Food Security Cambodia Project #20146

Rural Assistance Program Prey Veng (RAP), Cambodia

by Kasumisou Foundation

Project Report | Aug 22, 2016
Changing lives with the gift of water

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller M.D , 1732

Change a life by giving the gift of water.

Most of us in the developed world have never known the hardship of lack of water. Some people may have experienced temporary interruption from a storm. Some folks have gone camping and adapted to a sharply limited, but temporary access to water. However, we usually do not stop to consider our great privilege as we turn on the tap and,of course, expect to get water.

I love the quote by Thomas Fuller, who in the 1700's , pointed out the obvious . We do not appreciate the real value of water until we have none.

Why our Rural Assistance Program began

Our Rural Assistance Program, (RAP ) rose from this concept in 1998, when we encountered farming families in northeasten Cambodia ( Prey Veng Province) who had experienced profound suffering from a prolonged drought.

Dire circumstances

According to UNICEF in Thailand, a crop failure from lack of rain occurs one of every 3 years in Southeast Asia. When faced with a failing rainy season, single crop rice farmers and their families become desperate.

In a normal rainy season, the rain water is captured in large clay jars, about 4 to 5 feet tall and about 3 feet in diameter , placed at each corner of the roof. The stored rain water is used in the dry season for drinking, cooking and limited bathing. While it is difficult to generalize how much rainwater is collected, a 2001 article by UNICEF in Thailand estimated that an 11 cubic meter jar, if full, could provide enough just drinking and cooking water for a family of 5 for one year. Without stored rain water, families are forced to go to desperate means to get water. This can mean pulling even small children out of school to use them as labors to carry water, sometimes from great distances and sending older children and parents to the cities to search for work.

The knock on effect: No rain, no drinking water, no food

When the rice crops fail because the rains don’t come, it means that there will be no food for the coming year. This forces single crop rice farmers and all able bodied teens and adults to head for the cities, usually, Phnom Penh the capital, in hopes of finding work of any kind.

Illiterate and without resources, these workers are typically exploited and paid as little as $ 1 to $3 per day for hard labor and sometimes dangerous work in construction. Women and girls often turn to prostitution as a way to earn money. The migrant workers eventually return to their villages weeks or months later , sometimes, unknowingly bringing HIV to their villages.

Our solution

Our solution was to drill wells where appropriate, as a cost effective way to bring a reliable, safe source of water to these families and allow them to live a more secure life, focusing their efforts on more diversified farming and educating their children.

Elementary and Middle School students sponsor 4 wells to change lives

A well costs just $ 270.

As parents, we often talk about how to help our kids, in the developed world, to understand and appreciate the challenges of others less fortunate.

Talk about personal empowerment and understanding! The American School in Tokyo Japan, Elementary School students sponsored 2 wells and the Middle School students also sponsored 2 wells . The ASIJ students raised money throughout the school year to fund the wells from various activities including sales of Friendship bracelets* at their Winter Festival and other events.These students , by working to sponsor the four wells, have dramatifcally changed the lives of these four families and their neighbors.

You can change a life by giving the gift of water!

These wells are life changing for a farming family. Access to a well provides

a safe, reliable source of water for drinking, cooking and bathing
water for vegetable gardens
a way to reduce food and income dependence on a single annual rice crop.
access to water helps to keep families together and kids in school by reducing forced economic migration

Over the past 15 years and more than 500 wells later, we estimate that each well serves several additional families.

With 8 wells sponsored, we are actively seeking donations to pay for the remaining 22 wells we drilled so that we can continue to offer this life changing project to other families.

We are deeply grateful to you, our donors for your generous support to helping to transform lives by providing access to water.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

*The Friendship bracelets are a small income project for teenage girls cared for in a group home run by Catholic nuns in Bangkok, Thailand. These girls make the friendship bracelets as a way to earn pocket money.

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May 23, 2016
Wells provide more than drinking water

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

Water- the staff of life....

Most farmers in Cambodia are dependent upon a single,annual , non-irrigated rice crop to provide both food and income for an entire year. Rural families depend upon annual collection of rain water during the rainy season to provide drinking water and to grow their rice crop. If the rains fail, it imposes great hardship upon families who will then engage every family member who is able, to walk to the nearest water source, sometimes miles away, to carry water back by hand, in jugs. Water is essential to life, lack of water means children may be taken from school to walk great distances carrying water. This hardship was one of the key factors that inspired our Rural Assistance Program.

