Projects
A lack of clean drinking water is one of the most pressing issues facing Cambodians living in rural villages. Many source their drinking, cooking and bathing water from pools of standing water, streams or canals. The water is often contaminated with bacteria and pollutants and can lead to ongoing illness or, in extreme cases, death.
Constant sickness impacts lives by preventing adults from working and children from going to school. For those already in poverty it increases their problems.
When funding allows, VBC builds wells to improve the health and wellbeing of those living in village communities. Our wells are made from PVC piping with a concrete base at the surface. These wells have very few moving parts and only a cheap washer needs to be replaced occasionally, making them economical to operate and maintain.
Volunteer Building Cambodia Community Centre (VBCCC) focuses on education in a rural village where there are few opportunities to gain skills.
Located about 25 kilometres outside of Siem Reap VBCCC’s school teaches English language and computer skills to children and teenagers who have limited, or no, access to these classes at their own schools.
Our school compliments the local Khmer school curriculum. English is the international language and necessary for most students planning on attending university as so many institutions use English language textbooks. It is also the language of the internet and will help with job opportunities in the future.
VBCCC has proved popular, with around 200 students attending classes every day. We are incredibly proud that our attendance rate is high and more than 50 per cent of our students are girls.
For a poor rural family, a solar powered system that charges a powerful battery during daylight hours – at no cost to the user – will give sufficient power to operate a small fan, provide electric light, and to charge phones. A system like this fitted to an existing home – or more beneficially a welcome addition to one of our house builds can make a profound difference to a poor family living in remote rural areas.
We can provide – at relatively small cost – a water purifying system. A simple but clever design using sand, gravel and gravity, in a self contained concrete casing. This is a long lasting, solid construction requiring little to no maintenance and can be placed at any required location near to the house delivering pure clean drinking water on demand.
