Saturday, February 16, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Photo Of The Week 2
Young men at the river performing ablution before prayers, steps have now been taken to provide clean water for prayer ablution instead of unclean river water.
Photo by Nur Diyana Alan
Report On Phum Trea Trip - 10th to 13th January 2008
Persons on the trip:
Saleha Johari, Husaini Hafiz, Juliana Osman, Syed Abdullah, Nur Farhan Bte Mohd Alami, Noor bin Abdul Latiff, Abdul Rahman Zamawi, Ahmad Abubakar Bagharib, Santosh Madugula, Iskhandar Khan bin Ali Khan, Nathalie Lefrancq, Alia Iskhandar, Aqila Iskhandar.
Sixteen enthusiastic people including three Cambodians, Mrs Sereithida (Mrs Thida), an NGO social worker, Ms Arfadelia Adam, a young medical undergraduate and her friend, Rohani left for Phum Trea early on Friday, 11 January 2008. We were there to look into five projects.
1. Medical Care
Our medical team comprised three doctors and six other persons assisting the doctors. The clinic was set up at an unused school classroom. The comprehensive pre-trip careful planning and streamlined implementation made this the most satisfactory visit to Phum Trea by our medical team. Naseat Yousus was helpful in setting up the space and pre-registering the patients. The total of 160 patients were attended to over the 2 day period. The contact with Islamic Medical Association of Cambodia (IMAC) and their co-operation during the trip was useful. They were also able to bridge the language barrier.
2. Clean drinking water project
(i) Drinking water for the villagers comes from either the Mekong River or rainwater collected from rooftops.
Some of the river water used is cleaned through simple household filtration system.
The villagers appreciate the need for cleaner drinking water. Dirty water has been the primary cause for some abdominal diseases which are predominant among the villagers.
(ii) Following discussion with Ustad Mohamed Noh, it was agreed that a Clean Water Committee be set up by the villagers. This Committee will:-
(a) supervise the construction of a water storage and filtration tank at the mosque;
(b) ensure the continuous supply of clean water for drinking and washing before prayers;
(c) be responsible for the upkeep of the system.
(iii) We will finance the cost of digging a well to pump water to the tank and the solar panel to generate electricity to run the pump. It will supplement the rain water during the dry season.
3. Cottage Industry
Items such as shopping bags, tablecloth, tea pot warmer and oven gloves were identified by Nathalie following discussion with the ladies in the village, through interpretation by Mrs Thida.
She recommended the use of local products, which would have greater appeal to foreigners and emphasized the need for attractive packaging.
4. English classes
(i) English is taught by our English teacher, Naseat over four sessions daily from Mondays to Fridays. There are a total of 213 pupils (107 boys, 106 girls) ranging from 9 to 14 years.
We distributed books, pencil boxes and stationery and sweets to the students.
(ii) The use of the classroom at the public school given for our English class will end in July 2008.
The villagers offered a piece of land on the left side of the mosque to build a school. It is a vacant land and its 20 x 10 metres, or 2000 sq metres. Mr Ahmad Bakar purchased the land. He agreed to allow a school to be built on it and all other necessary use eg. clinic, library, computer room and office.
5. Bio diesel Plant (Jatrophe)
We were informed by Ustad Mohamed Noh that there is no land available for the purpose of planting of jatrophe. All land areas in the village is flooded during the raining season which lasted 2 to 3 months in a year.
As with our last trip, the villagers were hospitable and offered us food and accommodation for the night of 11 January 2008. We left Phum Trea after lunch on 12 January 2008 and arrived in Phnom Penh by 9pm. The next morning we took the Silkair flight back to Singapore. We stayed at Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh and will consider staying at the cheaper Holiday Villa for our next trip.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Photo Of The Week
Children from Phum Trea under their houses built high on stilts due to frequent flooding.
Photo by Priya Selvam
Report On Phum Trea Trip - 21st to 24th June 2007
Persons on this trip:-
Ford Thai, Mrs Thida, Noor bin Abdul Latiff, Mydin Kunji Mohd, Arfat Selvam, Alia Iskhandar, Nur Diyana Alan
Misson – to look into
• having cleaner drinking water for villagers
• feasibility of generating income for villagers through
planting and sale of jatrophe (biodiesel plant)
• providing English education for children
• providing basic medical services
• promoting sewing as a cottage industry for women
1. Clean Drinking Water
Samples of water from river and rainwater were filtered through the Hyflux membrane filters. Samples of water before and after filtration were collected and brought back to Singapore for testing.
• 500 ml of river water took 11 minutes to be cleared
• 500 ml of rainwater sample collected from a household water tank took 5 minutes to filter through.
The filters are effective and easy to assemble. Stainless steel containers with piping can be sourced from Phnom Penh.
2. Biodiesel Plant (Jatrophe)
Jatrophe is grown in the wild in the village. Villagers are aware that the oil extracted from the seeds can be used as diesel oil. We discussed with Sheik Sulaiman and Ustad Mohamed Noh on starting a project for villagers to grow the plant and harvest the seeds for oil extraction.
The villagers have had negative experience from unscrupulous buyers on sale of agricultural products. They are cautious. They want to know the price being offered for the product so that they can ascertain the level of interest. There is agricultural land available for this project.
3. Cottage Industry (Sewing)
Newcomers Alia and Putri took on the task of providing samples for the cottage industry. The village seamstress was able to stitch a bag from sarong material within 3 hours. She also sewed a headband.
As a fund raising exercise, it is intended that products sewn at the village will be put for sale at the coming WOMAD festival.
4. Basic Medical Services
Singapore doctors did not join the Group on this trip.
Mrs Thida assisted in identifying and the interview of Naseat Yousus who could serve as the “on the ground” village nurse for our Singapore doctors.
Naseat is a pleasant young man who can serve as our doctors’ focal point in the village to keep records and to discuss the needs of the villagers with our visiting doctors.
5. English education for children
Naseat Ahmad, the village school teacher engaged by us started his classes from 1 June 2007. He has 370 boys and girls aged 9 to 16 years.
He conducts 5 one hour classes each day from Monday to Saturday. He has put in much effort to teach English to the village children. He showed his attendance records and children’s homework.
He faces many challenges:
- overcrowded classroom
- lack of teaching material
- hot, poorly ventilated and dark classrooms.
We attended at all the 5 classes, over 2 days, distributed books, stationery and toothbrushes. Alia also demonstrated to the students the proper way to brush teeth.
We discussed with Ustad Syukri (ustad at mosque who lives next to the school) the need for the villagers to partner us in creating a better environment for the children, such as
• installing ceiling for classrooms
• opening up new windows for better ventilation
• clearing the classrooms
We will look into installing solar panels to provide electricity to operate lights and ceiling fans.
On his request for the photocopying of school books, we advised Naseat that we would like parents to contribute 25% of costs – to create accountability on their part.
6. We stayed overnight at Phum Trea (22 – 23 June 2007) for the first time.
The villagers provided us with food and lodging. We visited the mosque. This is also the first time that we had gone to the village when Nasser is away. Ford was helpful in arranging the land transport. He and Mrs Thida, together with the van driver (Rae) assisted in our communication with the villagers.
Post – Trip Note
After this trip, our Group decided to form a non-profit company to consolidate our efforts.
Hope Villages Fund Pte Ltd was incorporated in Singapore on 17 October 2007.
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