Improve Health with Clean Water in Rural Cambodia

Trailblazer Foundation projects are designed to alleviate poverty and improve health conditions for rural villagers. Trailblazer prides itself on helping Cambodian villagers, and more broadly entire villages, move from survival to sustainability. Trailblazer knows that providing a latrine to each family that wants one is one of the first steps toward the sustainability of that family and its members.

According to the annual Cambodia Socioeconomic Survey conducted in 2014 by Asia Development Bank, the survey showed vulnerability to poverty had increased, and that urban povery may be rising. Many families moved only slightly above the poverty line, despite a dramatic decrease in income poverty since the mid-2000s.

In order to move out of poverty a family needs to be healthy enough to pursue their other basic needs:  food, education, and economic opportunities. One of the best ways to combat poverty and disease is to provide access to better sanitation conditions. Without a latrine, villagers are forced to defecate on the ground not far from their home.

Many villages that Trailblazer works with have made strides towards meeting their basic needs and are now seeking sanitation solutions to prevent the spread of illnesses. In 2019, we were fortunate to receive donations to be able to construct latrines for 43 families.

Trailblazer recently learned of the tremendous need for 3,848 latrines for villages in four of the twelve districts of Siem Reap province. The needs lists are as follows:

• Soutr Nikum district = 825 latrines
• Prasat Bakong district = 783 latrines
• Banteay Srey district = 716 latrines
• Pouk district = 1524 latrines 

This request for latrines represent 19,240 rural villagers who currently do not have an adequate sanitary place to toilet. This is a staggering number of villagers in jeopardy of contracting disease from exposure to unsanitary conditions. [This beneficiary total is calculated based on the fact that typically, one family uses each latrine and the average family size is five individuals].

Trailblazer Foundation’s program plan for 2020, is to work with and provide as many latrines as possible to families in these four identified districts of Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, dependent on the funding aquired. Latrines cost $175, but all levels of contribution add up to provide better health for those living in a less socioeconomic situation.

Latrines are one of our “tools” for advancing our Health program, which focuses on securing clean and abundant water, and improved sanitation and hygiene for our partner villagers. Trailblazer provides the cement rings, PVC piping, toilet tank and procelain bowl. Villagers contribute by building the walls and roof.

You can help address this huge need through your generous support. We are very thankful to our donors for their contributions, especially because we understand a latrine is not a “glamorous” gift to give. But, can you imagine for yourself what life would be like without one?

Prohut village is one of many remote villages in Siem Reap province, Cambodia where Trailblazer works. In the rainy season, which is happening right now, only bicycles and motorbikes - with the help of being pushed by the riders, can travel to villages like Prohut. Villages like Prohut have less access to clean water, therefore, villagers are forced to use rain water and/or pond water to meet their water needs. However, these sources of water are not potable, even if boiled, and cause serious health issues. Few families can afford to purchase a filter from the market to have for clean water for their family.

In 2015, Trailblazer drilled pump wells and installed bio-sand water filters in Prohut Village for several families. One example the impact of having clean water and access to water can make is with Mr. Hoy and his family. Mr. Hoy and his wife Hann were one of the recipient families that received a bio-sand water filter and a pump well. They have three children. Their daughter studies in Prohut Village Primary school.

Mr. Hoy recently told Trailblazer, “Before our family received the bio-sand water filter and the pump well, we had difficulties in our living, especially problems with our health. We got diarrhea and were sick often. We faced money problems because we lost production time in our garden, and had to use the money we could earn from our hard work to pay for medicine and health care. We didn’t have enough water to raise animals or irrigate our small garden."

Mr. Hoy continued, "We were very happy when Trailblazer introduced us to the bio-sand filter and trained us about hygiene. This is very important. We lived our life without knowing that by consuming clean water it would save our health and improve our economic ability. After using the pump well and filtered water from the bio-sand filter, we noticed that our health situation improved, and continued to get better. No one is sick with diarrhea now. We can save money to buy study materials for our daughter. It has been four years now, and the bio-sand filter still works well, and we are having a productive life." 

Now in 2019, Mr. Hoy has a small tractor, two motorbikes, one bicycle, 5 cows, 15 ducks, and 10 chickens. This economic growth is clearly a result of better health because of clean water and access to water. Owning livestock raises a families level of poverty from extremely poor to simply poor. Mr. Hoy and his wife thank the donors and Trailblazer for receiving the bio-sand filter and pump well. It was life changing.

