Our first mission of 2019 brought us to the province of Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. With a population of over 500,000, the residents of Kampong Chhnang live mainly in rural areas – and close to 50% of these families lack access to safe drinking water.

This results in a lack of basic sanitation –resulting in increased waterborne diseases and poor standards of living. Healthcare services in rural health centres are often limited by their lack of clean water. Without clean water, the recovery process of patients is hindered by poor sanitation and treatment options.

In regions like Kampong Chhnang, efforts will be focused on working alongside communities to battle water and sanitation challenges with rural households and healthcare centres. By supplying clean water to rural health centres, healthcare workers are able to provide safe, quality treatment and ensure the smooth recovery of their patients. With cleaner water and better health, families will be able to gain access to better education and youths can be empowered to become the leaders of the next generation.

These sponsored water filters will open up a new source of clean water for the residents of Kampong Chhnang – empowering the residents and youth, and providing them with a basic human necessity for living.

Deployment: July 2018

About the Place

SOUPEROAMERS is supporting WateROAM’s and World Vision Cambodia’s effort to provide rural communities with clean drinking water. The communities World Vision works with, called Area Programmes (APs), across Cambodia are normally based on geographical districts within a province. The provinces that the project will be based in will span across APs WVC are actively involved, including regions such as Battambang, Preah Vihear and Banteay Meanchey which spans across the Cambodian-Thailand border.

Water Situation

Approximately 4 million people in Cambodia lack access to safe water with approximately 80% of Cambodians living in rural areas. The lack of access to safe water and sanitation disproportionately affects its rural communities. Many communities in the Cambodian-Thailand border region has to resort to boiling rain water or filtering water through cloth strainers, which exposes them to water borne diseases from pathogen, bacteria and at times even viruses.

Goals & Impacts

In these regions, efforts will be focused on working alongside with communities to battle water and sanitation challenges with rural households, schools and local community centers. With cleaner water and better health, families will be able to gain access to better education and youths can be empowered to become the leaders of the next generation. The project targets to serve up to 30 different communities around the region to bring these families with cleaner water and living condition. Demonstrations, education workshops, and maintenance training will be carried out with the local community to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.

Located along the Tonle Sap Lake in the Kampong Chhnang Province of Cambodia, Chhonk Tru Village is a floating village community, home to several ethnic groups within the area, notably Cham, Vietnamese, and Khmer. These villagers live in floating homes and make their way about on motorboats. Additionally – due to seasonal tides, the community lacks basic water and sanitary infrastructure. The communities mainly rely on fishing for income and are generally poor and lacking in infrastructure. There are no means of waste disposal. Waste, both organic and inorganic is dumped into the Tonle Sap Lake – the same source of water is used to cook and bathe with.

Poor sanitation, water scarcity, inferior water quality, and inappropriate hygiene behavior is disastrous for infants and young children – poor water habits are a major cause of mortality for children below the age of five. These conditions are also detrimental to the health of school-aged children, who spend long hours in schools.

In May 2018, SOUPERSTAR collaborated with WateROAM to embark on a sustainability and water intervention project in Chhnok Tru Village in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. Alongside field research students from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC), the project introduced WateROAM’s water filtration technology to improve clean water accessibility and to raise awareness about poor solid waste management amongst the Chhnok Tru floating village community at Tonle Sap.

Overall, this collaboration provided clean and drinkable water in identified villages in need of a portable and reliable source of water. Since then, more than 1000 villagers from the local schools and hospitals of Chhnok Tru Village have gained access to clean drinking water.

You can play a part in ending rural thirst – simply donate your accumulated hearts in the SOUPERSTAR app – every donation goes toward our upcoming missions!