Kindergarten Maintenance - Rang Bulan

The local Kindergarten in Kampong Buah Pandai is KEMAS (Community Development Department). Small projects have been completed overtime to ensure continuous maintenance including repairs to fencing, new septic tank and painting of walls.

The chain link fence was erected for the kindergarten.

Students helped build a 2 section septic tank for the toilet at the kindergarten and re-surfaced the flooring of the toilet.

The exterior walls were painted in the kindergarten’s official colours.

2022 Update: Mantanani School repairs and extension – Mantanani

Since 2012, we have been working with the school to improve, maintain and extend classroom facilities and have subsequently helped rebuild an old wooden resource centre to cater for religious classes. As it was badly damaged, we have constructed a new roof and built new walls using eco-bricks.

2022 Update:

In heavy rain and windy days the open areas above the eco-brick walls would allow water drops to enter the classroom. In 2022, travelling students completed 24 recycled frames for the air vents. Upcycling the bottle caps fits in with the eco theme of the building, educates on plastic pollution and assists in a small way with waste management on the island.

What are eco-bricks?

Eco-bricks are made from shredded plastic and mixed with concrete. Camps have invested in brick moulds and have made over a thousand bricks for building the extra classroom.

How are the recycled air vents made?

These are made from bottle caps collected from the beach and tied with a combination of salvaged and new hardy fishing lines for each frame.

Marine Debris Management – Mantanani

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The Marine Debris Management project was done in collaboration with Reef Check Malaysia (RCM).

2002:

In 2022, all our travelling students participated in beach clean ups where bottles were collected on the beach, including around the island village. Bottles were cleaned, counted and pressed in a compression machine to form bales for easy transporting to the mainland recycling center.

Each bale contains 500-700 plastic bottles.

Travelling students also helped the local staff at RCM to collect waste (general waste & food waste) from all the houses in the village to send to the local refuse facility on the island.

Lower Kinabatangan Rainforest Regeneration - Batu Puteh

The jungle bordering the banks of the Kinabatangan River is one of the world’s most important ecosystems, home to nine species of primates including orangutans and endemic proboscis monkeys, and a host of other wildlife including pygmy elephants and clouded leopards. Yet it’s also one of the most degraded and logged areas in Asia, putting many endangered species at the imminent risk of extinction.

Batu Puteh is a community run initiative combining eco-tourism with the protection and re-establishment of endangered forest and riverside environments, namely the Supu Forest Reserve and Kinabatangan River.

Who is Kopel?

Kopel is a village-based co-operative at Batu Puteh, a joint venture of local rural community who are fishermen and farmers. Their mission is to create an alternative path of co-existence with the remaining rainforest eco systems, to nurture and protect the biodiversity of lower Kinabatangan and to generate a sustainable long term income generation for the community in the area.

2022 Update:

We are supporting Batu Puteh through our reforestation programme in collaboration with our conservation and eco-tourism project partner, Kopel and our volunteers. This will help improve wildlife habitat and provide vital corridors for the movement of animals between forested areas along the river. This project is also vital as it creates jobs through eco-tourism, giving alternative, sustainable employment to the community. Tree

1300 trees endemic to the area were planted throughout the season.

Each of our projects is designed to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular the following SDGs within Cambodia.

Cambodia Project Highlights (2010 - 2022)

69 Built or restored 35 wells to provide drinking water and water for crop irrigation.

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69 toilets built, mainly for private homes, improving sanitation and safety for families

11,000

2

27 chicken coops built for 27 families to help provide a source of income.

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Over 11,000 tree / saplings planted. Pay the monthly salary of 2 English teachers to support year round English language classes.

Clay Water Pots have been made to help families maximise the collection of water during the rainy season.

In Cambodia, projects are designed to make a significant and lasting impact on the region’s most critical issues. Projects typically focus on:

Building wells to provide drinking water and water for irrigation to ensure a reliable source of essential food.

Building toilets to provide better sanitation for the community.

Working on school improvement projects, where they may build or renovate school buildings to create inspirational and stimulating learning environments.

Building chicken coops to enable families to raise chickens to supplement their food and to provide a source of income.

Taking part in reforestation work.

Constructing village clay water pots to maximise water collection.

Water Wells - Beng Pae

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Access to water, especially during the long dry season is a major issue for most rural communities in Cambodia. The village of Ta Lek does not have a mains water supply, but they are luckier than many other areas as they have ground water that is not too deep and can be reasonably easily accessed via wells. However, chronic poverty means that community wells are very few and far between. This project aims to build many more wells throughout the community so that all houses have access to water all year without having to walk long distances to collect it.

Completed a total of 35 wells for the community since 2016.

The Sen Son Family used to walk more than 1km with buckets to the nearest canal to collect just enough water for drinking and cooking. During the dry season the canal turns dry and there is a shortage of water making life hard for the family. In 2018, student travellers helped build a well for the family, which has not only provided them with access to plenty of water but has now allowed them to start growing food for their own consumption and giving them the opportunity to sell excess fruits to those travelling through the village. They can now wash their clothes every day and have started to raise chickens and cows.

Hear from Uncle Mao, the village headman on how this project helps the people of the village. Click Here

Community Water Supply - Beng Mealea

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Beng Mealea commune is located on the border of Kulen Mountain National Park. During the rainy season, people are solely dependent on rainwater collected from their roofs and gutters. During the dry season a small reservoir provides the only water source nearby.

2002:

19 concrete jars, each containing 500 litres of water were constructed and distributed to 9 local families in order to help them maximise their water collection during the rainy seasons.

This is how village clay water pots are made.

It takes 1-2 days to make each clay water pot using a wooden mould, oil, cement, clay and water

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Iron Loop

Wooden Slat

Cement poured into bottom for base

Iron loops left in place for structure & support.

Wooden slats are positioned around iron loops to form the mould of the pot.

Soft, worked clay is laid over the wooden mould. The mould is oiled to prevent sticking. Wooden slats removed from set clay. Clay is smoothed, shaped and sculpted into desired shape / finish.

Permaculture Farm and Jungle Garden - Beng Mealea

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As in Borneo, our aim is to become a centre of excellence for permaculture development and this is achieved by providing ongoing training to the community and through the support of our student travellers. At Beng Mealea we have several hectares of land which we intend to turn into a “Jungle Garden”, growing a wide and diverse crop and experimenting with new ideas and concepts, which could help the local community improve food production, especially during challenging seasonal weather.

Since 2011, we have worked on this project from initial draining, to planting 500 larger tree species to provide shade for the crops, continuing with farm maintenance, constructing fences to prevent cattle from eating the crops, planting vegetables and banana trees, along with constructing a jungle garden to allow the children to learn about trees and traditional medicines.

2022 Update:

Student travellers made 18 x 900kg bags of rice charcoal for fertilizer, grew 100 sandal wood tree saplings and planted an additional 730 trees in the community reserved forest.

Chicken Coops - Beng Mealea

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According to the World Food Programme (WFP) ‘Cambodia produces a surplus of paddy rice for export, but household access to sufficient and nutritious food remains a serious challenge’. This problem directly correlates to the high level of poverty in the country. About 90% of the poorer population in Cambodia live in rural areas. These are the individuals most affected by hunger. Currently, two-thirds of the country’s 1.6 million rural households face seasonal food shortages each year. This project both in Beng Mealea and Beng Pae will help provide essential food for local families. Chickens are relatively easy to look after and their waste can be used as fertiliser to grow crops.