The Pure Water Program

The second presenter was Mieko Morgan, wife of Jon Morgan. Mieko is Siem Reap Water Quality Manager for Health, Pure Water and Literacy Programs and described the process for bringing clean water to villages and homes. A process developed in Calgary, Canada is being used but is built in Cambodia. It involve a form 30” square and 36” high as concrete is readily available. Into this concrete form is a layer of gravel and a layer of sand and has a copper pipe at the bottom, curving up and then protruding to the outside of the fram as a spout.

Water is added to the top and is allowed to settle through the sand and gravel layers. This creates a bio layer on top from the impurities filtered out of the water. Adding water (1 liter/day minimum) keeps the biolayer rejuvenated.

To obtain a filter for a village, a group of 30 families must get together and request it, agreeing to use and maintain it. A contract is made with the villagers which includes that if they do not use or maintain it, it will be removed. Depepending on the usage, cleaning is required about once a month. If the water is very dirty, it is best to let it sit before it is added to the filter and prevent overloading the biolayer. To get more information on this system, visit http://www.waterforcambodia.org/
By Lee Sneddon

The Lake Clinic - Cambodia

Jon Morgan as the director of the Lake Clinic, Cambodia spoke at a breakfast meeting on the project. Currently they have one boat doing mobile doctor services to floating villages in the south east area of the lake. These villages are extremely poor. They are fishermen who sell their catch to the wholesalers for the market. There are 7 villages in all. The medical boat goes out for 4 days at a time with a staff of 5. As the boat is small, there is no privacy at all and the volunteer doctors are working with Khamer only speaking help making it a very isolated feeling together with the privacy issues. As such, Jon assures volunteers are well aware of the situation and must come from the Angkor Childrens Hospital where he was chief administrator previously.

The boat goes to a common warf where the patients come to them and wait their turn for treatment. As the people are treated, everyone else gathers around to watch – quite a challenge but very necessary to bring healthcare to these people.

The Lake Clinic Cambodia is a non government organization which relies on donations. For more detail and information visit their web site http://www.lakeclinic.org/ Money for their first boat came from donations in Noreay who are now developing a second boat which is much larger and will have separate rooms for operations, dental, examinations plus have small private rooms for staff. With the facilities on board the boat, patients can be separated easily for examinations and medical procedures in private.

Operating costs for this boat mobile clinic runs about $13,000. per month in total. Cost for the larger boat are estimated to be $12,000. per month do to built in efficiencies.
By Lee Sneddon

Transpotation in Cambodia

As you travel the dusty roads of Cambodia, you are witness to the many modes of transportation used by the Khmer people. The cow pulled carts, a constant flow of bicycles, multitudes of motorcycles, top of the line Lexus SUV's, local buses, luxury coaches and the ever popular Tuk Tuk. All of these compete for a piece of the road.
On an early morning ride, you will witness the scarf covered women and uniformed school children peddling in perfect cadence.One can only look in awe at the many uses of the motorcyle. It is not uncommon to see up to three live pigs strapped behind the driver! The number of people they are able to fit onto a motorcycle is beyond belief. Often a family of four will share one bike with the toddler held right at the front. The record number of people seen on one bike was seven! Six smiling children wearing school uniforms waved at us as an adult drove them to school.
By far, the most popular mode of travel for tourists is the Tuk Tuk. A Tuk Tuk is like a little stage coach pulled by a Honda 125. The ever friendly drivers will weave you through the pot holed streets of Seim Reap for the negotiated price of one or two American dollars. A ride in a Tuk Tuk attacks all of your senses as you navigate through the town or along a country road. A Tuk Tuk ride is a must for a true Cambodian experience!
Travelling the roads of Cambodia is a thrilling life experience. One can only conclude that the most dangerous job in Cambodia is to be a Driving Instructor!!!

