Week 2 Day 6 (Last day) - My Volunteer Trip in Cambodia

Time flies! I have completed my volunteer experience with Trailblazer today. On this last day, I had the opportunity to deliver filters to a village, Sras Village with the man himself, the founder of Trailblazer, Mr Scott Coats.

It was an amazing experience to visit Sras Village as it was Mr Scott's very own pilot project thathe started eight years ago. Along with the chief village's daughter, Enach, we installed two filters at teo houses and gave a cooking stove to a lady who lost one of her legs (not sure if it's due to the landmine or not).

Sitting under a palm leaved-roof shelter, I had a memorable time talking to Scott as we sat facing across a primary school built by Trailblazer. He told me how he realised the importance of clean water in the village when no kids appeared in that school they built as most of them were not fit enough or unhealthy due to dirty drinking water! Eight years since the school was built, wells were dug and water filters provided, this village also known as the poorest village in the Angkor Thom region during that time, has now flourished and developed drastically as shops opened and more people started moving into Sras. Before, there were only 17 students in the school. Now, there are almost 400 kids attending! How amazing is that!

Before we ended, I took a picture with Scott and thanked him for the opportunity to vlunteer in Trailblazer.

I will upload pictures that i've taken over these past weeks so you can better understand the conditions of the village and how Trailblazer looks like.

Will be flying back to Kl tomorrow! Godspeed!

Week 2 Day 5 - My Volunteer Project in Cambodia

Today should have been my last day but it's pushed to tomorrow, Sat as I will be joining Mr. Scott (the founder of Trailblazer) and a team of ladies (not sure who they are) to install two filters at a village 35km away from town.

Anyway, I said my goodbyes to the rest of the filter team and the staff after I finished my tasks at the filter-making site. It was truly a great time learning about the possibilities of providing clean drinking water to the neglected community of this country.

Hope tomorrow's delivery day will be interesting and hope I get to learn a lot from Mr Scott himself!

Week 2 Day 3 & 4 - My Volunteer Trip in Cambodia

Hi again! Sorry for the one-day delay! Was too exhausted after delivering six filters to a village which is an hour away from Siem Reap town on Wednesday and Thursday (today).

With Brigette, a new volunteer from Switzerland who came on Wed along with two other filter staff, we installed 6 filters on Wed and another 6 today. Only four of us, including us two ladies, each of us had to carry either the 80kg filter or the heavy bag of sand up to the truck and down to the village.

The tar road on the way to the village, Romduol began with a muddy and bumpy path (i will show you the road pictures soon!). Brigette and I were sitting on the filters at the back of the truck (without the rooftop) and we were just bumping up and down for an hour.

Alas. When we arrived, we met up with the village chief and he led us to the individual homes that requested for the water filters to be installed. So off we went to each homes, unloading the materials along with trolleys to install the filters.

The scenery of the countryside was just so peaceful, everywhere covered with paddy fields. I saw cows and buffalos, palm trees and kids walking and cycling to school. The kids were just so happy to see a truck passing by, they waved and shouted "Bye bye!", trying to run after our truck.

The homes there are just built plainly with wood, some with cement staircase. Most of them do not have electricity supply, if they're lucky, they rely on a solar panel which is provided by NGOs.

Another thing is that most kids in the village do not have the privilege to go to schools because there are either no schools or no awareness for education.

I really hope that more of them will utilise the water filters for clean, drinking water and realise the importancc of hygiene. There are no toilets in their homes!!! Rather, the toilets are in nature, they do their business anywhere they want.

Today, we have installed the filter donated by ME AND ALL OF YOU DONORS!! Some photos comin up on my FB page! I am so glad to install the filter ( i put the label, "JAMIE & FRIENDS) with my bare hands and meet the receipient  of our filter!

On our way back, we had a picture with the chief and said goodbye. Then, we passed by the roads along Angkor Wat and thr other ancient temples, such a rustic road accompanied by big trees which are more than 100 years old.

Hence, today is my last delivery day and have really enjoyed and truly experienced the countryside living. Tomorrow will be last day volunteering at Traiblazer!

Week 2 Day 2 - My Volunteer Trip in Cambodia

Today's the final day for another volunteer, Michael ( previously in my previous posts, i thought his name is Marco! Ha) and we snap some shots with the filter team just before he left.

