Chris started volunteering at MaD in 2009. He is our main contact there. Thank you Chris for taking the time to answer our questions.
What brought you to Cambodia ?
I visited Thailand a few years ago and fell in love with the country and its people and decided that I’d like to spend some more time in South East Asia after I graduated from university. I’d heard from many people who had traveled around South East Asia that Cambodia was their favorite country and after a bit of research it quickly became a top choice for a long-term volunteer placement.
How did you get involved with MaD ?
A good friend of mine from university worked with MaD for over a year after he graduated. He came back to the UK with glowing reviews of MaD and the work that it does. When I told him that I was looking to do a long term volunteer placement he was quick to mention that MaD was looking for long term volunteers and that I should apply to work with them. So I did and within a few weeks my placement was confirmed and so I came out to Cambodia in January and have been working with MaD since then!
Did you ever expect to be involved in this type of work ?
My final two years at university were focused on international development, which I became very passionate about as my work progressed. By the time I had finished university I had made up my mind that this was the area what I wanted to work in.
I focused a lot of my academic work on rural development, which I am particularly interested in, and so its especially fitting that I came to work with an NGO which has that as its primary focus !
How did MaD choose to work in/with Prolit Village ?
For the past year and a half MaD has been based in Bakong Commune but we moved early in 2010 into the centre of Siem Reap due to some conflicts with the local licensing authority there, APSARA. So after that decision was made we started looking for a new region to work with in Siem Reap. We had worked in Reul Commune with our Medical Assistance Direct Program before and knew that it was an especially poor commune. Palynath, our executive director, had some meetings with the leaders of Reul and we collectively decided that Prolit village would be the best place to start our first projects in Reul.
Can you talk about the process of making personal contacts in the village ?
We first contacted the chief of Reul commune, Noun Deuk, to talk about the possibility of us carrying out work for his commune. He has been exceedingly helpful since the day we first got in touch with him and was very eager for us to help the inhabitants of his commune. When we decided that Prolit village could as be a good place to commence our work the next step was to get in touch with the chief of the village, Nup Brorn, and to talk about this possibility and again he was very helpful and keen for us to help the residents of his village.
After this was decided, we set up our first Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), with the village, which all of the residents of Prolit were invited to attend. At the PRA we introduced ourselves and got to know members of village. The residents were invited to elaborate on the problems that they face and then we explained the kind of work that MaD can carry out and how our capacities could best be used to help their village. We held a second PRA a couple of weeks later, which even more people attended, where we went into more depth with these issues and started collectively putting together a plan of action for the village over the next year. All that remains to be done now is to start work !
Did you have to deal with any bureaucracy ?
As mentioned above, the reason we left our old place and decided to start work in a new commune was because the bureaucracy and corruption that surrounds APSARA was so extreme that it made our development work simply impossible in Bakong. Fortunately APSARA do not have jurisdiction over Reul Commune (it is not a UNESCO protected region) and so we have yet to face such problems with our work there. However, Cambodia is an incredibly unpredictable country and so we definitely can not rule this out, we just have to hope that any problems that arise won’t be as extreme as the ones we faced whilst we were in Bakong !
Have villagers approached with any stories regarding inconveniences with their current situation ?
At the PRA countless problems were raised regarding their current situation. The principal complaints were that there were not enough toilets for the whole village, that they did not have enough clean water sources to supply the whole village (currently there are only 6 pumps to service over 1,000 people !), and that as a result they did not have enough water to drink and that they were unable to successfully grow crops in their village and so did not have an adequate supply of food either. The high levels of poverty in the village significantly exacerbates this problem because they do not earn enough to fix these problems by themselves. They related to us how about a year ago another NGO had come and offered to work for them and had donated crops to them to grow. However, the project failed because there was not enough water for them and so the crops died and then the NGO abandoned the village, and left many in a worse state than they were in before they started work there !
They also told us how the water that comes from the pumps and wells that they do have smells bad and makes them ill. We’re pretty confident that the toilets that they currently have in the village are contributing to this (more info below).
What has been the villagers reaction to the concept of using Compost toilets ? And, are villagers currently using any fertilizer ?
When we first talked about the possibility of installing compost toilets for the village they were initially somewhat perplexed as they had no idea how they would work and they didn’t like the idea that their waste would not be disposed of underground. However, when we explained the toilets would make compost that could be used to make their crops grow better and produce better yields, they became much more excited about the idea !
It is still going to be a major challenge to get the community to adapt to the new toilets, but we are confident that by working side-by-side with them over a long term basis we will be successful.
What changes do you envision the Toilets will bring to village life ?
The aim behind this project is that its different components will work synergistically to overcome many of the aforementioned problems that the people in the village face on a daily basis. Providing the community with new sources of clean water will not only provide them with safe water to drink but will also enable them to have better success in growing crops in their village. The compost toilets will provide the inhabitants with a hygienic sanitation solution that not only does not contaminate the local water supply but also can be used to help them in their efforts to grow crops for food. The educational element of the project aims to make sure that all of these effects are sustained long after the project is finished.
What do people currently do when “nature calls” ?
As there are currently not enough toilets to supply the whole village, most of the village residents simply dig a shallow hole in the ground when ‘nature calls’. There are obvious, serious health concerns related to this, as have been documented in countless studies. It is estimated that 200,000 metric tonnes of human waste are indiscriminately disposed of into the Cambodian countryside every day !!
However, the village does have some toilets which were donated to them two years ago by another NGO. We believe that these toilets have actually caused more problems than they have solved. They are all shallow squat toilets using poorly built septic tanks (the villagers were left to build the toilets themselves, they were only given the materials), which consist of a concrete pipes which simply dispose of human waste into the ground about 2 metres below (there is no base to the septic tank, the bottom is just soil…). The surface water table in Siem Reap is not much deeper than this and during the rainy season can actually rise above this level. In fact, it’s not uncommon for the water table to flood through the squats during the rainy season, a situation that I’m sure you can imagine is not very hygienic !!
How do people survive in the village ? Is it mostly agrarian ?
Most of the village rely on agriculture for their living, however, as previously mentioned, they have had countless problems with this due to the lack of water and poor soil quality. Some members of the village have jobs in Puok or in Siem Reap and so travel daily to and from there (quite a trek !!) Others make handicrafts from local materials (mainly mats and rugs), but they related to us that they have had significant problems selling them (this is something that MaD will soon be helping them with)
What do they grow for food ?
Rice is the main crop grown and is estimated to make up around 75% of the average Cambodian’s caloric intake. Other vegetables such as morning glory are also grown.
What would be a typical meal in the village ?
Rice ! Sometimes with vegetables, a frog, a rat or some dried fish (during the rainy season )
Do people talk about the past ? The Khmer genocide ?
The Khmer genocide is a bit of a taboo here and it is not wise to bring up in conversation unless you know the person very well !
Any anecdotes you would like to share ?
The people from Prolit village are certainly a lively bunch, much more so than the people in Bakong who were more relaxed and easy going. At our first PRA we were talking about the possibility of selling their handicrafts in Siem Reap and one of the women there said that I should take some back to England to sell, with her company of course! At the next meeting she had, jokingly, packed her bag and asked when we were leaving !
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