Khmer Village Program

THANK YOU to the Rotary Club of West Seattle (Washington) for your support to the Khmer Village Program in Cambodia.

Follow up report from Peter Royce, Project Manager, currently in Chamkar Chek Village.

Project goals:

Now three village projects have grown to become the focal point of what's most needed to improve living conditions for residents, particularly health and safety. The first project is to drill a deep well through an underground rock layer, and install hand and electric pumps. The second project is to place speed bumps on the main road through the village. The third project is to build a community sanitation center.

Project One: currently, most village residents obtain water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning from a shallow, contaminated meter-wide uncovered well outside of the village. Polluted water, brought up in a bucket, is carried 40-80 meters uphill to their homes. Many families in other parts of Sihanoukville access clean water via 10 cm wide covered wells within their village, topped with hand or electric pumps. The total cost necessary to drill a deep well and install a hand and electric pump for Chamkar Chek Village is US$2,003.

Project Two: Chamkar Check Village is located around a curved roadway with notorious stretches of karaoke taverns beginning 50 meters in each direction. Day and evening, scooters and cars frequently cut through the intersection-free blind curve at dangerous speeds, and several scooters have tumbled down its south embankment. Not only do drivers put their own lives at risk in front of village homes, but also small children en route to our village class, state school, home, and elsewhere. The cost to install two seven meter long speedbumps and signage is US$570.

Project Three: several families have expressed strong interest in having bathroom facilities. Currently only three homes are equipped with squat toilet, while other villagers must relieve themselves in brush areas. A shared sanitation facility would make substantial gains in areas of hygiene, modesty, and effective cleansing of persons, clothing, and more. Cost to build a share sanitation center is still being worked out.

THANK YOU ROTARY

On behalf of the families in Chamkar Chek Village in Cambodia, THANK YOU to the Rotary Club of West Seattle for your grant to support the Khmer Village Program.

Report from Peter Royce, Project Manager (volunteer) of the Khmer Village Program.

- - -

Recent activity

Owing in large part to the tire bin donations and clean-up activities, village residents have maintained greater care of the environment to date, keeping areas around their homes mostly clear of litter and natural debris. Congruently, conditions inside homes improved with mosquito free sleeping areas and less intrusive monsoon rains thanks to contribution (from Rotary) of roof panels and treated bed nets. And since our village classes began in January 2011 with Rotary granted school materials, over sixty children have attended, studying English, Khmer, and Math. Every 2 to 4 months, students who attend class regularly enjoy a community day trip to the waterfall, pagoda, beach, cinema, or skating with their teachers and parents, while receiving incentives aligned with project goals such as raincoats, school bags, and badminton sets. In addition to the village classes, five more private school tuition scholarships were recently awarded from donors in the U.S. and Holland, and twelve children unregistered in state school were finally enrolled in October.

Extracurricular activities have included village parents and a local donor developing a now popular soccer field on land adjacent to the village. Skype video sessions with American donors and students, and university students volunteering to teach soccer, badminton, and dance. Last month we hosted two events: we had a village donation and performance event. Children participated in singing, dancing, and musical chairs competitions; then received clothing donated from Kids Without Borders, multivitamins from an individual donor, and school materials from local groups "Khmer For Khmer", University of Management and Ecnomics, and Norkor Khmer School. Back in December, 48 students and 14 volunteers auditioned for our performances at a local school, visited a new beach, then went to dinner.

Peter Royce (center back row) and the children in Cambodia