging the bore well at Phum Leav. But we finally did it. Here is the well .... precious living waters for the kids. The sign in front of the well says: "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst" John 4:14.

Donatet?

And the school too. But because of the delay in starting, the school is not fully complete. The furniture is not in yet, and some touch up work is necessary.

Ps Sauvann
The sign to his right says:
"Let the children come to me, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to them."

Headman

Still it was a good opportunity to celebrate the opening, and to plant that symbolic Beng tree.

The endangered Beng tree

The District Officer helping to distribute the rice to 50 families

School @ Phum Ley

The village of Phum Ley had an interesting effect on many of us who visited it the first time earlier this year. The kids were bright, cheerful and enthusiastic, and there was this almost charming sense of positivity. It wasn't difficult for us to think of supporting a school there.

The school is now in place. The village had found a new piece of land for it - a good sized, open and airy plot.

We were greeted by quite a welcoming party as you can see.

The Principle escorting us in

From L to R : Esther, Commune leader, me, Jhon (at back), Rural Development Officer, District Officer

Headman Croch Leng

The cow story

Jimmy
"Let the children come to me, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to them."
Matthew 19:14

Tree planting ceremony - The endangered Beng tree

Rice distribution (+fish sauce and salt) to 50 families