by Amanda King
Individual volunteer from Illinois
It's amazing how one crop can so define a culture the way rice defines Cambodia — and all of Southeast Asia, for that matter.
Rice is not just a food (that happens to be consumed at least two times a day by the entire populace). It's so much more than that. It's the livelihood for millions of Cambodians. In actuality, it's a way of life.
The crop's sphere of influence reaches far beyond the rice paddies or even the dinner table and into everyday life. So strong is this country's tie to the grain that it is often used as currency to buy goods or services. Loans can be taken out in terms of kilos of rice. Even the Methodist Bible School in Phnom Penh accepts tuition payments in rice (50kg per semester, to be exact).
But Cambodia's standing as a single-crop country also makes it particularly vulnerable to droughts, floods and disease — anything that could adversely affect the rice harvest.
This is especially true of the rural population. Typically, peasant farmers can only afford to raise enough rice to sustain their own families. In this situation, a bad harvest can be devastating.
That's where rice banks come into play. These initiatives, funded by loans through the church's Community Health and Agricultural Development program, help communities build and maintain a rice storage facility, which is filled in times of plenty, then borrowed from when families run out of their own harvest.
These rice loans, given out to needy families in the community, are then scheduled to be repaid in-kind at the next harvest (usually in December). The committee in charge of the bank has the authority to set the interest rate on the loans, but it is usually just enough to help grow the supply in order to help more families the next year.
And that, my friends, is a rice bank.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Microfinance: The Women of Chheur Teal Village
A potato farmer, a grocery store owner, a pastor's wife and a banana seller, all united by one cause: To fund their children's education.
Most of the women of Chheur Teal Village in Cambodia's Kandal Province never had a chance to complete their own schooling. Now, as mothers, they're taking out loans and starting small businesses in hopes that they will be able to give their children opportunities they never had. Here are their stories:
Moung PovAt 30 years of age, Moung Pov is already a small business owner. After much saving, she and her husband managed to scrape together enough money from their annual banana harvest to set up a small grocery store in their home village of Chheur Teal.
Their small stand carries the most basic staples — sugar, flour and eggs — but with the help of a loan from CHAD’s new credit and savings group in her village, Moung hopes to expand into the bigger-ticket items that will produce the revenue she needs to send her three children to school at a cost of about $30 each month.
Nut Silim
Fifty-year-old single mother of three Nut Silim never had the chance to attend college, having come of age in a time when Cambodians with higher-education degrees were singled out for persecution by the murderous Khmer Rouge.
But now she sees an opportunity to give her two daughters the education she never received. A micro-loan of just $100 is all she says she needs to start a banana stand at the local market, which she has confidence will giver her the returns to pay for her 18-year-old daughter's English studies at a university in Phnom Penh. The tuition costs about $400 per year — well over the profit from the average family's rice harvest in Nut's native Kandal Province.
If Nut's business venture proves successful, she anticipates being able to fund her second daughter's college studies when she graduates from high school in two years.
Chheun
g Reth
This mother of six doesn't mind getting her hands dirty if it means providing a good education for her four school-age children. In fact, if she has things her way, she'll be getting even dirtier in the near future, when an anticipated loan from CHAD's credit and savings group will allow her to expand her potato farming business.
Though she is not a church member, Chheung appreciates the value of the church's latest investment in her community and looks forward to receiving a loan of $200 to $300, which she will use to expand her harvest by renting additional land and purchasing extra seeds. With the profits from her expanded business, Chheung will make yet another investment — in her 18-year-old daughter's education, opening the door to send the teen to a private high school where she will pursue her love of linguistics, studying English and Chinese in preparation for the university education her mother dreams of one day providing her with.
Chea Sophal
As the pastor's wife at Chheur Teal Methodist Church, Chea Sophal is proud of the initiative the women in her husband's congregation have shown in starting a credit and savings group, and she looks forward to the day when she can invest her own savings into the group — a gesture she sees as an important vote of confidence in the women.
Chea says the group is both an economic and a spiritual tool.
"It helps group members improve their standard of living, and it helps bring (non-Christians) to God," in a very physical sense, through group meetings held in the church building, she said.
