Water & Food in a Rural School, Cambodia

CHILDREN IN SIEM REAP PROVINCE, CAMBODIA  enjoying their SPECIAL MEAL - Thank You !

These Children still need your help both financially and by volunteering


It is with education there is a need to Improve school attendance and the academic performance through the use of clean water to drink, food facilities, and student hygiene education.
Many schools in Cambodia lack access to clean water and appropriate personal hygiene facilities. Water from existing wells is often contaminated with bacteria. To compound the problem, the number of latrines and hand washing stations is often inadequate for the number of students attending the School. This leads to open defecation and children attending classes with contaminated hands. In Cambodia, nearly 50% of schools do not have a safe water supply and 30% are without adequate toilets. Research shows that lack of access to these facilities promotes absenteeism and increases school dropout rates, especially among girls.
Cambodia is a predominantly rural country with heavy dependence upon agriculture and a great reliance on foreign governments and NGO (non-governmental organisation) assistance. But with the current Pandemic it is putting a huge strain on the School to give adequate food as they rely mainly on tourists coming in, volunteering their time and consequently donating money to the School. It is important to note however that the term “improved source of drinking water” can be misleading due to constantly rising pollution, mishandling of water sources, leakage, and contaminants that are not regularly monitored in the water supply. It is also evident that dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, which have been identified in some Cambodian drinking water sources, are difficult to detect without sophisticated analysis that in many cases is beyond the financial capacity of many communities and health department budgets. Although water supply in the country is abundant, the overriding problem is one of infrastructure, quality, and access by the population.

 CHALLENGE
Providing children with three nutritious meals, clean drinking water supply and adequate toilets, and instilling in them the need to wash their hands with soap and water, are the most effective ways of saving their lives and ensuring they develop into healthy adults. Diarrhoea, which often results from poor sanitation and hygiene, is a major cause of children’s illnesses, including stunting and impaired brain development.
Cambodia has the highest rate of open defecation in the region, with eight in ten of the poorest rural Cambodians defecating out in fields, in open bodies of water, or other open spaces, rather than using a toilet. This continues to be a dangerous challenge, as human waste near waterways and houses spreads diseases quickly and puts children and their families at risk.
One in three Cambodians uses water from a non-improved drinking source, which means they do not hygienically separate human waste from human contact. Seven in ten pre-primary schools do not have access to WASH facilities, and one in two rural healthcare facilities does not have sufficient water all year around.

 All children have the right to food, clean water and basic sanitation.

 A dish and spoon are not usually the first things that come to mind when thinking about the contents of a typical schoolbag. But for the students of Aspire - Irish School in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a dish and spoon take pride of place each day beside their books and stationary.

 NEED OF HEALTHY FOOD
Each morning they line up in front of the classroom to receive a nutritious breakfast, thanks to support from the Volunteers, the Teachers at the School and the Principal.
Supporting the local community with homegrown school meals has just started at this School and the Orphans were enjoying their time outside and seeing he plants grow. But in this area, came heavy rains, which is unusual at this time of he year. So the crops were mostly destroyed, the poor children were left devastated. This was in our own School garden and they hoped to be self-sufficient but this year it failed,