We have been pleased to have a meeting with the village leaders at the school.
In attendance were the elected leader, his deputy and another senior man, as well as Mr Hon (School Director) and Phath translated for us. For those familiar with pictures of last year’s rice distribution, you may recognise the deputy leader as being the man with the grey hat!
What has concerned us is that aid given to the village should be for projects that are a Cambodian initiative, not a Western one. Without locals ‘getting behind’ any news project, they would not take ownership of it – it will always need us driving it. Hence the reason for the meeting.
We presented some ideas we have had and invited discussion on them. Some were rejected or shown to be impracticable but our favoured ones were accepted, and the village leader will be getting back to us with details, along with any more initiatives.
1. Wells
A generous friend has offered to fund the cost of providing families with wells so that all villagers have access to fresh water.
We learned that some families (more than we thought) are on borrowed land – they’ve squatted here as displaced persons since the war – and if a well were to be dug on ‘their’ land, the owners would see the land as being more valuable and may evict the occupiers, the very people we would be seeking to help!
Phath reported that each well, if dug manually, would cost around US$120. To dig wells on a larger scale may entail the use of machinery and Phath is investigating the cost.
The village leader is drawing up a list of families to have wells.
2. Pig farm
We have suggested that if land were available, that a village pig farm be established. (One villager has a pig already but this is kept as more of a family pig than of an animal being bred and fattened commercially.) Would this work? The village leader related that a Japanese NGO operating in the area last year commented that, unlike in other villages, the villagers in Khvein work very well together. He suggested that people such as K…. could be asked to tend to the pigs in the initial stages.
Starting small, we’d simply buy one pig, grow it, sell it, and with the proceeds, invest part buying more pigs, gradually multiplying. There’s also the possibility of breeding.
The village leader asked what would happen if the pig died – would we want our money back? !!!!
Of course, we’re prepared to fund the enterprise, at least in its formative stages without return as a means of improving the economic wealth of the whole village.
As with the wells, the village leader will ‘get back to us’, hopefully before we leave.
Martin and Margaret