A film crew dropped by today at Trailblazer as they are filming a documentary on the NGOs in Cambodia. So, while we were working at the filter-making site, there was a guy using a Canon high-range DSLR taking a video of us. Aint sure if my face was seen or not! Haha.

After lunch, I helped Lon Sey, the volunteer coordinator to cut out the names of the filter donors to be labelled onto the donated filters. Carving long, long names on OHP film papers using a blade is such a highly-skilled required job. Lon Sey took three days and ten papers just to figure out a way to carve the letters without breaking off. It's hard to explain this in writing. But yes it required some nice carving skills.

While talking to him, I found out that his village does not receive any power supply ever since heaven knows when! The thing is, his village is only 17km away from Siem Reap town but look at the vast difference in basic necessities! And, while chatting with Michael, I just realised that there is a place in Cambodia which is similar to India, that is there's a dump site where people literally live within the heaps of garbage and they would go around searching high and low for edible or valuable items once a fresh pile of dump is thrown into that area.

This is Cambodia in the 2000s which looks the same, perhaps worse or a little bit better than a few centuries ago.

Pray for Cambodia will be the utmost important agenda if we wish to see a democratic Cambodia that provides basic human rights to its people!

It's delivery day tomorrow and am real excited to visit another village, Rom Duol!

Praying for a fine day without disruptive rain!

Week 2 Day 1 - My Volunteer Trip in Cambodia

It's Monday week two and the humidity in Siem Reap just keeps increasing!

It has been raining here almost everyday, not only once daily but two to four times in a day. With the high humidity and heat, everyone I've met, travellers from around the globe have been talking about how much they've sweat!

However, cycling along the tranquil landscapes of the Siem Reap river en route to Trailblazer is an unforgettable, precious moment I will never forget about Cambodia. 

Today, the tasks I did very pretty much the same with what I did last week.

Again, got me hands greasy with dirt stuck in my nails while handling with the filter moulds. Next time, I shall use gloves just like how the staff does it because It takes too much time just washing my hands to get rid of the dirt! 

Also had cement splattered on my arm while the cement mixer was turned on and poured the cement into the moulds. Phew, thankfully it was easy to be washed off!

After sand sieving and sand washing, it was already lunch time! Just in time coz I was hungry!

At 2p.m., I returned and helped Mr.Gardener (don't know his name) at Traiblazer's garden plantation. Due to the pouring rain this past month, vegetation did not survive well. Instead, weeds grew everywhere. So, i did my best in pulling out weeds as long as 50cm long. I "did my best" in weeding as much as I could because gardening activities just isn't my thing.

Anyway, i made it through even with my torn pants. Haha! It somehow tore into a big hole the day before.

After six hours of physical work, i'm heading off to bed now! 

Week 1 Day 3 - My Volunteer Trip in Cambodia

Woke up to a cloudy morning day at 6:45a.m., I thought the rain will pour throughout the day.

Rode my bicyclette to the NGO office, 5minutes ride away from my hostel. When I arrived, the staff was having a meeting on keeping up-to-date on the number of water filters that have been installed and those that will be installed in the next coming week(s).

So I headed to the filter-making site and got down to business. With the guidance of another volunteer, I removed the moulds of the filter containers by unscrewing greasy bolts and nuts at the corners of the steel-moulds. The cement mixture that filled up those moulds yesterday have already dried up to form solid filter containers. Due to the grease around the screws, boy, my hands and even underneath my nails were charcoal-black! But i always love meddling with spaner and screwdrivers and tighten or loosing those bolts and nuts!

Besides the sand washing I did after that, I helped one of the staff to label logo of Trailblazer and name of donor onto the filter containers by spraying cans of paint spray. I liked the grafitti artist feeling while doing it! As I have donated one water filter to Trailblazer -thanks to you contributors, there will be real evidence of Trailblazer installing my/our donated water filter in the village as they will label my name of the filter and will send photos of the staff installing that filter along with its receipient - the villager! I am waiting to see that and will definitely post it up here and Facebook!