And though Chea sees her role in the group as more of a cheerleader and investor, all the entrepreneurial dreams being floated in group meetings seem to have caught her own imagination, and she now hopes that one day she will be able to take out a small loan of $100 to turn her domestic chicken-raising efforts into a small, for-profit operation, by building a chicken house and purchasing additional chicks.
Like her fellow groups members, Chea too, plans to put away profits from her business toward her youngest son's college education.
Most of the women of Chheur Teal Village in Cambodia's Kandal Province never had a chance to complete their own schooling. Now, as mothers, they're taking out loans and starting small businesses in hopes that they will be able to give their children opportunities they never had. Here are their stories:
Moung PovTheir small stand carries the most basic staples — sugar, flour and eggs — but with the help of a loan from CHAD’s new credit and savings group in her village, Moung hopes to expand into the bigger-ticket items that will produce the revenue she needs to send her three children to school at a cost of about $30 each month.
Nut Silim
Fifty-year-old single mother of three Nut Silim never had the chance to attend college, having come of age in a time when Cambodians with higher-education degrees were singled out for persecution by the murderous Khmer Rouge.
But now she sees an opportunity to give her two daughters the education she never received. A micro-loan of just $100 is all she says she needs to start a banana stand at the local market, which she has confidence will giver her the returns to pay for her 18-year-old daughter's English studies at a university in Phnom Penh. The tuition costs about $400 per year — well over the profit from the average family's rice harvest in Nut's native Kandal Province.
If Nut's business venture proves successful, she anticipates being able to fund her second daughter's college studies when she graduates from high school in two years.
Chheun
g RethThis mother of six doesn't mind getting her hands dirty if it means providing a good education for her four school-age children. In fact, if she has things her way, she'll be getting even dirtier in the near future, when an anticipated loan from CHAD's credit and savings group will allow her to expand her potato farming business.
Though she is not a church member, Chheung appreciates the value of the church's latest investment in her community and looks forward to receiving a loan of $200 to $300, which she will use to expand her harvest by renting additional land and purchasing extra seeds. With the profits from her expanded business, Chheung will make yet another investment — in her 18-year-old daughter's education, opening the door to send the teen to a private high school where she will pursue her love of linguistics, studying English and Chinese in preparation for the university education her mother dreams of one day providing her with.
Chea Sophal
As the pastor's wife at Chheur Teal Methodist Church, Chea Sophal is proud of the initiative the women in her husband's congregation have shown in starting a credit and savings group, and she looks forward to the day when she can invest her own savings into the group — a gesture she sees as an important vote of confidence in the women.
Chea says the group is both an economic and a spiritual tool.
"It helps group members improve their standard of living, and it helps bring (non-Christians) to God," in a very physical sense, through group meetings held in the church building, she said.
And though Chea sees her role in the group as more of a cheerleader and investor, all the entrepreneurial dreams being floated in group meetings seem to have caught her own imagination, and she now hopes that one day she will be able to take out a small loan of $100 to turn her domestic chicken-raising efforts into a small, for-profit operation, by building a chicken house and purchasing additional chicks.
Like her fellow groups members, Chea too, plans to put away profits from her business toward her youngest son's college education.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Living water
by Irene Mparutsa
Last month, we went to Kampong Thom Province (3 hours north of Phnom Penh, in the interior of Cambodia), to see people who had come to the HIV/AIDS workshop held last October. Oum Pak, one of the participants shared her testimony:
This story tells why I am passionate about community-based health care ministries: It shows how we helped just this one Pak and she is going out and helping these many others.
This understanding that we women have in UMW about multiplying our gifts by all working together is one of our great strengths, I think; and Pak shows us practically how our gifts of prayers and support are taken and given over and over throughout a village.
