The Well Of Opportunity

Wells s of Opp portunity y

Water is a crucia al commod dity to life. ess to clea an water is s Despite this, acce somethiing that m many Cambodians in n rural are eas are denied. In a sub-village e of Preyy Rongeang g, thirty fam milies, who o live in severe s pove erty, were deprived off this bassic human e essential. The lack off water in n this sub--village, ca alled Kraing g Hong, not n only cau used health h problems, but fina ancial problems. T They were e forced into buying in water att an inflated d rate, co osting them m around $0.5 - $1 1 every da ay. This me eant that th he people off Krain ng Hong villa age’s situatio on. There wass no plants  survivved during th he dry season. Water wa as able only  broug ght from outsside village.

this villa age spent a almost all off their small income just on ob btaining watter, and the e me on otherr essentials, rest of their incom Having to spend all off such ass food. H

their mo oney simplyy on surviving meant that this villa age had no opportunityy to lift them mselves outt of extre eme povertyy. They were w unable e to save any a money to enable ttheir childre en to go to o school, let alone m money to invvest in smalll businesse es, or anything that cou uld provide them with a higher income. Spendin ng all of the eir money on surviving and stuck in a vicious cycle of po overty mean nt that manyy of the villagers v beccame vulne erable to mo oneylenderss. Moneylenders charg ge a ridiculo ous interestt rate of 10% a day. According to villag gers, when n they borro ow $10 the e charge iss $1 a day, en days the e amount they t have to pay bacck doubles to $20. Th his obscene e meaning that in te amountt of interest means tha at, once a fa amily borrow ws money, it is very un nlikely that they will be e able to escape the eir debt and, instead, find it spiraling out of co ontrol. Thiss spiraling debt d is often n how pe eople fall vicctim to outsside human n traffickerss, leading to o abuse, exxploitation, commercial sexual exploitation e n, child labor and child marriage. This village sufferss severely from f outsid de human trraffickers, who w come p presenting themselves s pected busin nessmen an nd promising a better liife. With the assurance of work and a way to o as resp supportt their families, many people p are quickly swa ayed into le eaving their homes, bu ut the realityy when th hey arrive a at their desstination beccomes quicckly appare ent. Severall boys from m the village e were ta aken to worrk in cities in Cambod dia and diffferent partss of Thailan nd. Many describe the e work ass slave labo or, involving g abuse and d little or no o money. Two T boys trrafficked to Thailand to o work on fisher bo oats, who managed m to o escape back b to Ca ambodia, said that they were in n nt fear of ttheir lives. Similarly, girls who find themsselves persuaded into moving to o constan Phnom Penh, or o other major cities, belie eving that th hey are goiing to work as cooks or o cleaners, bly end up sold to bro othels. This s was the fate f of two such girls from this village, v who o invariab ended up, u not onlyy sold to bro othels, but th hereafter co ontracting HIV H and dyin ng.

Sadly, this t village is particula arly vulnerable to outsiide trafficke ers because e it lacks su upport from m the loca al authoritie es. Unfortu unately, the local villag ge authoritie es in Prey R Rongeang believe b thatt this sub b-village su upports the political op pposition of the ruling Party. The e local auth horities are, thereforre, completely unwilling to give an ny assistance to the pe eople of Kra aing Hong, even when n they assk for it. It is obvious then why rich, r sharp-looking bussiness men, who offerr assistance e and the e chance at a better life e, can easilyy manipulatte these peo ople into be eing trafficke ed.

Well consstruction actiivities. SSF co ontracted wiith private co ontractor to install hand  pump p well for the village.  2 fiscal year, in colllaboration with w Groundwork Opportunities, S SSF found the funding g In the 2009 to insta all a well in n Kraing Ho ong. Well constructio on began in n April 2009 9, providing g the entire e village with w accesss to clean water. w The well took ttwo weeks to build, with much he elp from the e villagerss themselve es, who alsso built a fence around d the well as protection n from cattle. Amongstt these people, p five residents were w selected to learn the skills required r to maintain an nd preserve e the well, so that any problem ms that arise e with it can n be dealt with w directlyy by the villagers. It iss ant that the villagers know k how to o keep the well in goo od condition, so that they t do nott importa have to o waste mon ney in the fu uture on its maintenance, and can n sustain the well them mselves. Byy providin ng the villag ge with a well, w it has alleviated a a severe financial burd den that affe ected everyy family. It’s constru uction has meant m that the villagerss no longer have to spe end their en ntire income e o surviving g. Through h SSF supp port and guidance, thiss will even le ead to oppo ortunities to o simply on save money, m whicch can then n be invested in sma all businesss ventures to generate e a regularr income for the villa agers.

Along with w the we ell, SSF hop pe to be ab ble to installl home garrdens so th hat the villag gers do nott have to o be reliant on outside e sources of o income to o feed them mselves, with the adde ed potential that the ese garden ns could le ead to a small s sourcce of incom me. Educa ation will be b provided d alongsid de these ho ome garden ns about the e importancce of lookin ng after the natural ressources thatt these villagers v havve at their disposal, d wiith particula ar emphasis s on the imp portance off using non-chemica al fertilizerss. Moreovver, SSF plans to organize regular meeting gs to create e Self-Help p groups to monitor the well an nd the villag ge’s progre ess. This will w provide ground to connect c the e ocal authoriity and enco ourage the villagers in nto a greate er sense of community, people with their lo her when th hey have problems, p fin nancial or otherwise, o tto minimize e the use off turning to each oth moneylenders. S SSF hopes, through this t supporrt, the peo ople of thiss village will begin to o understtand and se eize the opp portunities that t they ha ave to workk themselve es out of po overty. SSF F not only hopes to o inspire them to save e, but also o appreciate e the resou urces around them to o produce e an income. Moreover, it is vita al that the p people of th his village are educated d about the e dangerss and legalities of hum man trafficking and chilld labor, so that it ceasses to be a solution to o their pro oblems. SS SF concenttrates on so olving problems at the eir root causse. The ins stallment off the well, along witth SSF sup pport for the e next three e years, pro oviding thatt SSF continues to gett ancial backin ng that it requires, will hopefully alleviate the vulnerabilitty of this villlage to debtt the fina and, th herefore, their vulnerability to hu uman trafficcking, comm mercial sexxual exploittation, child d labor an nd child ma arriage.

Resid dents and theeir children satisfied the w well facilitiess. Residents ssaid taste of  f water ffrom the welll is very tastty