Carolyn Balk

Carolyn Balk
Cambodia
Trailblazer Foundation

Apologies, this post is super late! I am now actually finished with my time at Trailblazer in Siem Reap and am in Phnom Penh for one week to do a few interviews with NGOs here before going home on the 24th.

Part of what I had been doing with Trailblazer was going out with the well drilling team (with Sumnang, Vichet, and Kat) to villages around Siem Reap Province. The village chief chooses the family who receives the well, while the family chooses where they want the well. Trailblazer makes sure to work within existing village systems instead of waltzing up with wells and installing them, in turn increasing the sustainability of the project because it is integrated within the community.

I went to Trapeang Svay Village, Reul Commune, Puk District twice. Fun fact: “Trapeang Svay” means “Mango Pond.” I did not see any mangoes when I was there.

My first time in Trapeang Svay we were drilling the actual well. I pretty much embodied Derek Zoolander coal mining as I was basically utterly useless for drilling. This is not a machine drill– this is a manual drill that you need to be pushing down onto while twisting. A sort of jump-push-twist movement that no machine in the gym can simulate well (or maybe, I need to go to the gym more). The pole is actually made from a bunch of poles linked together with a handled twisting contraption. This is tough work!! Simple and easy(ish) for the well drilling team when the water source is close to the surface, a lot harder for everyone when you have to drill through clay and rock (as we did).

To make the well at first before any drilling, we dug a small pit close to the would-be well that we then filled with water. This water was pushed down the hole (that would become the well source) to coax the pole to go deeper while drilling.

When the pit ran out of water, we went to a river/field/pond nearby and got water using a pump and lots of tarps (and in the end, most of the water ended up on the ground, not in the pit) laid out in the back of the truck. Two little boys accompanied us for this (although this was midday, many schools are only for half days), and Sumnang and Vichet seemed to trust them more than me. This might have been perhaps due to my Derek Zoolander status or my being a woman, which sadly is more likely to be the main factor.

We continued drilling, only breaking for a meal of morning glory (Khmer water spinach), rice, and oily bony fish with a red tomato/onion sauce. At the end of day, we hit eighteen meters. We tried to pump water from the ground (an up and down movement with one pipe within the other) but sadly with no avail. We had to take out the piping from the well and succumb to the fact that the next day we would be back to drilling. In the end, this well had to be twenty-five meters deep, while at other homes in the village ten meters deep was sufficient.

In Trapeang Svay the second time but at different part of the village, I could help a bit more. This time, rather than drilling, we were making the cement base for the well. Again, this was completely manual. We had no cement machine, but rather I manually mixed the Camel cement mix and sand together with water and a shovel to make the functioning cement.

1. We dug a dirt platform and flattened it right in front of where the well pump was.

2. We then put large rocks in the dirt–still retaining platform’s flat structure (in other words, the rocks we used were flat on at least one part).

3. We filled in the dirt gaps surrounding the large rocks with smaller stones.

4. We built a brick square around the well’s platform that would later become the raised edge of the well structure.

5. We put the concrete mixture on the bricks, and then the stone.

This is super confusing without the visual that my slow internet prohibits me from uploading, but I hope it makes some sense! Basically: ground –> platform base –> walls –> finished well. I have noticed that whenever going into villages for filter installation or well drilling, the project seems to encompass the entire village and not just the filter or well team. While in the US one might not help the contractors re-doing your kitchen, in Cambodia this seems completely normal and appropriate.

The mom at this home seemed to have really taken a liking to me, especially as I was helping her son with his English (he was perhaps the only child who actually would talk to me when I spoke to him without parents’ help!). I also sat and talked with her about all of her children, told her about my family, and also looked through her daughter’s drawing book which was adorable. Her school notebooks showed photos of (still) current prime minister Hun Sen and his wife–unsurprising to say the least. The mom also wanted to make sure that I was out of the sun to protect my super white skin (white skin is valued here over darker skin), and kept telling me to be very careful with my head because I am so tall. When she found out that I was vegetarian, she sent her daughter out to buy me rambutans! I was elated at their kindness, even though I have no qualms about having morning glory and rice every day.

