Physical Health Cambodia Project #32418

Clean Water for 500 Families in Cambodia

by Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation

Project Report | Apr 17, 2023
Man at Work

By Kanhchana | CWEF Director in Cambodia

Yun drinking filtered water

Yun’s family kept borrowing money. More and more money, more and more debt. What could he do? Everyday life simply cost too much. He couldn’t afford the things his family needed to survive. He and his whole family kept falling ill over and over again.They returned to the hospital over and over again. Every month they needed medical treatment, and the treatments cost a lot. More bills, more debt. Yun wanted to earn money through his work as a farmer; but he often felt so physically terrible due to sickness that he couldn’t work very much, and he had no other way to earn more money for his family. Yun is a young man of twenty-five years old and lives in Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia.

At home, when Yun and his family wanted to cook dinner or wash clothes, they retrieved water from a well. But they knew that the well water was dirty, and they feared what might happen to them if they drank dirty well water. So they came up with another idea: collecting rainwater for drinking. The rainwater must be clean, they thought. But still the cycle continued of more illness and less work and more debt.

Thanks to your generosity – Yun's family eventually received a biosand water filter through CWEF! Yun watched his family closely in the days and weeks after they began drinking the filtered water, and he happily realized that they came down with sicknesses much less often. He also suddenly discovered that he had more free time. And on top of that, he had more energy. Enough time and energy to farm and earn more money and, even better, start saving money! Best of all, he received fewer and fewer expensive medical bills. Isn't it amazing what clean water can do?

Now before he goes out into the fields to farm, Yun brings bottles of water from the the biosand water filter. And he will drink multiple glasses of filtered water before he goes out to the river to catch fish. Yun says, “Now, I am very happy after having received a Biosand Filter from Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) in 2019. All of my family members and I are healthy, and I hope that in the future my family’s living condition will be better.”

Yun thanks you for your generous donation and for supporting his living situation!

Check out all the great work you're supporting through CWEF by following us on Facebook or Instagram @cwef_hk

Or read more about the life-changing impact your donations are having here on our blog!

Yun with his family next to a CWEF water filter

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Dec 27, 2022
What difference does a BioSand Water Filter make?

By Karin Semler | CWEF Board Member

Clean water at home for a woman in Ratanakiri!

What difference does a BioSand Water Filter make?

In the tropical country of Cambodia an estimated 2-3 million people get their daily drinking water from unsafe water sources. Rural communities gather water from rainfall, wells, rivers, or standing water. The Cambodian government has set an ambitious goal for 100% of the population to have access to safe drinking water by 2025.

If properly installed and maintained, a BioSand water filter can last up to 25 years! This slow drip system removes 100% of waterborne worms and eggs. Surface water is cleaned in the low-tech device and is easily accessed directly from the filter. When a filter is installed at home, families can conveniently treat water at home to protect against disease.

What difference do CWEF’s local partners make?

Pastor John is a farmer and serves a local congregation in his hometown in Ratanakiri province. As a local partner of CWEF, he provides important health training to families in his area who receive gifts of BioSand Water Filters, because of your generous giving.

When a family receives a water filter, they immediately experience many health benefits. Furthermore, local partners like Pastor John also train families in how to properly maintain their water filter, and lessons in sanitation and hygiene practices give families additional tools for preventing disease and improving their overall health.

In 2022 and 2023, CWEF will provide clean and safe drinking water via BioSand Water Filters for over 100 families in two rural communities in Ratanakiri province. The partnership with local Christian pastors like Pastor John, together with their congregation members in the Deh and Chang villages, will make your gift of safe drinking water more powerful and sustainable for the long-term.

You can see Biosand Water Filter #39 in Ratanakiri province by watching this video.

What difference are you making by supporting CWEF BioSand Water Filters in Cambodia?

Globally, diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death in children under five years of age. Water-borne illnesses are preventable with the use of proper water treatment, such as the BioSand Water Filters you are supporting in Cambodia. Access to clean water, coupled with handwashing and other healthy hygiene habits, can bring a life-changing renewal of health to whole families. In particular, more children and their families in Deh and Chang villages in Ratanakiri will enjoy full health without the threat of malnutrition, dehydration, or death from diarrhea.

This past October, CWEF highlighted the importance of WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), in connection with Global Handwashing Day on October 15.

Don’t forget -- the next time you wash your hands or drink from an indoor faucet, you also can remember the gift of health that you have provided to families in rural Cambodia. Because of your generosity, they too can enjoy the immense gift of drinking water at home, and the improved health it brings.

Thank you for your partnership!

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Playing games with local kids in Ratanakiri

CWEF's Kanhchana leads a health lesson with kids

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Aug 30, 2022
Down an Impassable Road

By Kanhchana | CWEF Director Cambodia

John with his children and a few nieces/nephews

John, a farmer from a remote mountain village in Cambodia, along with his wife and children always drew all their drinking water from the village well. Still many times a year they would each fall ill with stomach aches and diarrhea and also frequently experience other health complications like lower back pain and eye problems.

John is descended from an ancient Cambodian ethnic group. Because he lives in the moutains, it is very difficult to travel to any other place outside of his own village. John attended school until fifth grade and can speak two languages: Khmer and Jarai. In 1998 during the Pol Pot regime, he married his wife in Vietnam near the Khmer border. They had six children together, but sadly, in 2001, one of their daughters died from leukemia. Now John owns 10 hectares of land where he works hard morning until evening six days a week with his wife to farm cassava and cashews. Despite all of their faithful hard work, for a long time John and his wife could not afford enough food or medical care for their family.

In 2010, CWEF and another group, visited John’s village. They shared the gospel with John and his family and also taught them how to eat healthy, how to wash their hands with proper technique, and how to boil water in order to make it safe for drinking. After CWEF’s first visit, John began to serve his local church, study the Bible outside of his village, and share the gospel with other people in his own community, instructing them about God’s work. Because he speaks both languages, John also assists with translating the Bible from the Khmer language into the Jerai langugae so that people in his community can better understand God's Word.

In 2014, a few years after CWEF’s first visit, John requested a biosand water filter from CWEF. Unfortunately, the materials for the filter could not be transported over the terrible village roads. But recently with improved roads, CWEF finally was able to fulfill John’s request and delivered thirty biosand water filters to John's community.

Today John says:

“My community is so blessed by God through receiving Biosand Filters from CWEF organization. Now we do not spend a lot of time boilingdrinking water, and we feel comfortable after we get safe drinking water at home. Thank you CWEF for continuing to work in my community and so encouraging us in the name of God.”

John and his wife have also now achieved better production on their farm and are able to provide enough food and medical care for their family.

Thank you for your generous support of CWEF’s HEAL (Health Education and Literacy) program. You make it possible for families like John’s to not only hear about the goodness of God but also experience it through clean water, health education, and improved sanitation! Your generosity is transforming lives!

Clean water from the biosand water filter

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