Oum Pak
The Samaritan woman at the well gives the stranger a drink of water and in return she receives the Living Water; freed from bondage, she is the one who proclaims the Christ, the coming of the Kingdom.Last month, we went to Kampong Thom Province (3 hours north of Phnom Penh, in the interior of Cambodia), to see people who had come to the HIV/AIDS workshop held last October. Oum Pak, one of the participants shared her testimony:
“When I returned from the workshop to my church, I shared what I had learned. I told them how AIDS is not spread. I told them that we cannot catch AIDS by touching people or by sharing food. I told them that it is ok to live together with people with AIDS. Before I went to the workshop, I could not tell anyone that my husband had died of AIDS and that I and my two children are HIV positive; I was afraid that people would not like me. Now my two children and I get monthly HIV medicines at the Kampong Thom Provincial Hospital. World Vision helps us with transportation money to go to the hospital, organizes a support group we go to and gives us school fees so my children can go to school. My life has changed; I find that people are loving and caring; I have hope and I can bring hope to others.”Like the woman at the well, Pak has received the Living Water. She has gained new freedom, a new life for her and her family. She is becoming a leader in her community; she leads a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. Like the Samaritan woman, she could not keep the Good News to herself either; she had to share it with her family, her church, others in her village sick with HIV/AIDS, everybody!
This story tells why I am passionate about community-based health care ministries: It shows how we helped just this one Pak and she is going out and helping these many others.
This understanding that we women have in UMW about multiplying our gifts by all working together is one of our great strengths, I think; and Pak shows us practically how our gifts of prayers and support are taken and given over and over throughout a village.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Water: The center of life
by Lukas Meier
Individual Volunteer from Switzerland
During all my education, I was taught that water is the origin and the basis of every life. But it wasn’t until I came to Cambodia, one of the less educated countries, that I learned exactly what that means.
The reason for my sudden understanding was my observations on a farm in Takeo.
The water source on that farm is the fishpond. The fishpond is filled during the rainy season and is used the whole year. The family uses it for cooking and drinking water, to wash their clothes and to bathe. The animals drink out of the fishpond, and all of the vegetables, which are planted during the dry season, are watered out of the fishpond. And last but not least, the fishpond is used to raise fish.
The water inside that fishpond is the basis for all life on the farm.
The advantage of this system is that the farmers are able to use their natural resources without wasting the groundwater.
But there are also problems caused by their system.
Because the fishpond the only source of water, any problems that arise with it can leave the whole farm without water — and, if prolonged, without life.
The other problems are smaller and not as obvious. There is a possibility that the chemicals in soaps and laundry detergents can cause health problems for human, animals and fish. Moreover, if the farmer uses chemicals to kill vermin or applies pesticides to his plants, the leftover can run off into the pond. And when the now-contaminated water is used to water the same plants again, the vermin can develop resistance to the chemical. This chemical resistance is a long-term problem and leads to higher chemical costs for the farmer.
There is just an estimation of the type of problems that could develop, but on the long-term, they really are serious. But there are a few simple approaches.
If the farmer tries to use as little chemical as possible, or even avoids applying it altogether, he can avoid the negative effect. By using biodegradable shampoos and laundry detergents, this effect could be stopped too. By learning about the general effects of chemicals, the farmers can better comprehend how to work with chemicals without risking the health of humans, animals and plants.
And again I understand how clean water is the foundation for all life.
Lukas is volunteering in Cambodia with the CHAD program for 6 months. When he returns to Switzerland he will enroll in university where he plans to continue his agricultural studies.
Individual Volunteer from Switzerland
During all my education, I was taught that water is the origin and the basis of every life. But it wasn’t until I came to Cambodia, one of the less educated countries, that I learned exactly what that means.
The reason for my sudden understanding was my observations on a farm in Takeo.
The water source on that farm is the fishpond. The fishpond is filled during the rainy season and is used the whole year. The family uses it for cooking and drinking water, to wash their clothes and to bathe. The animals drink out of the fishpond, and all of the vegetables, which are planted during the dry season, are watered out of the fishpond. And last but not least, the fishpond is used to raise fish.
The water inside that fishpond is the basis for all life on the farm.
The advantage of this system is that the farmers are able to use their natural resources without wasting the groundwater.
But there are also problems caused by their system.
Because the fishpond the only source of water, any problems that arise with it can leave the whole farm without water — and, if prolonged, without life.