Carolyn Balk
Cambodia
Trailblazer Foundation

Today, I went to the head office for “Global Action for Environmental Awareness” (GAEA) after seeing the logo on many public rubbish bins (yup! we aren’t in Kansas anymore, so trash = rubbish) throughout Siem Reap. (Although there are rubbish bins, rubbish is littered throughout the city and dogs often pick through the rubbish… as do people collecting anything of value including but not limited to: plastic bottles, cans (3 cans is 100Riel, or $0.025 I am told), cardboard, and kitchen scraps to make pig farms.) Why did I set up an appointment to go to GAEA? Because I was interested in how the rubbish collection system works as it is vital to the functioning of a clean and healthy city. Where do you think rubbish goes in New York? Does it vanish into thin air?

Note: GAEA is the only legal mechanism, but in Cambodia you are more than welcome to dispose of your rubbish illegally without direct consequences to yourself.

I could barely find any information about GAEA online except for a yellowpages.kh website. I found this very strange seeing as it is a company of immensely huge importance for the city to function well. When I finally found a website for GAEA, it would not load on my computer. I later found out that GAEA has a website domain, but the company just hasn’t actually created their website because as GAEA’s director Pho Phallkunn told me, there is really no need for one. At first I was a bit shocked (seeing as I have multiple websites about myself i.e. Facebook, Twitter), but then realized that because most people in Cambodia do not have steady access to internet, they would not be looking up their rubbish pick up system online. And in reality, I have never looked at New York’s rubbish pick-up website online either.

The office was in what looked like what could have been a house. There was a secretary office with about six people working, and then Phallkunn’s office more toward the back. I first asked for general background about GAEA because, as I said, I could not find a lot online.
In 2002, all of Cambodia’s waste collection system was officially privatized; however, before then, it was privatized unofficially anyhow. Phnom Penh has a private rubbish collection system with a Canadian company, Phallkunn told me, and was the foremost rubbish system in Cambodia until GAEA. Founded in 2007, GAEA is a for-profit business for rubbish collection and is the only rubbish collection system in Siem Reap (honestly, from the name, I assumed it was a non-profit business concerned with the environment solely). For $1.50 a month, you can have your rubbish collected (although I am unsure if this is for individuals and also for large hotels). GAEA estimates that they handle 180-190 metric tonnes of rubbish every day. They have a 50 year lease on the Siem Reap City rubbish system (the villages’ rubbish collection consists of collecting it into a pile and burning it). In the past five years, GAEA has expanded to other cities in Cambodia including Kampot, Bantey Meanchey, and Kampong Thom.

In 2009, GAEA relocated Siem Reap’s open dump that was only 7km out of Siem Reap town to one that is 25km out of Siem Reap and 500 meters from the closest residence (the one 7km out of town was in a town– and I am unsure if this dump might still be used unofficially). GAEA’s dump is 8 meters deep and protected with clay compact on all sides (except the top, of course). GAEA would like a technical and closed dump to enable them to collect methane gas and use it for energy (a CDM project or “Clean Development Mechanism”) as opposed to an open dump, and although supposedly money has been funded for this, a technical dump has yet to happen. GAEA receives no consistent formal funding from the government. South Korea gave roughly 2 million USD five years ago for a technical landfill that has yet to materialize–and sadly, the money seems to have mysteriously “vanished” (into someone’s pocket). Yet two years ago, the Ministry of Environment in Cambodian pledged about 4 million USD for a technical landfill (which supposedly is happening at least in Poi Pet on the Thai border).

GAEA’s open dump outside of Siem Reap is subject to scavengers and fires in the dry season, making a covered dump a lot safer. According to Phallkunn, there is no cut-and-dry way to remove the scavengers from the dump (this is how some people make a living). People scavenge through the dump, and people scavenge through the rubbish bins in Siem Reap city. People know that scavenging has awful health side effects, but this is what they have to do to get by (and this is where the overarching government ideally should step in and help out, ex. job creation or something). However, private companies like GAEA are basically left to negotiate with local politicians and the government without actually receiving any tangible and measurable support from the government. The government has no initiative to help, and GAEA can only work so hard and still remain afloat as a profitable business. GAEA’s hope is to have a technical landfill in Siem Reap in the next five to seven years.

Toward the end of our chat, we discussed how tourism creates an opportunity for more rigorous rubbish collection. Who wants to come to Siem Reap when the city is overrun with rubbish? Phallkunn estimates that 65% of all hotels comply with GAEA’s standardized rubbish pick up schema, the majority of this 65% being larger, internationally managed hotels. Angkor Wat Complex uses EnviroCam, a private cleaning service to pick up litter all over the park. EnviroCam is actually associated with APSARA, the management group that runs the UNESCO World Heritage site. The real challenge, as stated, is in the cities. In fact, Phallkun joked that EnviroCam gets a lot of the credit with GAEA being overlooked.
I asked Phallkunn when the rubbish problem really ballooned in Cambodia. He mentioned that in 2004 and 2005, Cambodia experienced an economic boom and there was a lot of rural-urban migration. Phnom Penh’s population, for example, has increased to 2.2 million residents from just above 630,000 in 1990–this is super fast!

