KOK TA CHAN PRIMARY SCHOOL - KIDS' POWER

JULY 30 - I was up early preparing for an 8:00 a.m. meeting with our well driller and water resource consultant, Mr. Chea Phan, at Teuk Sa'at Organization office north of Siem Reap Town.

We spend an hour going over the details of the 2009 project. One good thing about so little rain this rainy season -- Teuk Sa'at Organization is far ahead of schedule on the progress of the project. Originally scheduled for work from March through early December 2009, the project is 85% completed. We review pictures of the project sites, the stages of construction, formation of maintenance-repair and cleaning teams, quality control issues, and compared budget and actual costs. We decide to do some upgrading of the 10 sinks that we installed at Kessararam Primary School in May 2009. Otherwise the quality and design of our work and structures are excellent!

Our plan for this morning is to go to Kok TaChan Village, a village where we began developing basic infrastructure in 2004...step by step: wells first, domestic hygiene, then toilets, sanitation and trash containment, nonhybrid seeds, and pigs.

Those are the nuts and bolts of the story. The real story is the many, many special and generous people of USA and Canada who make this possible. I am a messenger and representative and I carry with me the message to the Cambodian people that many people in Wisconsin, Canada and Stockton, CA give money to make this possible. But as Chea Phan said to me one day when I was protesting my picture on the signs at some wells, "You are the face of the Wisconsin people here." I never forget the responsibility this is. This is going to be an emotional day. No matter how many times I visit our villages, energy is high, people are so grateful and I can scarcely take in all that we accomplish.

Our first stop in Kok Ta Chan Village is the primary school, recipient of a clean water well funded by the students of Clairmont Elementary School, Stockton, California. These amazing students fund a charitable/humanitarian project each year. They located the Cambodia Wells project on the web, researched the project, and selected it to fund one well for a Cambodian school. They prepared... clearly lots of prep because in their 2-week fundraiser, they raised enough money for 3 wells: 2 Afridev model pumps for high volume use ($1200+ per pump), and 1 VN6 model for ordinary volume use ($875) plus 2 sinks.

I cannot see this little school building so far from the main road. The picture is taken from the entrance gate to the school grounds. It is the only primary school in Kok Ta Chan Village. It was given by the Nagoya Naka Lions Club of Nagoya, Japan, in 2001. It is school to 268 students and 6 teachers. By mid July exams are underway and only a few students and teachers are at school. I spend time talking with the teachers and students, visiting their classrooms, asking students about them and complimenting them...going between Khmer and English to coax some of their English from them.

Included with the well are 4 health kits: plastic bucket with lid only for carrying water from the well, metal kettle with lid only for boiling water for drinking, rake and hoe to help with trash containment. A health kit is officially presented to each of 4 teachers.

This is an Afridev model pump on the well, suitable for high-volume use. A laminated color picture of the beautiful students and teachers of Clairmont Elementary School will be laminated, then placed under the plexiglass at the upper left of the sign at the well.

We'll be adding a hip-high wood fence with a couple openings around the outside perimeter of the well area. They've already planted flowers and herbs around the perimeter.

The teachers and students say "thank you very much" for this well, for the clean water. I wish you could hear their voices and see their faces and bright eyes as they say thanks many, many times for this gift of life...wonderful clean water for the students and teachers at Kok Ta Chan Primary School from the Clairmont Elementary School students in Stockton, California.

There is now clean, safe water for the children at the school. Some of these students go home to go home to families served by our wells. Now the teachers and students can practice healthy hygiene habits day and night whether at school or at home to reduce sickness and disease and promote a healthy long life! disease and promote a healthy long life! Way to go, fabulous Clairmont Elementary School!