After consulting with experts, planning and receiving approval from the village chief, and connecting with generous international supporters we are excited to announce that we will be bringing clean water to families in Outaput village! We are hoping to raise at least $1500 to make this a reality!
As participants on our floating tour may have learned, many residents in Kompong Khleang still use the water from the Tonle Sap, especially during dry season where they cannot collect rain. Unfortunately, this is the same water source where residents go to the bathroom. It has been further polluted by petrol boats and pesticides used when farming the lake bed during the dry season. While Bridge of Life School, our organization that provides pre-elementary education in the village, has primarily focused on educational issues, we find the situation to be critical and are taking steps to do something about it.
In order to kickstart the effort, we met with Water for Cambodia, an NGO that builds biosand filters and to date has distributed over 19,000 filters in the greater Siem Reap area. The organization has the technical expertise to carry out the project and has agreed to consult us on an on-going basis. After our meeting, we meet with the village chief to discuss the project and, with his support, developed a survey that will be distributed to residents to have a better idea of current access pre-deployment as well as a way to measure success post-deployment.
After preparation and approval we developed our pilot project proposal. It was reviewed by a former volunteer with several years of international aid experience and can be downloaded here.
Simon & Marina, two participant from the UK who joined us on a tour, are leading the fundraising initiative through The Connected Super Club, a monthly dinner meeting where participants have the chance to network, genuinely dialogue, and also make a difference as they adopt charities at each meeting. You can learn more about the club on their Blog and, if you are based in London, consider reaching out to join. We want to sincerely thank them for adopting Kompong Khleang as their charity for the month of March. We would also like to thank Yen & Matt who donated two filters to our school.
Altogether we are hoping to raise at least $1500 USD to fund the pilot. This will provide biosand filters and training for about 20% of the village. Please consider donating to our JustGiving Page to make this a reality! You can also contact us directly at [email protected]
