The Volunteer Development Cambodia Association (VDCA) school, farm and community project at Anlung Pi is truly inspirational. In just under a year the VDCA Anlung Pi school project, just out of Siem Reap, has grown to include an organic and fully environmentally sustainable fish and rice farm, plus a nursery with six family dwellings for impoverished families. All projects are completely funded on donations and give families a brighter future in the absence of any government social support.
The school, free of charge and totally funded by donations organised by the Director Togh Main and his team, offer an education in English and Japanese language among other things. The classes supplement a corrupt education system where teachers, so poorly paid, are forced to charge fees to families to have their children take tests or classes from home. Many children boycott public school as they can't possibly afford to send their children and pay extra for the 'real' learning. Those that do go to public school for three hours each day are hardly receiving the adequate education sufficient for future success.
The students that go to the VCDA school are children from the area, many of who have parents working at the local dump scavenging anything they can find to sell, such as old vegetable scraps to sell as pig food. On visiting the dump the conditions were appalling. The trucks come 15 times a day to drop their 'payload' while the dump dwellers await eagerly with their picks in hand ready to pounce in the garbage in hope of finding something profitable. The dump dwellers range in age from five years to ages too difficult to gauge when considering the years of hardship endured in this existence.
The dwellings that line the outskirts of the dump are of meagre construction. Most shanties are simply sticks holding up dry grass roofs. The structures look so feeble that they would surely need replacing most years after the monsoons have passed in November. Adding salt to the wound, luscious patties of rice belonging to wealthy landowners surround the dump and the scattering of shanties, adding further frustration to the dump dwellers existence by reminding them daily of the plentiful life beyond the confines of their world - the dump. They must bare the pain of watching harvests come and go while they scavenge through rubbish to put food in the stomachs of their families when they can. To raise a family under these conditions seem incomprehensible and give testament to the strength of the human spirit. Below I have filmed the filth in which these poor souls currently live, work and somehow maintain hope for a better future.
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| Fish farm Project - pond |
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| Fish Farm Project |
However, VDCA is providing an opportunity for a better life for some dump dwellers through their agrarian and community building projects. The first is the rice and fish farm. The land has been donated lease free for trial and the fish have been bought using VDCA donations, and now number more than 10,000. These farms are set up organically to allow fish to swim within the paddies feeding and fertilising the rice at the same time. To avoid having to pay $15 a bag for fish food (a cost minimal and very affordable in most western countries), a free sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to the farming has been adopted. Village chickens are strategically housed in a structure that stands above a section of the fish pond allowing for their droppings to feed the fish and in turn fertilise the rice. Bugs are attracted with traps over the water's surface to further add the fish's food source. Donations are continuously being sought, not simply for the materials used in this project but also for the university education in sustainable agricultural studies for the Cambodians that are working this farm. These workers have the aspirations to teach others in the community in order to build capacity in the human capital of this village and offer an opportunity to break the generational cycle of poverty perpetuated in a life at the dump.
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| Dwelling for the Fish Farmer |
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| Nursery and constructed dwellings to the left |
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| Nursery |
Another VDCA project at Anlung Pi designed to give assistance to the dump dwellers is the community building project. The project consists of a nursery and six potential dwellings for families to transition out of their dump shanties.
The six sponsored families are given free use of the dwellings for a contracted period of three years. In that time they are offered assistance to find more secure work or may receive a micro-loan to start a small business and begin a self-supported and safe life free of the dump. During this time, accommodation, the children's basic education and food are subsidized by VDCA.
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| Time to brush the children's teeth at the well |
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| Construction on the other three dwellings |
The construction of these dwellings are not yet complete and the nursery has only just opened, however there are already 60 children to fill the nursery rooms (during the hours that their parents scavenge at the dump) and a waiting list of families for the three year contract with the dwellings. The whole project - land and materials - has basically been financed by a wonderful couple from the United Kingdom who donated $40,000 to set the project up.
Within eight months the future of a handful of Cambodian families has been irreversibly altered. From dump dwellers and rubbish scavengers VDCA are giving Cambodians the opportunity and human right to strive for a better future, and offering that which most Australians and citizens of other modern democracies take for grated daily: their human dignity!
Until next time...
R
The Volunteer Development Cambodia Association (VDCA) school, farm and community project at Anlung Pi is truly inspirational. In just under a year the VDCA Anlung Pi school project, just out of Siem Reap, has grown to include an organic and fully environmentally sustainable fish and rice farm, plus a nursery with six family dwellings for impoverished families. All projects are completely funded on donations and give families a brighter future in the absence of any government social support.
The students that go to the VCDA school are children from the area, many of who have parents working at the local dump scavenging anything they can find to sell, such as old vegetable scraps to sell as pig food. On visiting the dump the conditions were appalling. The trucks come 15 times a day to drop their 'payload' while the dump dwellers await eagerly with their picks in hand ready to pounce in the garbage in hope of finding something profitable. The dump dwellers range in age from five years to ages too difficult to gauge when considering the years of hardship endured in this existence.
The dwellings that line the outskirts of the dump are of meagre construction. Most shanties are simply sticks holding up dry grass roofs. The structures look so feeble that they would surely need replacing most years after the monsoons have passed in November. Adding salt to the wound, luscious patties of rice belonging to wealthy landowners surround the dump and the scattering of shanties, adding further frustration to the dump dwellers existence by reminding them daily of the plentiful life beyond the confines of their world - the dump. They must bare the pain of watching harvests come and go while they scavenge through rubbish to put food in the stomachs of their families when they can. To raise a family under these conditions seem incomprehensible and give testament to the strength of the human spirit. Below I have filmed the filth in which these poor souls currently live, work and somehow maintain hope for a better future.
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