Improve Health with Clean Water in Rural Cambodia

Water-borne diseases are the greatest health threat in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. In Cambodia, a country of fifteen million people, there are more than nine million cases of diarrheal disease annually, estimated to cost the nation about $448 million a year. These diseases are most easily combatted by providing access to clean water.

For Trailblazer Foundation, providing access to clean water includes both digging wells to access water, and constructing and delivering bio-sand water filters to purify both surface water and well water (the latter of which is cleaner than surface water, but still not always safe to drink). 

Constructing and delivering our bio-sand water filters to villagers is Trailblazer Foundation’s first priority, in terms of the services and products we provide. We distribute more water filters than wells, because most families already have access to some sort of surface water, although the water is typically not healthy for human consumption. This explains why water filters are the product or service most requested by the villages, through the local needs assessment process.

Given that one family each uses a water filter, with an average of 5 people per family, Trailblazer has benefitted 965 people so far this year by installing 193 bio-sand water filters.

Trailblazer is very grateful and proud of raising money because people are inspired to give for products and services which support the important work done in Cambodia. Our passion for improving health conditions and reducing poverty for our rural village partners cannot happen without your help.

You have the power to be an agent of healing and hope for rural villagers. Every gift counts. I want to thank all our donors for their continued support. Your contributions are making a difference and transforming the lives of people in rural Cambodia every year.

Thank you for bringing clean water and hope of a better life to rural families in Siem Reap province.

In 2014, the U.N. General assembly declared water a human right, “meaning every person should have access to safe water and basic sanitation”(WHO). According to UNICEF, diarrhea is second leading cause of death for children under the age of five in Cambodia, while vitamin and mineral deficiencies due to diarrhea results in an annual loss of US$146 million to Cambodia’s GDP. Access to clean water allows for improved sanitation and overall health, enabling communities to prosper and grow.

Trailblazer Foundation has been partnering with Cambodian villages in the Siem Reap province to provide families with bio-sand water filters to improve the sanitation and health of the area. With access to reliable clean water on their property, families no longer have to experience the burden of illness due to unclean water, experience shortages, or have to walk far to collect water.

For Jomreoun, a 27 year old woman living in a small village in the Pouk district of Siem Reap province, access to water is essential to her well being and that of her husband, and their 2 year old child. Like Jomreoun, 12.3 million others in Cambodia do not have access to a piped water supply. This makes up 70% of Cambodia’s total population. (World Bank 2015). Instead, Jomreoun’s water came from her father’s house where she would have to walk everyday to collect. She described this water as dirty, it caused her family sickness, requiring them to spend money on medical expenses. Sometimes they experienced shortages of water, which she said wasted time and energy, and increased their health problems.

Jomreoun and her family received a bio-sand water filter from the Trailblazer Foundation in 2017, and since, her life has changed drastically. Before the bio-sand filter, Jomreoun was tired of hauling water everyday, and the shortages disrupted her life. Now with a bio-sand water filter on her own property, Jomreoun has access to water she describes as clean and good tasting. Her family’s health has improved greatly and they no longer have to spend money on medicine. Jomreoun can use this clean water to drink, cook, and bathe her child without worry.

Reliable and safe access to drinking water is a foundational step for development and the wellbeing of rural Cambodian communities. With clean water, illness decreases, enabling children to attend school, and adults to have more time to work and feed their families. It allows communities to flourish and achieve a higher quality of life. Water-borne diseases are the greatest threat to the Siem Reap province where Jomreoun lives, and that is why it is one of the leading efforts of Trailblazer Foundation to help people get access to clean drinking water.

Trailblazer is on track for distributing its goal of 450 bio-sand water filters in 2018, as part of our Health Program, having installed over 100 bio-sand water filters so far.

With your continued support we are confident we will reach, and perhaps exceed our total goal. Thank you for the support you have given to help us reach these rural families with potable water, bringing them hope of a better life.