To distill this post into crucial points: the key to solving the the rubbish problem, according to Phallkunn, will be a combination of education that leads to behavioral change and market forces at work (a lot of the same rhetoric used for solving environmental problems in general). There are still a plethora of challenges that face GAEA, such as electronic waste, road conditions prohibiting rubbish pick up at all, illegal disposal on the streets, and practices that people have a hard time giving up, such as burying and burning rubbish.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Not surprisingly, Khmer is a very hard language to learn. Surprisingly, it is one of the easiest Asian languages *not including Asian languages written in the Latin alphabet (ex. Indonesian, Malay)* to learn because it is not tonal, while Khmer is surrounded by languages that are tonal. What I find most difficult are not the sounds (the “ng” does not come naturally for me) but rather having to write the words in Roman letters to remember them, all the while knowing this is not how they are really written. One person, i.e. my textbook, might write the words one way, while I may write it another making it super confusing to flip through my notes and textbook simultaneously. Moreover, my teacher might say a word one day, I write it down, and then the next day he says it again and it sounds different. Or more commonly: two different words sound the same to me, and when I am finally told that I have said them differently enough to move on to a new word, I just think “What? I was saying the same thing!”

The back of my reading / writing book…..for first graders.
That all being said, some of the words in Khmer (or rather “pia-sa Khuhmy”) that I have learned so far are super interesting (for a language nerd like me) and frankly a few are hilarious. Being a former French colony, it is only natural that some French words entered the Khmer language, especially for things/ideas/actions etc. that did not exist previously in Khmer before the French. Other words just hammer down the fact that rice is an integral part of Cambodian life (although again, being a former French colony, baguettes are quite common as well. Some people I have met have a strict “non-western-food-diet,” but I welcome bread into my life.). Below are some true gems of the Khmer language:

Pia-sa onglei = English language
Pia-sa alamon = German language
Pia-sa espan = Spanish language
P’ly pom = fruit apple (get it? “pommes” is apple in French, too)
K’tim barang = onion, or translated literally, “the thing you chop that is French” (barang = French)
P’ly sau mau = rambutan, but really means hairy (as in, um, armpit hairy. They taste good I swear!)
K’lean bai = hungry, or rather, hungry for rice (rice = bai)
ñam bai = to eat rice. Although ñam is to eat and you can eat whatever you want, if someone is asking you if you are going to eat, he/she says “ñam bai.” See below for more ñam twists
bai peil prruk = breakfast, or rather, rice time morning
bai t’ngai trong = lunch, or literally, rice afternoon. Even more literally, “t’ngai trong” means “day straight” (noon– get it? with the sun?) and when giving directions, “trong” can signify to continue straight. Hence, lunch means: rice, continue with the day
bai peil yoop = dinner, or rather, rice time night
srrool = easy. Doesn’t that word just sound like it means easy? Because I always forget the word for hard yet remember this amazing word, I continuously say “not easy” rather than hard.
yoo yoo m’dong = once in a while. this is just a hilarious word, nothing else.
book-a-look = staff. again, just funny.
twerka = to work. like “werk” which cracks me up

Another interesting aspect of Khmer language is that some words, such at to eat, to go, and to sleep, change depending on who you are talking to. Talking about myself, or “simple people” as my teacher puts it, uses a different word than talking about the King or a monk. This derives from Pali, a language from India that was used in ancient Buddhist texts. Although no one speaks solely Pali anymore, it still wiggles its way into Khmer.

I might ñam bai, but the king, queen, prince, and princess so-y bai. A Buddhist nun / female monk can either peer-saw bai or baw-rit poh bai, but a male monk ch-han bai. Hun Sen, Cambodia’s authoritarian prime minister, baw-rit poh bai along with female monks. If I am from a village and there is a big ceremony at the pagoda, I hope rather than ñam. Ma-hope also means food in any case. My dog does not ñam bai but rather see bai, and saying that a human see bai is very rude and derogatory. I pointed out that if we spoke Khmer in the United States, we might say that dogs also ñam because dogs in the U.S. are treated as if they are part of the family. When I told my teacher that my dog often will sleep in my bed with me, he was horrified. I explained that dogs in the U.S. often stay inside and are kept very well, making this not uncommon.

