The Cambodian experience

I have been volunteering in Cambodia for about 8 years. I

recently returned from my 16th trip and at times it feels like
family - I have made friends there I miss like my own family
when Im away from the place.
I volunteer with Ockenden, a Cambodian NGO I totally trust.
Most of their work is out of Sereisophan (known as Sisophon
Town) - about 1:30 hrs from Siem Reap. This is a service town
with very little interest to tourists and as a result without any of
the facilities tourists expect.
The Bio-regions where Ockenden works are very close or
relatively close to the Thai border. There is no official crossing
indeed to cross into Thailand means workers are risking life and
limb as the hill side is still mined.
There are two bi-regional examples I would like to touch on: the Cherng Krous Dam catchment and
Thmar Romeal area.

The Cherng Krous Dam area:

When Nharn, the president of Ockenden (he attended a 6 week EDE at Crystal Waters) first showed
me the dam, we could drive in the middle of the dam wall but you could not step off the middle as
the embankments had not yet been cleared from mines.
The dam had been built about 900 years
ago (during the same time as Angkor Wat
was built) but had been neglected and
was re-built during the time of Pol Pot,
only for the gates to collapse again. When
I first saw the wall there was very little
water in the lake. The dam wall itself was
heavily overgrown with large trees which
would have weakened the structure. (The
photo at left shows the overgrown dam
wall)
The wall length is about 3 km a major
task to bring back into service.
There was a real need to create a source of water as the villages down stream really suffered.
The attached report, done before the dam was re-built illustrates the issues is attached with this
report.

Social issues in the target areas are:

At an educational level, illiteracy levels are the highest in Thmar Pourk and Banteay Ampil
districts (according to NCDD 2009 statistics) with 25% of the population (15 to 60) being
illiterate. This in turn impacts on safe water and sanitation practices being at their lowest in
Thmar Pourk with 84.5% of the population (74.8% in Banteay Ampil) drinking unboiled water.

From a Water and sanitation point of view,

although the number of wells increased
during the period 2006-2008, so has the
number of unusable pump or mixed wells.
Every well in Thmar Pourk supports an
average of 180 persons (152 in Banteay
Ampil); compared to 33 people per well in its
capital city Sisophon. The majority of the
Thmar Pourk population (75%) relies on
either water storage, ponds and natural
sources (natural ponds/reservoirs); with only
5.7% using a well. The National Committee
for Democratic Developments survey found
that 89.8% of Thmar Pourk families (compared to 53% in Banteay Ampil) used unsafe water
sources in the dry season. In comparison, only 28.6% of the population in Banteay Ampil uses
rain water storage et al. ; with the majority using pump and mixed wells. (Photo above: children
carrying water)

Between 2006 to 2008, Vulnerable groups increased in Thmar Pourk (with more families living
with HIV/AIDS; more under 18 and elderly being abandoned; the number of victims of natural
disasters almost doubling over three years). In Banteay Ampil, the population is particularly
vulnerable to natural disasters; with a quadrupling of disaster affected victims in 2007 compared
to 2006 figures.

Migration trends From 2006 to 2008, migration is on the increase; with only 8% attributed to
employment migration in Thmar Pourk compared to 2% in Banteay Ampil.

Environmental effects - If the rehabilitation leads to a more permanent inundation of the large
storage area there will be more significant positive impacts. The negative environmental impacts
are not foreseen because this is the existing reservoir. Overall, the negative environmental
impacts are rated as medium, related mostly to canal re-excavation and reshaping.

The key study findings showed the following:

i. Over the past ten years, it was identified that the proposed target area suffered
recurrent droughts affecting parts or most of the rice cultivation and other secondary
crops (corn, beans, cassava...). People in the areas rely heavily on rain-fed rice (or wet
season rice) for their household livelihoods. Farmers start to grow rice and some other
crops from May to Oct every year. Droughts occurred in July to September & recently
even longer. Combined with increasingly freak storms, this caused particularly low