After second round of cement-making and cement mixture into the moulds, I headed for lunch and came back to Trailblazer again at 2pm to help out with the vegetable garden they have.
Trailblazer assists villagers in its microfinance as well by introducing new and various vegetables and mushrooms so they can sell more kinds of vegetables other than their common staple plantation like paddy and potatoes.
I helped in emptying bags of mushroom compost into a huge wooden container as the compost is to be reused again for growing mushrooms. If you don't know what's compost made of - i just checked on Google that its mainly made up MANURE. So I've been stepping on a pile of manure while i was emtying each bags. If that sounds disgusting, how about considering the smell of those compost oozing out from the mountaneous pile of it? Well, the smell didnt smell like your faeces, it has a starnge smell which I cant figure out what was that. It's a bit like what stale white mushrooms smell like. You're probable not going to eat anymore mushrooms from now. Ha! I guess me too. I can still remember the smell now and it came back to me when I tasted some black-coloured salt which came on a saucer along with my Khmer Lok Lak Pork rice for dinner! I didnt touch the salt after tasting a lil bit of it!

I took a break in between my gardening task and lied down in a hammock which was under a wooden shed while reading a newly bought book (bought from a man whose legs were most probably decapitated from the landmines during the Khmer Rouge) about the history of this troubled and poverty-stricken Cambodia.

There will be no work tomorrow as it is declared a national holiday to commemorate the previous King who died in 2012.

So, I will be back with my next update on Mon, 14 July! Bon weekend and Godspeed!

Week 1 Day 2 - My Volunteer Project in Cambodia

It's only day two but i've learned quite a lot about the process of filter-making!

The first thing I did was very similar to one of the methods in baking! Which was sifting bigger chunks of sand into finer sand - reminds me of sifting flour and sugar during baking! 

After sifting the sand twice - the second sift made of tinier holes, I shoved the fine sand into a bucket to be washed. In order to utilise clean sand to be filled into the filter container, I have to wash the sand around 5-6 times! There are many water hose at the site of the filter-making so I sat beside one of them and washed the sand continuously. After that, With the help of Marco, the Aussie volunteer, I poured the bucket of clean sand, as heavy as twice my weight, into a 'karang guni'/big sack.

Besides that, I used the artsy side of me to paint the cement-made filter containers with white paint.

Elsie, a French volunteer also joined me in painting the containers. Managed to find out more about her volunteer trip as well!

Once we were done with 2 layers of paint, one of the staff who work with us began pouring buckets of sand and gravel into a cement mixer which made loud noises when it was switched on. When the cement was ready, I scooped the mixture and poured into the mould of the filter container. We managed to build 4 filter containers! 

I felt that it was quite a fulfilling day, getting many tasks done. For tomorrow, it may be delivery day again! That means going to the village and installing more filters! This time, i'll try to carry out conversations with the Khmer villagers, but i gotta learn some Khmer words first! Till tomorrow!

Week 1 Day 1 - My Volunteer Project in Cambodia

Sousday from Siem Reap!!

At 8:15 a.m., i arrived at The Trailblazer Foundation with my rented bicycle. I was warmly welcomed by the staff and one of them, Theresa from the U.S gave me a short explanation on the NGO's work by showing me the site of the filter-in-the-making while explaining the steps taken to build a filter such as gravel and sand washing, sand sieving and molding of filter containers that are made of cement.

I found out that today was delivery day! It meant that all of the volunteers would be going to the village to install the water filters! How fortunate for me to visit the villages and have a taste of installing them filters on my very first day!! I met the rest of the volunteers (5 out of 7 are Aussies, no Malaysians came before me!) there who told me that it was also their first time going to the village despite weeks of volunteering at the NGO. The reason why the staff do not go to the village at a consistent time is mainly due to rainy weather which makes it troublesome for them to install the filters.

After shifting the filters and required materials on the back of the two trucks, off we went to the village about 20mins away. An Aussie volunteer, Marco and I were both crammed into the back seats  of a Hilux. Compared to Marco, I wasn't as uncomfortable as he was because of his long legs! One of the advantages of being short! Ha!

