Location
Boribo, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia
Community Description
Boribo district is a small district town in the Kampong Chhnang province of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is comprised of nine communes. It is located about 120 kilometers, or 2.5 hours northwest of Phnom Pehn city.
Boribo has a fairly well-known market, known as Ponley Psah, a health center facility, and a large high school. Situated about 10 kilometers from “The Great Lake” or Tonle Sap, most families subsist on a diet of rice, vegetables, and fish.
Because of the location to the Tonle Sap, many people are able to generate income by working as fishermen. However, most residents in Boribo, like the rest of the country, live as subsistence rice farmers.
Hun Sen Boribo Lower and Upper Secondary School is located at the center of the district on National Road 5, about 30 kilometers from the provincial capital. Over 2,700 students attend classes every day, taught by the 76 teachers and supported by the 11 non-teaching staff.
Since there are more students than the five large buildings can hold, the school holds class from 7 am to 12 pm, and an afternoon session from 12 pm to 5 pm. This is unusual since most schools have a two-hour break in the middle of the day for lunch.
Currently, only 3 of 9 bathrooms are currently used, one of which is reserved only for teachers. Every day, students must fill up buckets of water from the nearby pond to bring to the student bathrooms. The remaining 6 bathrooms are simply too far for students to bring water to.
The water from the pond is usually muddy and runs out during the rainy season, leaving the bathrooms during the dry season unusable. Additionally, the high-volume use of the two functioning student bathrooms results in unsanitary conditions, particularly affecting the female students.
Many female students drop out of school because of the lack of functioning bathrooms at the school. Female students with family members nearby will bike to their homes to use the bathrooms. Other students wait until the school day is over, or miss the rest of the school day, to use the bathrooms at home.
Project Description
This project will bring water from the school well to six bathrooms on the school grounds.
Project funds will be used to purchase and install piping and an electric motor to enable water to be pumped to the bathrooms.
In addition, two water filters will be purchased and placed in the teachers’ dorms. Currently, the teachers have to drive into the forest to collect firewood in order to boil water, exposing them to smoky stoves that put them at risk of respiratory illness.
The labor of digging and installing the pipes will be provided by school staff and students.
A weekly cleaning schedule will be made to ensure that the bathrooms stay clean and usable.
Project Impact
2,752 students, 76 teachers (including 11 that live at the school), and 11 non-teaching staff will benefit from this project.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Keiko Valente
Comments
There is great community interest and involvement in this project. It will give students and teachers access to usable bathrooms and clean water to the teaching staff that lives at the school.
Peace Corps Volunteer Keiko Valente has completed two other successful projects, Kraubau Well Project – Cambodia and Boribo Health Facilities Water Project – Cambodia.
Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00
Donations Collected to Date
$500.00 + additional amounts for future projects
Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Daniel Valente, of Mercer Island, WA, USA, with additional donations from friends and family of PCV Keiko Valente.
We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Keiko of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Keiko and/or those of other PCVs in Cambodia.
This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.