Cambodia Clean Water Project Update 2015

We would like to thank all of our guests and donors whom together have helped fund 138 built and working water wells. With your gracious support, we’ve been able to give 3,000 poor, rural people access to clean water—which wasn’t possible for them just less than 12 months ago.
Last year I visited the villages before we delivered the first water wells, and it was during that visit where I met a number of families.
But there has always been one family that really stood out to me. Here is a short video we made during that trip.

Project Update Video

The Background to the video

When I first met them the rice crop had just ended. The kids had extended bellies and were clearly sick. The family lived in poverty, and if you had seen them on the street you may have mistakenly thought them destitute.
But five months later when I returned, the water well had been delivered to the family, and I saw some significantly, visible improvements.
The kids that once looked sullen-eyed and malnourished, now looked healthy—with their extended stomachs getting better, but not completely back to normal.
The family is now implementing a crop cycle that provides them with food between rice seasons; and raises a vegetable crop that not only feeds them, but also provides excess produce that they can sell at the local market.
In addition, the family now has water available to raise their crops during the dry season because deep well water does not dry out.
The small profit that was made from the extra crop grown during the dry season is now being invested into the children’s schooling.
This life-changing gift is due to the well that was donated, and without the well water the family would have had to find another source to drink from, such as a water-holding ditch contaminated with crop run off, chemicals and dust.
It is the contamination, coupled with poor nutrition that often starts off a downward spiral to a fatal illness, as life expectancy in Cambodia is not great and the infant mortality rate is even more shocking.
One common, but serious symptom the villagers face is diarrhoea.
Because the illness is mainly waterborne, it is usually found near areas without any clean water; however, after the water well was implemented the family back at the village had not reported any cases of diarrhoea for over two months.
Additionally, the number of cases reported has also dropped significantly thanks to the clean water, and the health and sanitary training implemented by the CBAVC.
It is important to remember the large impact that has been made, considering diarrhoea is one of the main causes of death for children under five in rural Cambodia.
While it may be crazy to think that something as simple as clean water could have this effect, the truth is that it does.  In fact, it’s pretty well documented that investing in clean water is the most impact investment that can be made in these communities.

Our Plan For Water Well Projects and Donations for 2016

Even though the number of wells we raised was far more than we had expected, we still have a great deal to do. There is still a need for 400 more wells in this one province alone, and we are hoping to build 100 more this year.
I can’t promise you that every experience has resulted in the same levels of success, but I can say that reports back from our team at the Mad Monkey have remained positive and the impact of your donations is highly visible.
So in short, I would like to thank all of you again, as this is not an update to ask for more donations, because if you’ve donated at least one well then you have already done a great deal. And as someone that is generally charity-suspicious, I can honestly say that the wells are truly effective and make an impact on many families.
If you can, please help us spread the word and share our story to other kind-hearted individuals who may be interested in our cause.
Thank you again to everyone that has donated.
Steve
Chairman of Mad Monkey Hostels
Interested in getting further involved?
Want to donate? More information can be found at the following links below:
CABVC Charity Website
Video about the clean water project on You Tube
How to donate
Have more questions? Please go to: www.quora.com/topic/Clean-Water-for-Everyone

Other Information about clean water in Cambodia

http://www.bama.ua.edu/~joshua/archive/may10/aguilar.pdf
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/unicef-water-03212014154522.html
http://www.unicef.org/cambodia/12681_22270.html