The other problems are smaller and not as obvious. There is a possibility that the chemicals in soaps and laundry detergents can cause health problems for human, animals and fish. Moreover, if the farmer uses chemicals to kill vermin or applies pesticides to his plants, the leftover can run off into the pond. And when the now-contaminated water is used to water the same plants again, the vermin can develop resistance to the chemical. This chemical resistance is a long-term problem and leads to higher chemical costs for the farmer.
There is just an estimation of the type of problems that could develop, but on the long-term, they really are serious. But there are a few simple approaches.
If the farmer tries to use as little chemical as possible, or even avoids applying it altogether, he can avoid the negative effect. By using biodegradable shampoos and laundry detergents, this effect could be stopped too. By learning about the general effects of chemicals, the farmers can better comprehend how to work with chemicals without risking the health of humans, animals and plants.
And again I understand how clean water is the foundation for all life.
Lukas is volunteering in Cambodia with the CHAD program for 6 months. When he returns to Switzerland he will enroll in university where he plans to continue his agricultural studies.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A volunteer's reflections: a welcoming community
by Laina Schneider
Individual volunteer from Virginia
On Sunday, I went with Katherine, the missionary I am working with, Teresa, a pastor from Singapore, and some students from the Methodist youth hostel to church in Prekormel. The service was great, it was comprised of mostly young people, and they were singing their hearts out.
Following worship, the church leaders met about the plans and location for a new church they would be building. I went with the students, three of which were from the village, to meet their families and see their homes and farms. The village was great, there were farmers harvesting eggplants, and all sorts of kids running about, very curious about me. Men rode by on horse drawn carts, bringing dirt and manure to their fields. One of the boys family prepared us a traditional Khmer lunch, and invited us into their home to dine. The food was delicious, and their house was impeccably clean, simple and sensible. I loved getting to experience exactly what they did on a normal day. They had made no preparations for me, and just invited me in like another student.
Following lunch we walked out to the fields where green things were growing as far as the eye could see. Squash, pumpkins, potatoes, eggplants, bananas, mangoes, rambutan, and much more. I was inspired by the students devotion to their farms even though they lived in the city to attend university. It was clearly engrained in their being, it’s normal and natural to live off the land, and I could sense how they missed the fresh open air.
Visiting this village was definitely my favorite part of my time here so far. They way they lived was truly beautiful. They all worked together and valued simplicity, effort and kindness. I hope that someday I can learn to be as welcoming and wonderful as they were to me.
Laina is a member of Aldersgate UMC in Alexandria, VA and a rising sophomore at Virginia Tech in the College of Agriculture. She is studying agronomy and civic agriculture and food systems and volunteering with the CHAD program for one month.
Individual volunteer from Virginia
On Sunday, I went with Katherine, the missionary I am working with, Teresa, a pastor from Singapore, and some students from the Methodist youth hostel to church in Prekormel. The service was great, it was comprised of mostly young people, and they were singing their hearts out.
Following worship, the church leaders met about the plans and location for a new church they would be building. I went with the students, three of which were from the village, to meet their families and see their homes and farms. The village was great, there were farmers harvesting eggplants, and all sorts of kids running about, very curious about me. Men rode by on horse drawn carts, bringing dirt and manure to their fields. One of the boys family prepared us a traditional Khmer lunch, and invited us into their home to dine. The food was delicious, and their house was impeccably clean, simple and sensible. I loved getting to experience exactly what they did on a normal day. They had made no preparations for me, and just invited me in like another student.
Following lunch we walked out to the fields where green things were growing as far as the eye could see. Squash, pumpkins, potatoes, eggplants, bananas, mangoes, rambutan, and much more. I was inspired by the students devotion to their farms even though they lived in the city to attend university. It was clearly engrained in their being, it’s normal and natural to live off the land, and I could sense how they missed the fresh open air.
Visiting this village was definitely my favorite part of my time here so far. They way they lived was truly beautiful. They all worked together and valued simplicity, effort and kindness. I hope that someday I can learn to be as welcoming and wonderful as they were to me.