First, we went to two houses and unloaded the filters from the truck. The houses are pure kampung style, perhaps even worse as they still use firewood for cooking. the cool part is that each wooden house has at least one hammock underneath the house which is on stilts. Each filter weighs about 80kg!! Thank God we had a trolley to carry all them filters and sand bags!
1. We found an even-ground spot to place the filter.
2. We poured water (drawn from water pumps provided by UNICEF) into the filter.
3. We threw in big gravel, followed by small gravel and a bag of washed sand.
4. The project manager who is Cambodian, gave a briefing to the house owner onthe maintenance of the filter, yes in Khmer language, which words hard to pronounce!
5. The filter os covered with a metal cover to protect it from bacteria.

After about 40minutes of installing two filters, we were taken for lunch by the project managers at a local shop. I still think Chinese food is the best in the world. But Khmer food costs only USD 1 or less. Of course, you find them at the markets/road side, not at the commercialized resto in town.

It rained cats and dogs after our lunch! So, we had to wait for about 25mins before we headed to a few more houses.

On our last house filter installation, halfway while fixing the filter, lo and behold, it rained again! That delayed us for another 20mins before we finally completed our task.

At 4p.m., we finally reached the NGO. Everyone was exhausted due to the task of loading/unloading heavy materials and the constant sweating!!! I sweat like the South East Asia monsoon on my face.

After signing out the volunteer log book, I cycled pass a market and stopped by for some local food. I had one pf the best popiah i've ever tried. There was rice, mint n other vege leaves, dried prawns in the popiah! Dip in their local sweet sour sauce and chilli, they pop in yo mouth!

That's all for today! Will be learning how to prepare the materials for the filter tomorrow onwards!

Fund Raising for "My Volunteer Project to Cambodia" (COMPLETED)

My fund raising target of RM1, 082.12 has been achieved! Hence, my fund raising collection is now officially closed.

And with your generous givings, I have successfully donated ONE bio-sand water filter for the price of USD80 to The Trailblazer Foundation. Here's a screenshot of the donation receipt from the NGO :

I would like to once again thank my contributors for "My Volunteer Project to Cambodia" for their generous donations. As previously stated in my previous posts, I will provide my fundraising donors with a daily report on my volunteer project during my stay in Cambodia (07/07 - 20/07). I will post my daily report here on my blog site and will notify you, dear donors, once the report is ready. It is most likely that I will have 24-hour internet access in my hostel in Cambodia, so I will be able to update my blog daily. 

CAMBODIA, here I come!

Fund Raising for "My Volunteer Project to Cambodia" (UPDATES)

Hey everyone! Here's the latest updates on my fundraising campaign:

As you can observe from the chart above, there is RM 323.91 left to be raised in 12 more days.   The closing date for my fundraising collection is 30 June.

If I manage to collect more than my initial target of RM 1,082.12 before the closing date, there will be a high possibility of donating an ADDITIONAL bio-sand water filter to the Trailblazer Foundation!

Fund Raising for "My Volunteer Project to Cambodia" (REVISED)

*In reference to my previous post : http://phunkj.blogspot.com/2014/06/fund-raising-for-my-volunteer-project.html

Thanks to a timely piece of information from a friend, I have discovered the local NGO (non-governmental organisation) - The Trailblazer Foundation which is in partnership with Globalteer. The Trailblazer Foundation is the NGO in charge of the Clean Water Project.

I have checked out its website: http://www.thetrailblazerfoundation.org/#/welcome and its volunteer programme does not require any fees for its volunteers! However, volunteering with Trailblazer means that I would need to arrange my own personal accommodation and transportation, unlike the provided itinerary by Globalteer ( explained in my previous post ). Volunteering with Trailblazer would involve the same exact activities listed in my previous post, the only differences are no fees charged and accommodation and transportation are not provided by Trailblazer. ( I think I've said it twice, but I'd prefer to make it clear to you ).

After much consideration, I decide to sign up for the volunteer programme under The Trailblazer Foundation instead of signing up under Globalteer as Globalteer's target for my required donation is a tad too high to be raised within only a period of one week ( explained in my previous post too ).

Nevertheless, I'd still wish to raise funds for my Volunteer Project to Cambodia and here is my aim:

1. To donate ONE bio-sand water filter : USD 80 (equivalent to RM 257.12)
   This donation will go to The Trailblazer Foundation, specifically for this purpose (http://www.thetrailblazerfoundation.org/#/programs/bio-sand-water-filters)

Check out more information on how the bio-sand water filter works: http://www.cawst.org/en/resources/biosand-filter

     2. To cover the cost of my return flight tickets ( Kuala Lumpur - Siam Reap ) : RM 475

         This is the latest price of the air ticket I just checked on AirAsia's website, just a few seconds ago.