agricultural productivity (from 1

ton -1.5 tons per ha in a good
year). As a result, 51% of 2,167
households (extremely poor and
poor) are still suffering from food
insecurity.
(Photo at right:
Drought affected garden)
ii.
Some
other
agricultural
constraints raised also by villagers
during the study were that they
lacked skills especially on pest and
insect controls, and techniques to
cultivate dry season rice. Farmers expressed their desires to grow dry season crops. The
reasons that motivated farmers to grow dry season rice and additional crops are (a) that
the price of agriculture produce has gone up and (b) that an improved road access to the
areas would allow farmers to sell more of their produce. However some noted they were
not experienced in dry season rice cultivation.
iii. Lack of water control and management for irrigation in the areas: Cherng Krous
reservoir and its irrigation facilities (water gates, main canals and dikes) were built in Pol
Pot regime (1975-1979) using forced labours and have so far broken and become
dysfunctional. There have been no repairs undertaken neither by government nor NGOs
since. The existing Water Users Committee (WUC) along with village authorities have
tried their best to control water flow in the reservoir using available means (log wood to
close and open one of the gates). However the WUC recognises it lacks management and
technical skills; and resources to perform their duties. Also it realised that its lack of
formal legal recognition (legal document) from the commune chief may hinder WUCs
ability to gain public funds for the necessary rehabilitation of the Cherng Krous Reservoir.
Farmers as well as the WUC do not expect rice yields to increase without irrigation
rehabilitation. In light of local climate changes such as drought or change in seasonal
patterns, this increases greatly the risk of food insecurity in the area.
iv. Other constraints faced include a lack of services: agricultural extension, access to
health service, limited crop intensification and diversification, and poor infrastructure in
the areas.
Please see the attached Feasibilities Study of the Dam before its rehabilitated. It is worth having a
read to see how things were before the project was completed. The background of the situation is
covered in the last 3 pages of the report.
The proposal to re-build the dam wall was presented to Christopher Lavender from the Kadoorie
Charitable Foundation and they agreed to fund the work and I committed to visiting the site as
required on a volunteer basis.
The outcome after a few years is that the dam wall has been re-built, canals have been built and
water is available to grow a second crop of rice, a pipe supplies water to the villages, fish have been

released into the dam (and are supplying already much needed protein) overall a success story
resulting in more food for locals, a number of business opportunities and a reliable water supply.
(Photos below left and right: New dam wall and right, the canal)

Indeed, the lake with large areas of Lotus and plenty of

fish to catch has become a tourist attraction.

Photo above: Having water makes a difference

More work is being done to educate the farmers in organic methods and pest management practices
and the villagers are learning how to best use the available water and how not to create a waste
water problem.
This is very much still a work in progress but the improvements are visible to all.
The villages are working towards becoming Ecovillages and are looking at environmentally
appropriate practices beyond water.

Thmar Romeal:
This region is very close to the Thai border. Indeed many locals venture across the (still mined)
slopes to Thailand for work.
When I first visited the area new settlers had been given a plot 30 x 50m no roads, no water and
no power.
Ockenden got involved with the poorest of the poor mostly widows and the elderly. There was
always a very structured approach and each step was tested and improved before it was spread to
more families.
Granny (photo left) one of my dear friends, is a good
example. When we first visited her she was living in a
hut which had no real walls and a very leaky roof. She
sold rice cakes along the street so she could buy water
so she could grow some vegetables.
Ockenden helped her
(and many others)
with a roof which
would not leak and
which provided good
quality rain water
which was collected in
a Ferro cement tank.
A small pond (photo
right) was dug which
provides water to the garden and orchard. Drip
irrigation allows her to make best use
of the available water. Ockenden
fieldworkers helped her design and
install mulch gardens and provided
seeds. The garden at left is the result.

A few pigs were added (photo below) which created some cash income and fertility to improve the
very poor soil.
Today Granny lives with her daughter and 5 grand
children in a very decent house with fairly secure
water. She collects and distributes seeds. She sells
vegetables locally and even across the border to
Thai customers.
She and her daughter have purchased another block
of land where they seasonal rain permitting
grow more vegetables and indeed they are growing
a future for the young ones.
Kadoorie has built a
school and many of the children are now getting an education.
Lessons learned at these
Experimental farms are
constantly improved upon. For
example, the ponds which were
initially just sewer holes in the
ground look very different these
days. Topsoil is now removed
before the pond is dug. The subsoil
is used to raise gardens and homes
above any flood level and a rim
around each pond (with plenty of
edge) is creating a growing area with unique possibilities.
On my most recent visit a 79 year old farmer told me that this is
the first time that he can sleep in peace when it is raining heavily
as he knows that his crops are above flood level.
The Cherng Krous dam project and the Thmar Romeal Bio Region indeed all the many Ockenden
projects have something in common: dedicated people.
This work would not be possible without the
tireless commitment of Nharn the director of
Ockenden and his workers and of course the
funding from Kadoorie and others.
If you would like to contribute to the work
Ockenden is doing in Cambodia you may send a
cheque to me and I will guarantee that 100% of
the money will go to projects.
For example to build a pond costs approx. $600.
In most cases the farmer is required to contribute
to the construction. Every Dollar will make a diference!

Max Lindegger