Improve Health with Clean Water in Rural 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.