By Lynn Ross

Working in a Different Culture

It has been an interesting experience . Many of us have been on SE teams before in various countries Each has proven to have its own rewards and its own challenges . Each of us brings some skill sets and some job related skills and we think we know what we are doing. In our own setting and environment we probably do. But when you move to another culture things change. . WE are working on projects that we did not define and which we will probably not finish. It will be our host community that not only defines the project and will use the facility but will probably have to finish the work that we start doing. Thus we work with them - beside them and must rely on them for their advice and guidance.
IN addition of course we must work with their materials and their tools. The later are often not what we would have to use at home and - perhaps we are spoiled - expect to have available for use here. This includes not only tools but materials as well.
Today we started the day with a great presentation by Dr Paul Morgan and his wife about providing health care and water sanitation to the floating villages around Lake Tonlap. Earlier in our visit we had seen one of these floating villages but apparently it was “middle class” by comparison
Then a group of us went to a school to work on various improvements to the facilities. Frank installed a new sink and tap. Jim & Brian worked with some locals from BTC to prepare the site for a floor pad for a new classroom and Al and Tom worked on constructing and installing some new bookshelves in the library. I was not expecting to see a power saw , planer and drill there but was eternally glad that it was there. It allowed us to complete the job – well almost – today. The wood was soooo wet that it oozed water with every nail. It was so hard that it split easily and was very difficult to cut by hand. We did get the shelves assembled and installed but there will have to be some doors installed when the wood dries out. On Tuesday we were asked to make a new table for the art room. The natural choice for us Canadians would be plywood – BUT – plywood is not a normal material used here. We had to search for it. We were told that it was very expensive. Well we located some ¾ in plywood good 2 sides for 18.50 per sheet – a small fraction of its cost in Canada Materials and hot weather are 2 of the challenges . Another challenge is language and communication. Fortunately a few of our working companions have a few words of English and we make out very well with sign language and smiles and laughter . It is a joy to work with them . And do they ever know how to work – oh to be 20 years younger!.

By; Tom Sears

My First Bike - THANKS ROTARY

Thirty five rural school children received new and nearly new bikes thanks to the Rotary Clubs of Bracebridge Muskoka Lakes and Orillia. The bikes were presented to the kids at the ground breaking event for the Bakong Technical School (a Rotary District 7070 supported project).

Lisa McCoy of Gravenhurst Rotary, a retired library worker, who volunteers in Cambodia for 5+ months a year, is the driver of the Bike Project. The bikes, with chain guards, fenders, front baskets, rear carriers, bell, tire generator light, and cable lock cost from $30 to $40 locally sourced and delivered to the rural community. One size fits all!

Local school administrators gave Lisa and her helpers, mature scholarship students from Project Enlighten, a list of needy students who are vetted by a written application followed by an interview and home visit to verify needs and circumstances. The proud new bike owners are in public schools in the Siem Reap and Bakong districts of central Cambodia. The donors will all receive a picture of the new bike and its new owner from Lisa’s team.

The bike becomes the primary means of family transportation. The new bikes take little sisters and brothers, moms and dads to school and market. The bikes are crossovers (or girls bikes in old terminology) so even if you are barely higher than the handle bars of a 30 inch wheel bike you can stand to ride until you grow into the bike.

The roads, lanes and pathways are full of bikes at dawn, midday and again at 5 pm. No car rides to school here! School is 6 days a week and many schools have two shifts.

There are lots more deserving kids who would like bikes. By the end of January, Lisa will have distributed over 140 bikes in many communities through Cambodia. If you or friends or clubs want help donate one or more bikes check out Lisa’s Blog www.thebikeproject.blockspot.com

Anne and Bob Fisher

Volunteering at the Library

After spending two afternoons volunteering in the library under the able guidance of Lisa and the Chief Librarian, Vuthy, we soon learned how to make ourselves useful (I think!)
Here are a few of my reflections!
- Small cozy room where students love to come and go
- Special new table and benches arriving much to everyone’s delight
- New shelving units built on the spot and set up for immediate use
- Lots and lots of books of all sizes , for all ages, in all categories
- Happy chief librarian, Vuthy, who enjoys his many volunteers, both students and outside helpers
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Musical instruments and singing in the corners described to us as a “long poem”
- Adhesive tape that was impossible to use
- Sitting on the floor, organizing lower shelves
- Sheer delight at opening boxes of donated books
- Chatting with student volunteers about “What is your name? Where are you from? How old are you? (Nothing is sacred!)
- Happy, beautiful faces all eager to learn

A VERY SPECIAL PLACE TO BE!!!!
Joyce Westlake

A Visit to the Silk Farm

We visited the Silk Worm Farm today and found the entire production of Silk to be very interesting. The worms are fed a diet of Mulberry leaves from trees that are grown on the property. The worms eat until they are large and then they stop eating and they turn from a white colour to a pale yellow. At this point they are put on twig branches where they will begin to create a cocoon. The entire process takes 47 days. The cocoons are then boiled in water which allows the silk strands to be retrieved and wound around the spools. The outer layer of the cocoon is where the raw silk comes from and the inner layers are the fine silk and most desired silk. The dying process is very interesting as they use herbs and plants to get their colours from.

The weaving of the silk is very labour intensive. This is a skill that requires many months of training and the accuracy level needs to be 100%. The weavers are paid by piecework and the average wage is about $90.00 per month. This is considered to be a well paid profession. The products that are produced are absolutely beautiful.

When shopping in the markets you must be very careful when purchasing items that you think are made of silk, often they are not pure silk but a blend. Pure silk is quite expensive and for good reason.

This tour was informative and gave me a much better appreciation of the value of silk garments.

SUBMITTED BY Joanne Stewart