Cambodia - RCD. Project No.6: Full documentary

After our 4 month break for the wet season we're back at work and have just completed building a home for a widowed mother and her daughter. The mother needed much assistance as she is both visually impaired and mentally disabled. Having become a single parent several years ago as the father left abruptly and has not been seen since. She had been staying with her father who is very old but other extended family all work together to make a strong family unit that look out for each other.
The home that they had been living in is very old and is shared amongst a large number of family members. Next door to this house is the plot of land we have been working on that belonged to the grandfather, and he donated it to his daughter so she could have her own home.
On the other side of the road from this property is where we worked on project No.3 so we were already quite familiar with the community here. With the success we have seen on project No.3 with the mothers crops we hope she will set an example and give advice to the family on this new project, and they will therefore have success in growing food, and maybe have enough to sell to the local market. The family currently have barely any form of income.
As soon as our team and the volunteers arrived on the first day to start work on the project all of the local children that surrounded our work sites last season came pouring back to see what the big white people are doing again. Now that we have Chea as our apprentice Im sure many of them are hopeful to get a chance as well. We are very interested in developing some form of vocational training program for this community as it is such a good way for them to learn a trade that will support their families. We also want to become more involved in sustainable agriculture, as if we could start teaching improved farming techniques that has the potential to be extremely beneficial to rural communities.
They are having the house blessing this week, and until then the mother cannot properly move in due to tradition, but by the end of this week shell be the resident of her new home. We hope that having this home will give the whole family a better environment to raise their children, and therefore give a chance of a future outside of poverty to their children. We have already seen on project 3 how one mother seized the opportunity we gave her and is now doing an amazing job at keeping her property tidy and using her land to grow food and generate a small profit. We cant always expect this type of success, but its up to the individuals how much they want to continue what we put in place. Unlike in the west where most people at least have the opportunity to apply themselves and see success, in communities like these opportunities are scarce, so we see these projects as giving families with little to nothing a chance to apply themselves and work to support their families.
A huge thanks to everyone involved in this project!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Cambodia
• RCD
• project
• No6
• full
• documentary