Renewable Energy for 15 Rural Cambodian Families

CRDT has been working with the communities in Kampong Cham Commune for five years now in support of conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Projects focusing on food security, income generation, the provision of clean water and sanitation methods, environmental education and waste management have been helping people to take control of their lives and their environment.

A form of renewable energy, biodigestors give family households living in rural areas a chance to give back to their environment, helping them to reduce their dependency on forest timber and mitigate against climate change.

By the end of 2010 you, and others like you who supported this project through GlobalGiving had funded the construction of 15 biodigestors for 15 households on Koh Pdao in the Kampong Cham commune. These houses now have light, gas stoves for cooking food and boiling water, and a sustainable form of energy at their disposal.

Thank you.



The members of these communities and their families would like to thank you. The total number of people your donations have touched is now 89. Everyone who received a biodigestor put their own time and energy into it, either collecting sand and gravel to aid construction, or jumping into the pit and getting stuck in themselves!

But it's not right to just build a biodigestor or provide any other form of livelihood support and then just walk away. That doesn't make the endeavour sustainable. So, after construction was finished, CRDT conducted training sessions with all beneficiaries of the GlobalGiving 'Renewable Energy for 15 Rural Cambodian Families' project, so those receiving a biodigestor could really make it their own.

They were taught how biogas works, the benefits to them and to the environment, about the link between their lives and climate change issues. Also animal manure 'best practice', how to change spare parts and generally how to keep a biodigestor happy.

Mrs. E Khen said "Thank you to everyone that spent their money to support this project and build this for us. We are really happy to get one!" She is 56, a widow and mother of two children living in Samphin village. She told Mr. Bin Dim, a CRDT Project Officer, that last time biodigestors were built on the island she didn't get one, as funding allows for only so many at a time, but this time she got one! Her enthusiasm was obvious.

Your donations made all this happen, they have literally changed lives.

Thank you all so much from CRDT on behalf of Mr. Khun Seab, Mrs. Sus Lay, Mr. Sok Youn, Mrs. Mei Pheara, Mrs. E Khen, Mrs. Sok Khorn, Mrs. Duk Savun, Mr. Mom Kosal, Mr. Chea Chem, Mr. Srey Seng, Mrs. Sao Sophany, Mrs. Khun Set, Mrs. Kim Yeoun, Mr. Nam Nak and Mr. Sem Chhon

P.S

If this makes you feel happy, then you might like to support our work further by helping to empower rural Cambodian families to be self reliant. If you are interested in CRDT and would like to connect with us, please join us on Facebook, tweet us on Twitter, or have a look at Cambodia, on Flickr.

Thanks again.

www.crdt.org.kh

Links:

• Empower 325 Cambodian Families To Be Self Reliant
• CRDT on Facebook
• Tweet us on Twitter

Thanks to small donors like you, CRDT has just started construction on renewable, clean biogas projects for eleven families! Seab, Lay, Pheara, Khorn, Niron, Noue, Rom, Sophany, Set, So and Chandra are all now hard at work learning the construction process, digging holes and collecting sand and gravel from around their home. In a few short months, these eleven families will have clean-burning biogas to power lamps and stoves- saving a collective 5-10 hours every day of time spent hacking away as critical forests. With your help these eleven families are taking the lead on their own development and in doing so making huge strides as natural stewards to their environment! Without the support of small donors like you- these biodigesters would not have been built. So it is from the bottom of our hearts that CRDT and our beneficiary communities thank you for being part of the team creating this change.

Thank you!

-CRDT

Cambodia experiences a rainy season for 4 months of the year from May to October (give or take a few weeks) which renders the vast majority of construction work very difficult – if not impossible. The large pits that need to be dug in the earth for the biodigestors would collapse in on themselves come shower or storm, the concrete dome that must be laid and molded into shape will not set if there is water falling from the sky in a day-long deluge… What it boils down to – is that we cannot work under these conditions! Almost all of the country’s structural work ceases at this time of year, CRDT’s included. Construction will begin in November 2010, after the rains have receded in their regularity. How long does a biodigestor take to materialize from hole in the Earth to fully-functioning clean power-making cooking gas and lighting provider? Well, the project beneficiaries put in most of the labor needed to make this happen, so how long a biodigestor takes to be realized very much depends on the life – their farming tasks and responsibilities – of the villagers in question. Anywhere from 4 days to a month is realistic! Here is a couple of sample beneficiaries that wanted to express their impressions of biodigestors… They have not yet been chosen, but are still on the selection list (Please furthermore on the attach file). CRDT conducted a few meetings in Koh Pdao and in Yeav village, Kampong Cham commune, located in the northeast of Cambodia along the Mekong River to get an idea of who wants what… 38 families were represented at the meeting, so – there has to be a transparent way of picking 15 (for now at least – as time ticks on there will be more and more…) families to receive a biodigestor from the funds that you all contributed to (thanks again by the way!) so the method chosen to pick out the current batch of lucky ones was a lucky dip! There is a huge need in this area for biodigestors and it is hard to say why one family should have one more than another in the same village, so to be fair and transparent – hands were dipped, and some got lucky! Another meeting was conducted - as a result there are ten families that registered their name in the lucky draw list (Mr. Mom Kosal, Mr. Oun Sorn, Ms. Mey Pheara, Mrs. Hun Sitha, Mrs. Duk Savun, Ms. Sorn Meta, Ms. Mom Phalin, Mrs. Mom Samnang, Mrs. Sok Khaoun and Mr. Svay Nou) and the name list will be more updated after meetings in other villages are conducted. By the way the selecting process will be finished in mid to late October 2010, and the work construction will begin in November 2010, meanwhile, the sand and stone would be available in place and work construction to easily achieve the goal. Thanks so much to everyone that donated money to make this happen! By the way the selecting process will be finished in mid to late October 2010, and the work construction will begin in November 2010, meanwhile, the sand and stone would be available in place and work construction to easily achieve the goal. Thanks so much to everyone that donated money to make this happen! In the meantime, you may be interested to see our other Global Giving project, working with indigenous people in the forest land of Mondulkiri. It is an area of very low food security and CRDT are helping these communities produce more and more variety of food themselves, through sustainable agriculture, in order to be less dependent on fragile forest resources. See the project here: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-ethnic-cambodians-conserve-300k-of-tropical-forest/ Thanks! You’ll hear from us again in November

Links:

• Help Ethnic Cambodian conserve-300k-of-tropical-forest

• 15_Renewable_Reports_on_Semptember_2010.pdf (PDF)