      3. To cover the estimated cost of my accommodation : RM 350

         I am still in the process of searching for the cheapest and the most convenient backpackers hostel and preferably the nearest to the Trailblazer office. I have browsed through a few hostels and found out that the average price per night is around USD 8. That is equivalent to RM 25 per night. Basically, I just need a bed to sleep on after a hard day's work in the field.

Hence, the total amount of my targeted funds is RM 1082.12

Any amount from RM 1, RM 5 , RM 10, RM 100, or any odd/even number you wish to donate is warmly welcomed ! If you wish to donate specifically for the bio-sand water filter but not for the cost of my travel expenses, or vice versa, or for both, just let me know !! 

Drop me a message on Facebook 

or at my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fundmeforcambodia 

or send me an e-mail at jamietan_91@hotmail.com. I will personally send you my bank details or you can hand me your generous donation in person.

*After receiving your donation, I will send you updates - my report and photos of my Volunteer Project to Cambodia once I return from Cambodia

( Date of travel would be : 7 July - 20 July 2014)

Stay tuned at https://www.facebook.com/fundmeforcambodia for some crazy challenges I'll be taking on to raise funds for this cause!

Fund Raising for My Volunteer Project to Cambodia (Former)

*Please note the revised version regarding My Volunteer Project to Cambodia here:
http://phunkj.blogspot.com/2014/06/fund-raising-for-my-volunteer-project_12.html

Hi everyone!

As I have just completed my bachelor's degree studies in May, I now wish to volunteer myself in promoting the cause of clean water and sanitation in less-developed and developing countries.

Recently, I have applied to volunteer specifically for Clean Water Project under the Cambodia Community Project, provided by Globalteer which is a non-profit charity registered in the UK. Here is the link to its website: http://globalteer.org/volunteer-projects.aspx?project=cambodia-community-project#section_15

Today, I've received an email from Globalteer notifying me that my volunteer application has been successful. Now, I am required to give a total required donation of USD 1,010 in order to secure my place on my preferred project - which is the Clean Water Project. That is equivalent to RM 3,239.

Here is the breakdown of where my volunteer donation will go to:

1. Project costs - specific needs that are vital to the development and continual success of the project
   (http://globalteer.org/wheremoneygoes.aspx)
2. My neccessities such as my accomodation, clean drinking water, daily breakfast, transportation.
   (http://www.globalteer.org/volunteer-projects.aspx?project=cambodia-community-project#requireddonations)

My main mission in this volunteer project is to learn how to build water filters and install them and to learn effective ways of empowering the local Cambodian community in sustaining clean, drinkable water. 

My volunteer activities will include:

• 3 days of building bio-sand filters under the supervision of experienced staff at the project HQ.
• 1 day of travelling to local villages to install the filters and teaching villagers on their use.
• Team planning meetings and on general maintenance of projects
• Extra activities such as helping with the project's market garden

I will work five days a week with core hours from 8am to 2pm per day. Here's more details to what I'll do: (http://globalteer.org/volunteer-projects.aspx?project=cambodia-community-project#section_15)

If I am able to raise enough funds within one week from now (10 June - 17 June 2014), I will be able to secure my place in my specifically preferred project that I will be supposedly commmencing on 3 July 2014 - 17 July 2014. This short period of time to raise funds is due to the high demands for places on Globalteer's holistic projects.

Hence, if you are interested in assisting me to raise funds for my volunteer trip to Cambodia, I would be very grateful for your kind generosity. If not, I'm still thankful that you had spent your time reading this post of mine. 

Any sum of donation is warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated from the depths of my heart!

You can donate via bank transfer/cheque or hand your donation to me personally. Just drop me an email at jamietan_91@hotmail.com or a message on Facebook and I will send you my bank details.

If this volunteer project becomes a reality, I will return with my personal report on the project along with photos to show you guys the great impact we can contribute to society!

Clean water and sanitation should be accessible to all mankind, rich and poor alike. God bless!