A key component of our rural assistance program, from its start in 2000, has been well drilling to avoid such dire circumstances. Each year, when funds are available, we have drilled on average 30 wells, providing 30 more families and their neighbors access to a safe, reliable ser ource of water. Now, after more than 16 years, we have drilled approximately 500 water wells.

These days we hear a lot about droughts in various parts of the world, and the anticipation of El Nino rains to break the prolonged drought cycle in the western US . In the developed world,this has been a serious matter, with areas such as California imposing severe water rationing. The flipside of the El Nino rains that recently came to the Western US has been the impact of a "super" La Nina in South East Asia, causing a "super drought" and causing severe drought conditions in Cambodia, such as have not been seen in nearly 10 years. More importantly, the next rainy season is projected to have such a lack of rain as to be unable to irritgate the next rice crop.

A failure of the rice crop creates dire conditions, causing severe hunger, and even starvation for families and children who will have not income for the coming year and no food from a failed rice crop. This in turn, causes a forced migration to the cities in search of work. Children may be trafficked and families destroyed from the impact of sexually transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS) through prostitution and trafficking . The drought creates a dreadful cycle and one which takes families and communities years for recovery, and some individuals will never recover.

For now, according to a May 9,2016 article in Barron's "drought, floods,and historically low global inventories have rice market experts worried" that the price of rice could double if rice harvests fail. Global rice stocks stand at ultra low levels not seen since 2007. No only will families have not income and a rice cropfor food , but they will face potentially 100% price increases on the rice that they may hope to buy.

For families in the rural assistance program ( RAP) , they will continue to have access to water and can grow small plots of vegetables to both supplement income and provide food for families. These wells provide more than simple drinking water. This access to water provides an ability to keep families together, keep children safe and in school , to put food on the table and provide families with at least some income.

A well costs $ 270 .... its benefits are immeasurable. We are still trying to fund the wells that we drilled last year... until that debt is satisfied ( about $8000) we cannot fund more wells. We hope that you will join us in supporting this program.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

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Mar 1, 2016
One of our model farmers.....

By Barbara Rosasco | Secretary & Treasurer

Mr. N is one of our farmer leaders.

Mr. A is 43 years old. Mr. N lives in Beng village, Prey Paun commune, Kampong Trabek district, PreyVeng province. His wife is 42 years old and they have several children. Two of their children live and depend on them. Mr. N owns land used for rice farming and a home-stead. Mr. N joined our program in April 2014 where he has been an active participant as a farmer but also taking advantage of RAP's training and coaching in technical innovation in organic agriculture. We consider him one of our " model farmers" due to his hard work and success in learning new farming techniques.

As a model farmer in our program he has received some incentives from the project such as fish fingerling to stock a small pond, vegetable seeds, chicks for breeding , tree nursery, canal rehabilitation, one drilled well and organic fertilizer. As a result of all of these resources: training, coaching, and exchange visits with other farmers , he now uses these innovations in ecologically sound agriculture and in 2015 experienced the following results:

Raised 150 walking catfishes (each fish weight between 0.5Kg to 0.6Kg per head)
Made one tree nursery consisting of 320 seedling trees
Raised 15 hens, 1 rooster, and 40 chicks as well as 2 pigs
Made master feed from jack fruit, banana, and papaya
Made one compost pile (well-prepared and storage area for compost for use on home garden)
Changed the use of dry paddy rice into germinated paddy rice for chicken feed
Used an organic fertilizer on 0.5ha of rice field (in 2014, he harvested 1,100Kg and this year he harvested 1,750Kg. The rice product was increased to 650Kg. Mr. N also used the organic fertilizer on mango trees and they now produce a significant increase in fruit.
Grew four kinds of vegetables (cucumber, string bean, water convolvulous, and onion leaf).

Due to Mr. N's success in vegetable and rice production, the neighbors and two other organizations came to learn from him on his farm.

His family’s total farming income from agriculture is 4,840,000Riel which is about $ 1250 US Dollars. (Chicken: 430,000 Riel, Pig: 3,250,000 Riel, Fish: 210,000 Riel, Vegetable: 950,000 Riel ).

Mr. N can see that since he changed from chemical fertilizer to organic fertilizer and has changed some of his farming techniques that his agricultural outputs have increased remarkably. Based on these results, he is committed to organic farming for his home garden and maintaining his entire rice field as an organic farm going forward.

This is a great example of how the success of one individual in a community can build skills in others and in this program promote a "green" and more ecologically sound way of life while increasing income.

We welcome your continued support of our efforts in this area and hope that you will encourage others to join you in making a real difference for a better world.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

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