Field trip!

It was an awesome privilege for me to see some of HOPE's projects my first week in Cambodia doing the project evaluations... so it would only make sense for our UNION team to get to see more of the amazing work that HOPE does! So our last week in Cambodia, we also took a couple morning ‘field trips’ away from school construction… to experience more of real life in rural Cambodia, and see how HOPE is helping to transform lives!

Off we go in our ride - the back of HOPE's pick up truck!

 
What did we see and what did we do? A lot of different things - but I'll start with this one!  Actually I think we just walked to this family's house, it was down the road from our school, but anyways! We went to visit a neighbour in our village, who's gotten this water filter from HOPE for clean water!

But... before we get to see how the water filter works - we gotta get some water! So, that's what we did, as a small 'something' we could do for our kind hosts! The mom of the family walks down to the river every morning to collect water. She makes at least 3 trips a day, other families say they sometimes make 6 or 7.

Well, we barangs aren’t able to do a whole lot that Cambodians can’t do better for themselves… but we can take a turn in carrying some water!

The village kids all gathering to watch (and laugh at) what these crazy barangutangs are going to try to do now!

Down to the river we go! Scooping the water in...

Standing up… and trying to balance!

I can’t stand up!!

Show off. :P

Carrying water back up from the river to the family’s home

Gosh that’s a long trek!

It really wasn’t, but I couldn’t believe the mom of this family makes a this trip a few times a day! I was wobbling & swaggering the whole way up and - literally - hunched over & could not stand up by the time I got those water buckets up to the family's home!

Pouring our precious carried water into the family's big ceramic canister...

And finally, 9 big buckets of water later, we got to the best part… seeing that water go through a bio-sand water filter!! (which the family received from HOPE 2 years ago)!

Good enough to drink!

The kids guzzling down the water as it came out of the filter.

This little girl drinking is one of the daughters of this family... and one of my favourite kids in the village! Not that I play favourites... but she is always has a gigantic smile & is taking care of the even littler ones! (She's also the one on the left in the next picture)

It really was amazing to hear from this family – and all the kids that we have been playing with around the village. They used to get sick from typhoid, cholera, diarrhea and other unclean-water-related illnesses two or three times a month. Since they’ve gotten the filter? No one gets sick anymore!!

I think everyone (including me, again!) has been so, so, so amazed by what $50 can do. A filter for $50 (the material costs anyways, I guess plus the education & health/hygiene/maintenance training and staff time that goes into it too) gives clean water, freedom from constant illness, freedom for kids to do their work of laugh and play, for moms and dads to sigh a breath of relief and do other more important things like planting rice and growing crops, rather than taking care of sick family members.

Well, we sure found out the hard (and aching-shoulders!) way - it's still not easy to get water. But it is clean - and THAT makes a huge difference!

Healthy kids = happy kids.

Love it! :)

Want to donate a filter for clean water? :)

xo
Rainbow