This World Water Day, ChildFund in Laos is working across rural and remote of the country to ensure that children and young people can access safe, clean water in their homes.
Khamdee, 30-years-old, is a mother to three young children and lives in a remote village in Huaphanh province, her home perched on top of the steep slope of the mountains. She walks up to nine kilometres every day to provide safe water to her family.
In 2015 a water tank was built by the community near her home, but it wasn’t big enough to supply water to all 300 homes in the village and over time the tank cracked and broke down.
Many children in the village were sent by their parents to collect water from a nearby stream. But Khamdee knows how dangerous and difficult this trip could be and has never allowed her children to make the journey.
“Carrying water all the way back home is heavy,” she said. “The stream is in the lowlands, about four kilometres away from my home. Sometimes we must walk eight kilometres to get enough water. My husband and I have to carry two 18L barrels each twice a day — once in the morning before we head to the farm, and another after coming back home in the evening.”
Some days, she would have to make three trips so everyone in her family could have safe drinking water and water for hygiene. This placed a significant burden on Khamdee, who is already responsible for her young children, and running her household and the family farm. She said every day was exhausting.
ChildFund in Laos partnered with local authorities and organisations to rebuild the water tank and create a plumbing system in Phoupied village so that every household could have access to safe, running water at any time of day.
They also installed a water meter in each household to monitor water usage. Each household pays for how much water they use and these funds are then used to maintain the water tank and plumbing system, to ensure it is sustainable.
“I was so happy when I heard that a new water tank was going to be constructed for our village,” said Khamdee. “To have running water available in our homes is amazing. I can cook, do our laundry, bathe, and have clean and safe drinking water to give to my children anytime.”
In partnership with Save the Children, CARE, and Comité de Coopération avec le Laos (CCL), the ‘Sustainable Change Achieved through Linking Improved Nutrition and Governance’(SCALING)project seeks to improve food, water and nutrition security among rural areas in the Huaphanh Province.
The project focusses on improving nutrition in adolescent girls, and pregnant and lactating women. ChildFund’s SCALING activities is funded by the European Union and works in three villages and a total of 14 districts in Huaphanh.
In rural Cambodia, girls and young women are often restricted from pursuing an education because of longstanding gender norms and expectations. Samoeun, 28-year-old, is working tirelessly to change this and encourage girls to chase their dreams.
Samoeun comes from a rural community in the Kratie Province and is part of the Mil ethnic group, a minority in the region. As a child, she dreamed of being a teacher, so she enrolled herself in a secondary school 80km from her home.
She lived with her older sister while attending the school, but when their mother became ill, Samoeun was forced to return home after the ninth grade.
Sameoun helps her mother sell fried banana in her spare time.
She was devastated to have to put her dreams of becoming a teacher on hold. She went to work,selling fried bananas at the local market. She had plans to move to the city and find a job as a garment worker to support her family. “If I couldn’t achieve my own study goals, I wanted my youngest sister to be able to study at a higher level than I could, so I needed to make money to support her,” she said.
Before she moved to the city, she saw an advertisement for ChildFund Cambodia’s program training preschool teachers in her neighbourhood. Naturally, she leapt at the opportunity. “I was chosen through a series of steps to take part in the training. I was so glad to be able to teach and earn money. I could make a living and care for my mother in my hometown.”
ChildFund supported Samoeun and 20 other volunteers with the necessary training so that they could become government-recognised teachers.
She encourages her peers in the Mil ethnic group to send their daughters to school and support them in achieving a higher level of education. She said that this starts with preschool.
“Previously, people did not appreciate preschool. With the help of ChildFund, we ran several campaigns to educate parents about the value of preschool for their children,” said Samoeun.
ChildFund also built a new preschool in her community. Now, more parents are sending their children to preschool.
Fiver-year-old Yuri enjoys her classes.
One mother in the community, Sreypov said: “I am delighted to see my children learn and grow while attending preschool, and it means I can do other duties while my children are in school. I am happy to see the new pre-school building and so is my daughter.”
“I feel like I’m having a lot of fun and learning new things from my new teacher,” said five-year-old Yuri.
Samoeun’s effort over the years has meant that there has been a significant uptick in girls going onto higher education. “You can’t underestimate your children, you have let them to fly like a bird,” she said.
Samoeun smiled talking about what she has accomplished. “I never imagined I’d be able to achieve what I have.”
ChildFund is working with local organisations to train preschool teachers and build the necessary facilities so children can access preschool education in rural parts of Cambodia.