Laina is a member of Aldersgate UMC in Alexandria, VA and a rising sophomore at Virginia Tech in the College of Agriculture. She is studying agronomy and civic agriculture and food systems and volunteering with the CHAD program for one month.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Hallelujah Moment: Cancer Patient Receives New Hope
by Irene Mparutsa and Amanda King
In a country that is still rebuilding its health care system after years of war and genocide, running a grassroots health development program is often a frustrating undertaking. The lack of educated medical personnel coupled with the bureaucratic tangles and the disorganization abundant in Cambodia’s health system create frustrations that all too often outweigh the immediate rewards of work as a medical missionary, but it’s the small victories that provide the motivation to keep going — small victories that, however insignificant they may seem in light of the bigger picture, change at least one life forever and serve to give CHAD’s program staff hope for the future.
One such case came to CHAD in the form of cancer survivor Horm Tot. The 35-year-old housewife and rice farmer had been told by provincial health officials in Banteay Meanchey Province in northwestern Cambodia that she need not seek treatment after her debilitating diagnosis of cervical cancer last fall — that the likelihood of success was far too little and the costs of treatment much too high.
Horm and her young family, her husband and their 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, were understandably crushed by the doctors’ assessment.
“My family and I — we felt hopeless,” Horm said.
But help came to the family through their local Methodist pastor, who one day showed up at their home to see why Horm, usually a faithful church attendee, had missed services two weeks running. Where the doctors and family saw no hope, Pastor Kim Sean saw the potential for healing. Thanks in large part to his training in medical advocacy from CHAD, Kim was able to direct Horm to the program, which in turn referred her to an oncologist at a Phnom Penh hospital and to connect her with funding and transportation assistance.
Doctors at the capital’s Russian Hospital agreed with Kim’s optimistic lookout and immediately began an aggressive treatment regimen. Five months of chemotherapy later, a routine test showed Horm was in remission.
“God gave me hope,” Horm said of her pastor’s intervention. “Before, I was hopeless, but when I prayed to God, I felt better, and I had hope again. I stopped thinking about the bad things and didn’t worry anymore.”
Less than 24 hours after test results showed Horm was in the clear, she was already in CHAD’s office in Phnom Penh, recounting her story. Upon hearing the test results, Horm said she was “so happy” and excited but conceded, “my husband is the most happy.”
Horm’s whole community has reason to celebrate, really. Like many stories of cancer survivors, Horm’s entails a network of supporters, from her family and friends to church members and neighbors. And it took all of them to get her through a rather bumpy road to recovery.
One of the biggest obstacles on that road was evident from the time of Horm’s diagnosis: How would her family, poor farmers that they were, be able to afford the treatment?
The answer proved difficult. Doctors originally projected the cost of Horm’s treatment at $4,000 — well over the annual income of a typical Cambodian family.
CHAD was able to assist with transportation costs for Horm’s frequent trips to and from Phnom Penh for treatment, and the program also pitched in $50 toward her treatment, the maximum allowed under program guidelines. The family would have to come up with the rest on their own, and it would require a sacrifice, as they turned to the only resource available: Their land.
Horm’s husband, So Lyhuo, eventually made the difficult decision to sell the half-hectare family farm, a move that brought in roughly $3,700 toward his wife’s medical expenses. With no land left for them to grow rice, Lyhuo turned to fulltime construction work as an alternative source of income, and the new job often kept him away from his sick wife.
Despite the hardships Horm and her family faced, the cancer patient made the decision early on in her treatment to keep a smile on her face.
“Before, I was so sad. But then, I decided I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I accepted it,” she said. “I was worried about my husband and children. If I felt sad, it would affect them.”
Instead, her drive to endure the treatment with a smile brought hope to more than just her family. Just seeing her bravery was a source of inspiration to CHAD staff member and United Methodist missionary Irene Mparutsa.
“She was a remarkable patient. She was smiling right through,” Mparutsa said after learning of Horm’s successful treatment. “I don’t know anyone who’s had cancer and kept a smile like that. And the treatment was very aggressive, making her very sick, but she kept smiling every time she came.
It’s something in her spirit.”
Pray that patients like Horm will not be deterred from seeking the treatment they need because of the costs associated with it or because of outdated fears of hospitals and medical care that are prevalent among many villagers. Pray also that God will continue His work in Cambodia through health care programs like CHAD and the Ministry of Health as they work to change attitudes and improve the quality of care available in the country.
