Sustain the Lifeline - Supporting TLC's Cambodian

The Clinic Is Its People

There is a line in the description of this project that I wrote myself, and that I believe completely: a clinic is its people. The Lake Clinic has two boats, nine village clinics, and a system of care that reaches some of the most isolated communities in Southeast Asia. None of it functions without the 25+ Cambodian men and women who show up, every mission, in every weather, for every patient.

This is the first report on this project, and I want to use it to introduce you to the team your support sustains — and to account for what they accomplished in the first half of 2026.

Who They Are

TLC's Cambodian staff are not interchangeable. They are specialists, committed individuals with deep ties to the communities they serve. Many have worked with TLC for a decade or more.

Sary Chhoum leads the Lake Clinic team — the floating clinic that travels to six villages on the Tonle Sap. She has been with TLC for years and manages a mission that involves navigating a lake the size of a small sea to reach families with no road access and no other medical option. SreyNeth Han leads the River Clinic team, serving three communities along the Steung Sen River — a tributary of the Tonle Sap that threads through some of Cambodia's most remote terrain.

Behind the clinical teams are the people who make the missions possible: Dr. Hun Thourida, TLC's Medical Director, who ensures clinical quality across both sites; Ky Kolyan, our Outreach Director, who manages community relationships and the critical bridge between TLC's boats and the villages they serve; Uk Savann, Operations Officer, who coordinates logistics, procurement, and the thousand details that keep two clinical boats running; and Khim Chantha, our accountant, who manages every dollar with the rigour that our donors deserve. There are doctors, nurses, midwives, boat pilots, outreach workers, pharmacists, and cooks — each one essential.

Their salaries are modest by any international standard. For most of them, the work is not simply a job. It is a vocation. Several of our staff grew up in communities like those we serve, and they carry that history into every patient encounter.

What They Accomplished in H1 2026

In Q1 2026 alone — January through March — TLC's clinical teams delivered:

- 3,850 patient consultations across 92 clinic sessions in 9 villages

- 5,945 clinical cases treated, including dental, maternal, eye care, and general medicine

- 3,044 people reached through community health education

- 30 antenatal care visits and 27 ultrasounds — for many women, the only prenatal care they will receive during their entire pregnancy

- 278 dental cases treated, including 90 extractions and 67 fillings

- 307 vaccines administered

- 70 mental health consultations

- 17 patients referred to higher-level facilities — cases that, without TLC, would have gone undetected and untreated

Clinical operations continued through Q2 (April–June), with both the Lake and River teams completing regular missions despite the challenges of the high-water season, when navigating to certain villages becomes significantly more difficult.

What Your Support Covers

The $571 raised through this project to date represents early, generous confidence in TLC's team. A monthly salary for a nurse or outreach worker is $1,200. Health insurance for the entire staff for one year costs $4,000. Staff food for the Lake team for one month is $450.

These are not abstract figures — they are what it costs to keep Sary and SreyNeth and their teams on the water, week after week, mission after mission, year after year.

TLC's total annual payroll for Cambodian staff represents the largest single line item in our budget. It is also our most important investment. Trained, motivated, experienced Cambodian healthcare workers are not easily replaced, and the communities we serve have built real trust with the individuals who visit them. That trust — built over years — is what allows a patient to share symptoms she might hide from a stranger, or a mother to bring her child in for a vaccine she might otherwise decline.

Looking Ahead

In H2 2026, both clinical teams will continue their regular mission schedules through the high-water season and into the dry season transition. TLC is also preparing for the December 2026 Angkor Half Marathon, through which staff and international supporters will raise funds for ongoing operations.

Our goal for this project is to build a dedicated, growing base of donor support for TLC's Cambodian team — the backbone of everything we do. Every dollar raised here goes directly toward salaries, healthcare, and the professional development of a team that has given, in some cases, a decade or more of service to some of Cambodia's most vulnerable communities.

Thank you for being part of this.