Other villagers in Prohut Village who received a bio-sand filter and pump well from Trailblazer reported experiencing a similar positive impact and benefit to their lives as Mr. Hoy and Hann have.

We wish thank all of you who aided in this effort to bring clean water and hope of a better life to rural villagers throughout Siem Reap province, Cambodia.

Trailblazer has learned, and witnessed time and again over the years, that when people have access to life's most basic needs, water and food, further development naturally occurs. Through our comprehensive rural community development strategy, which starts with providing clean water to poor rural villagers, we are developing ripples of sustainability through community water projects.

Most people are aware of the direct connection between good health and the ability for a person to prosper. In most developing countries, this idea manifests itself in children being able go to school when they are healthy, and parents having enough time and energy to work in the store, the home, or the fields.

In Cambodia, one fifth of the deaths of children [age five and under] is attributed to high incidences of diarrhoeal diseases, a result of bad water. Creating clean environments for children improves their health and gives them a chance for a prosperous life. Therefore, Trailblazer's Health Program is focused on providing clean drinking water, access to water, and better sanitation conditions.

Secondly, Trailblazer's Food Security Program focuses on teaching villagers best practice techniques to make them more successful with starting and growing homestead gardens, to feed their family in a manner that helps reduce malnutrition and poverty. When families have an abundant access to water and receive agriculture training, they have the energy and ability to build a healthier life for their family.

A well provides a consistent year-round supply of water to irrigate a homestead garden to provide more nutritional food to feed a family. By eating quality food and a sufficient quantity of food, a villager will have the strength to increase his/her production for purposes of economic pursuits. If a villager grows more food than is needed by their family, they can earn income from selling their excess. This is one step in the development of a family becoming more sustainable and moving past a life of poverty and mere survival.

Thank you for your contribution in helping bring water and hope of a better life to rural families in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. Each year thousands of lives are changed for the better because of your investment. We hope we can count on your continued support, as the list of our rural partners in need of better health, food security and development is long.

On behalf of Trailblazer Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff, I want to express our deepest gratitude for your continued support of our work in rural Cambodia. You deserve the credit for all that we have accomplished in 2018. Over 6,000 rural villagers have a better quality of life because you wanted to help. That’s impressive, and we thank you for your role in this significant accomplishment.

So, what sort of improved quality of living did you help make a reality in 2018? On a recent trip to Cambodia, Trailblazer’s newest Board member, Justine Auton, spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Van, a married couple with three children living in a rural village about an hour outside of Siem Reap. This is just one story we could share from our work during this past year.

The Vans are farmers with a bit of land, where they have been growing rice and vegetables for years. Yet, they live on less than $2 a day. Their challenging situation inspired them to take advantage of two of Trailblazer’s programs: our Health Program (which provides Cambodian villagers with water filters and wells) and Food Security Program (which trains families how to grow more productive gardens).

Mrs. Van explained that, this year, she and her husband first participated in one of Trailblazer’s 28 homestead garden trainings. She then proudly told Justine that her family is already experiencing real benefits from having gone through our agricultural training. “Our lives are changed. We now grow better rice and vegetables. We work a lot more and it is good for my husband and our children.”

Next, the Vans asked Trailblazer to drill a well, so the family of five could have cleaner water for their cooking and personal hygiene, as well as more water for their crops. This allowed the Vans to not just grow food for themselves, but produce enough crops to sell some at the local market. Better yet, with the increased income and water, the Vans were able to buy some cows to raise and sell for beef.

Trailblazer’s Food Security Manager in Cambodia told Board member Justine that, through the changes the Vans made with their garden, the family’s income had increased about 150%. And there was potential for that to increase even more. Mrs. Van explained the impact on her family.

“Before we just had a little money and now we have a lot more. We have vegetables to take to the market all year round now. Our lives are easier, less stressful.”

If this story warms your heart as much as it does mine, I hope you’ll feel the same sense of accomplishment I do for having played a role in that success story. And I hope our success will excite you to make a year-end contribution to Trailblazer, so we can continue transforming the hopes and aspirations of Cambodian villagers into reality.

GlobalGiving is running a Recurring Match Campaign through the end of the year.  Your recurring donation will receive a one-time 100% match.  Start your recurring donation today!  

Such a simple act can, and will, produce powerful life-changing results for families like the Vans. Together, in 2019, we can improve the lives of even more people in rural Cambodia. Thank you again. 

Best wishes, 

Chris Coats, Executive Director / Co-Founder

Links:

• Trailblazer Foundation's Direct Link for Recurring Donations