Construct water wells for Cambodian villages

From December to May 2018 the Getting Well program will establish 6 more pump wells to the already completed 68 which will bring us in at a total of 74 Wells. 68 wells were drilled in extremely difficult terrain across provinces across Cambodia including Kampot in the South West, Svey Rieng in the South East bordering Vietnam, Banteay Meanchey in far North West of Cambodia on the Thai Border, Mondulkiri in the far North East bordering Vietnam and Laos and Kravahn and Veal Veng in Pursat province, Central Cambodia

The program will establish the six wells in 2 communes, Doun Yay, and Kraing Sbouv of Chhuk District, Kampot province. 102 households will benefit from the Wells, consisting of 316 (149 women) people including 122 (65 girls) children under 18 years, as well as 7 persons with disabilities, 4 of those being female.

A baseline assessment is always done to establish whether there is sufficient need to implement the program in that area and in this case reveal that villagers in the target project sites needed to travel between 800 meters up to 3 kilometers every day to fetch water.

Whatever the location, the village well committee is the heart of Getting Well program as local villagers themselves must take charge of the water source in order to ensure the well and water supply is kept clean and the pump continues to work in good order. Each household will contribute $2.50 to a fund at the outset that will be used to service the pump and replace any parts that may wear out. When the initial fund is almost used up, households then contribute a small amount monthly towards the maintenance fund. The Well Committee is established at the beginning of the program with an election of office bearers including a Committee Head and Deputy Head and a Treasurer.

We have now established 74 Well Committees in 5 of the most drought prone provinces right across all the far reaches of Cambodia. It is always a great joy to meet a committee for the first time, as they are tremendously excited about the new water resource that brings so much benefit to their rural village. In general a very hard life becomes that little bit easier, improved health with reduced stomach and other serious infections such as typhoid which is very common, improved economics by saving time and money not having to cart or pay for water, and more time for the parents to work and for the children to attend school.

A recent survey by UNICEF revealed there are still 2.5 million Cambodians in need of safe and potable water near to home so there is still a lot of work to do but for the mean time, let us enjoy these pics that portray the sheer pleasure, relief and happiness in villages we’ve established wells over the years.