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Fast Facts - 2011
Source: UNDP
ICC Australia supports five development projects in Cambodia:
We also provide emergency relief funding for several extremely poor communities in and around Phnom Penh.
From the Killing Fields to a place of hope - ICC Cambodia’s Light of Hope Village (LOH) is a thriving village community with a population of around 140 people. It is located in one of the poorest rural regions of Kompong Thom Province. While it is still aid-dependent it is fast becoming self-sufficient and now provides essential child and family services to the surrounding region:
The LOH School
The Light of Hope school enrolment has grown from 80 children in 2009 to over 300 in 2011. Families from the surrounding villages send their children to the K-12 school and pay $10USD per month for tuition which includes one meal per day. This is a sacrifice for many families but demonstrates their commitment to helping their children gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to find employment when they complete school.
School absenteeism is high in the region. Teachers in public schools are generally paid quite low wages and so often don't turn up to teach if they can earn more money elsewhere on any given day. Families will sometimes keep their children home to work, especially during the rice harvest. Schools are often a long way from the rural communities and transport costs more than they can afford.
The school was extended to accommodate additional students in 2008-09. In 2009-10 a computer lab was established with computers donated by generous Australian donors including Eraring Energy (NSW). International volunteer groups have begun to teach ESL to students and adults in the village. A dormitory was added in early 2011 to provide mid-week accommodation for children from distant villages.
There is a waiting list of 300 for the new school year commencing in September 2011. Plans have been drawn up for five new classrooms and a kitchen/bakery to prepare nutritious food for the students as well as provide wholesome bread for sale in the markets.
LOH Agriculture Project
Fruit trees and crops have produced food for the village community during the wet season in the past. In 2010 two large dams were dug, and pumps and an irrigation system were installed to extend the growing season. The dams were used for fish for fish-breeding. Chickens were re-introduced to the village after they had been wiped out earlier by an avian influenza epidemic. Adults and school children work in the gardens learning new methods to improve soil quality and increase crop yield.
LOH Community Medical Clinic
A medical and dental clinic has been built in 2011. Local contractors and visiting volunteer groups completed the modern facility.
The clinic will allow adults and children from LOH Village and surrounding communities to access basic treatments and procedures that would otherwise be unaffordable. The service will be integrated with health services provided by the government in the region and will be supplemented by volunteer international medical doctors and dentists and nurses from Australia. Sydney Adventist Hospital has generously donated funds for the operation of the clinic for the first twelve months and will send qualified and trainee nurses to deliver community healthcare and mentor local community healthcare workers.
The clinic will also be staffed by local health professionals including some young people who grew up in the LOH village and are being supported through medical, dental and nurse training by ICC Australia.
Oudong Housing Project
ICC Australia partnered with Habitat for Humanity Australia (HFHA) and Habitat for Humanity Cambodia (HFHC) in 2009 to assist families who wanted to move away from the large city rubbish dump in Phnom Penh where adults and children earned a meagre living scavenging and recycling waste materials from the dump. School attendance was very poor and infant mortailty was high.
Twenty-one families that made up the New Life Community on the dumpsite were motivated by the pending closure of the dump to move to a better place. They located a small parcel of land an hour into the countryside that was to their liking. They entered into a formal agreement with Habitat for Humanity whereby if they could save a small deposit they could take out a low-interest loan and move into a new house to be built on the land.
HFHC purchased the land and each family that qualified was able to purchase a small two-room brick house. They also committed to working on the construction of the house for more than 200 hours. Within a few months additional land was purchased using funds from ICC Australia and more houses were planned for another 50 plus dumpsite families.
The first twenty-one houses were completed in a blitz build by an international team of 300 volunteers in November 2009. Funding from ICC Australia donors paid for 10 of these homes which were officially opened by Former President Jimmy Carter at the conclusion of the blitz build.
The families moved into the new estate. The children were enrolled in the nearby school. But employment has been hard to find and so ICC Australia and HFHC have again gone into partnership to develop an agriculture project that includes a large market garden, poultry farm, and a nursery. Fencing, sheds and shade house have been built, a well and dams dug and an irrigation system installed. This will enable the farm to flourish well into the dry season. Employment is now available for up to twenty people from the new housing developments.
More to come soon . . .