In a country that is still rebuilding its health care system after years of war and genocide, running a grassroots health development program is often a frustrating undertaking. The lack of educated medical personnel coupled with the bureaucratic tangles and the disorganization abundant in Cambodia’s health system create frustrations that all too often outweigh the immediate rewards of work as a medical missionary, but it’s the small victories that provide the motivation to keep going — small victories that, however insignificant they may seem in light of the bigger picture, change at least one life forever and serve to give CHAD’s program staff hope for the future.
One such case came to CHAD in the form of cancer survivor Horm Tot. The 35-year-old housewife and rice farmer had been told by provincial health officials in Banteay Meanchey Province in northwestern Cambodia that she need not seek treatment after her debilitating diagnosis of cervical cancer last fall — that the likelihood of success was far too little and the costs of treatment much too high.
Horm and her young family, her husband and their 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, were understandably crushed by the doctors’ assessment.
“My family and I — we felt hopeless,” Horm said.
But help came to the family through their local Methodist pastor, who one day showed up at their home to see why Horm, usually a faithful church attendee, had missed services two weeks running. Where the doctors and family saw no hope, Pastor Kim Sean saw the potential for healing. Thanks in large part to his training in medical advocacy from CHAD, Kim was able to direct Horm to the program, which in turn referred her to an oncologist at a Phnom Penh hospital and to connect her with funding and transportation assistance.
Doctors at the capital’s Russian Hospital agreed with Kim’s optimistic lookout and immediately began an aggressive treatment regimen. Five months of chemotherapy later, a routine test showed Horm was in remission.
“God gave me hope,” Horm said of her pastor’s intervention. “Before, I was hopeless, but when I prayed to God, I felt better, and I had hope again. I stopped thinking about the bad things and didn’t worry anymore.”
Less than 24 hours after test results showed Horm was in the clear, she was already in CHAD’s office in Phnom Penh, recounting her story. Upon hearing the test results, Horm said she was “so happy” and excited but conceded, “my husband is the most happy.”
Horm’s whole community has reason to celebrate, really. Like many stories of cancer survivors, Horm’s entails a network of supporters, from her family and friends to church members and neighbors. And it took all of them to get her through a rather bumpy road to recovery.
One of the biggest obstacles on that road was evident from the time of Horm’s diagnosis: How would her family, poor farmers that they were, be able to afford the treatment?
The answer proved difficult. Doctors originally projected the cost of Horm’s treatment at $4,000 — well over the annual income of a typical Cambodian family.
CHAD was able to assist with transportation costs for Horm’s frequent trips to and from Phnom Penh for treatment, and the program also pitched in $50 toward her treatment, the maximum allowed under program guidelines. The family would have to come up with the rest on their own, and it would require a sacrifice, as they turned to the only resource available: Their land.
Horm’s husband, So Lyhuo, eventually made the difficult decision to sell the half-hectare family farm, a move that brought in roughly $3,700 toward his wife’s medical expenses. With no land left for them to grow rice, Lyhuo turned to fulltime construction work as an alternative source of income, and the new job often kept him away from his sick wife.
Despite the hardships Horm and her family faced, the cancer patient made the decision early on in her treatment to keep a smile on her face.
“Before, I was so sad. But then, I decided I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I accepted it,” she said. “I was worried about my husband and children. If I felt sad, it would affect them.”
Instead, her drive to endure the treatment with a smile brought hope to more than just her family. Just seeing her bravery was a source of inspiration to CHAD staff member and United Methodist missionary Irene Mparutsa.
“She was a remarkable patient. She was smiling right through,” Mparutsa said after learning of Horm’s successful treatment. “I don’t know anyone who’s had cancer and kept a smile like that. And the treatment was very aggressive, making her very sick, but she kept smiling every time she came.
It’s something in her spirit.”
Pray that patients like Horm will not be deterred from seeking the treatment they need because of the costs associated with it or because of outdated fears of hospitals and medical care that are prevalent among many villagers. Pray also that God will continue His work in Cambodia through health care programs like CHAD and the Ministry of Health as they work to change attitudes and improve the quality of care available in the country.
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