JERREY ROBERTS
Sokha and Ny Mao with Ruth Hazzard and Claude Tellier at their home in Amherst Thursday.
via CAAI
By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
AMHERST - Though water is a basic necessity of life, access to clean, potable water remains a challenge for many who live in small villages in Cambodia.
Improving water quality and sanitation through the purchasing of toilets and financial assistance to create new freshwater ponds and dig new wells has been the goal of the local Cambodian Water Project of Massachusetts.
For five Amherst residents, including three who fled the notorious Killing Fields three decades ago, a trip to the Southeast Asian country next week will be an opportunity to see the progress their project has made.
"The reason we're going this time is to see with our own eyes how far it's come," said Sokha Mao, who, with wife Ny Mao, founded the project seven years ago. "Now we want to see what else besides toilets, wells and ponds that they need."
Ruth Hazzard and Claude Tellier, Sokha and Ny Mao, and Pok Yath, Ny Mao's brother, leave Wednesday for the Kampo Chang, Pursat and Battambang provinces, where they will spend three weeks visiting several small communities for the first time since a similar trip in 2005.
"We're going back to see how things are going and to see what their needs are," said Hazzard, a vegetable specialist with UMass Extension.
The project began after the Maos, who arrived in Amherst in 1981, returned to Cambodia in 2003 and observed that health and sanitary conditions remained primitive there. While the couple had earlier sent any extra money they got from their jobs as custodians at the University of Massachusetts, such as overtime wages, back to the people in their homeland, the visit made them aware of the level of poverty that continued to exist.
Focus on filters
The Maos were distressed to see the minimal modern development and contaminated and unreliable water sources, Hazzard said. And so, when they got back to Amherst, with the help of neighbors and friends, they formed a group that became the Cambodian Water Project.
"The outcome of polluted water is a lot of illness, missing work and not being able to go to school," said Hazzard.
In each of the five villages that the Water Project group expects to visit, they will meet with people to discuss the next steps they can take to improve access to fresh water.
"One thing we want to pursue is use of water filters," Hazzard said. "They will take the water another step toward making it drinkable and safe."
Toilets, ponds, wells
The project, whose fiscal agent is the Amherst-based Peace Development Fund, relies on generosity of more than 100 people who donate close to $10,000 annually. Donations come from individuals, as well as fundraisers, including an annual event that takes place at the Pulpit Hill Cohousing in North Amherst.
Last year, children at the Mount Toby Friends Meetinghouse in Leverett chose to raise money for the project.
All the money raised is sent to Buddhist temples in Cambodia, where three monks are charged with dispensing it for a variety of programs, some of which have the assistance of nongovernment organizations whose volunteers work in the villages.
Hazzard said among the ways money has been used is the purchase of more than 100 toilets, each of which can serve one or more families; the construction of ponds, which catch and minimize runoff, and, if kept relatively clean, can serve as fresh water source; and the creation of wells.
The Maos are in contact with the monks and others who act as project managers in each village. "Their connection and understanding of the culture is really important," Hazzard said.
Reverse recruitment
Hazzard got involved several years ago when she went to her neighbor's home to encourage him to seek a Town Meeting seat. Instead of being recruited, Sokha Mao convinced Hazzard and her husband, Claude Tellier, retired economic development specialist for the Canadian government, to join in the work in his homeland.
The project has recently begun to branch out, with the assisting of orphans in the villages and providing classes in English language instruction, which Hazzard said is seen as a gateway to jobs.
"What people really like is that a modest amount of money has a significant impact on providing for basic needs," Hazzard said,
All the money stays in the Cambodian villages. The trip expenses, the flight and the purchase of new cameras that the Maos are bringing with them, are being borne by those who are going.
"What's exciting for me is being able to get to know the people and what their needs are," Hazzard said. "It's a very direct connection that seems to be an inspiration for supporters and for me."
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