Speaking of sleeping, I can kane or dayl, but a male monk sung and a female monk sum rahn. The king, queen, prince, and princess all praw-tumb. When I go somewhere, I tao, but a male monk nit mon tao, and a female monk can either twer dom na or cheng dom na. The king, queen, and prince can yee-ung, but only the prince and princess can nit man. I forgot to ask what animals do for going and sleeping, but can only assume it is yet another word. Luckily, I will likely only be talking to “simple people” and do not need to remember all of these words!

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Part of being a not-for-profit NGO is just that: it is not for profit. Trailblazer’s funding relies on donations, and soliciting donations is not an easy feat. Roughly just over half of donations come from individuals, meaning that the personal case studies from Trailblazer’s projects are very important. They need to make that person reading them at, say, 1am be compelled to send a check or click on the Paypal icon. Last Friday, I went to Chea Smun village (not how this village is spelled in Khmer (obviously) but how I understand and pronounce the name) to interview two students who had received donated bikes from Trailblazer.

Chea Smun, about an hour by moto away from Siem Reap, was one of the most remote and undeveloped (in terms of infrastructure) village I have been to while in Cambodia thus far. The dirt-clay road was a brilliant sinopia-tawny color, accentuated even more by the puddles left from the immense amount of rain the night before and that morning. We arrived at the secondary school: two lines of classrooms with a portico attaching all of them and a tattered Cambodian flag in the center.

One of the hardest parts of doing the case study was making sure that the questions my Cambodian partner, Lon Sey (works with Trailblazer), asked were indeed the questions I had prepared. A lot can get lost in translation! Getting more sentimental / opinion answers to the questions (versus one-word answers) I was asking was a tough feat as well from the the boy and girl I interviewed. They were so shy! Then again I would probably be shy too if this massively tall foreign woman wearing strange clothes came to my school asking questions about my bicycle. As for the case study itself, this is what I have written:

Every day many children in Cambodia have to walk long distances to get to school, meaning they arrive physically tired and mentally drained before class even starts. This situation is exacerbated in Siem Reap province, one of the poorest in Cambodia, and specifically in Meanchey Commune where children often walk to school. The reality is that walking long distances limits students’ capability to succeed and disincentivizes them from attending school. To address this problem, the Trailblazer Foundation has provided bikes to multiple students in Siem Reap Province, allowing for the students and their families to have more mobility and save valuable time.

As part of Trailblazer Foundation’s Cambodia Assistance Program, Trailblazer provided bikes to students at Chea Smun Secondary School in Chea Smun Village, located in Meanchey Commune of Prasat Bakong District. Besides this, Trailblazer has also installed four biosand water filters at Chea Smun Secondary School to help the students maintain good health. More than half of the students at Chea Smun Secondary School have bikes, making it important to help those who do not integrate at school. The donated bikes in general are easy to use and bike maintenance has so far only included simply repairing flat tires.

Seyha, a 17-year-old student in his eighth year of school, received a bike from Trailblazer four months ago. He said that already his studies and day-to-day life have greatly improved with the time gained from biking as opposed to walking to school. It used to take him thirty minutes to walk to school, and now it takes him five to ten minutes with his new bike. His father finished his studies through grade eight and his mother did not even go to school, so Seyha is excited to attend high school next year and complete his studies as he aspires to become a mathematics and chemistry teacher. Seeing as Chea Smun Secondary School currently only has six teachers for 176 students, Seyha finishing school and becoming a teacher would greatly help the Cambodian education system at large. Because Seyha’s high school next year is 10 kilometers away, his bike is going to substantially reduce the time it takes to get to and from school. On the weekends, his parents also borrow the bike to go to and from the market to buy food for Seyha and his two younger brothers at a much faster pace than before.

One of Seyha’s neighbors, Srei Mau, also received a new bike from Trailblazer. Srei Mau is 15 years old and in grade eight as well, and her favorite subjects are chemistry and biology. Similar to Seyha, Srei Mau wishes to become teacher but for biology, yet admits that she has a lot more to learn. Srei Mau loves that her new bike allows her to stay after school for longer to continue studying rather than have to dedicate time to walking home. She will also attend the same high school as Seyha next year, likewise surpassing the education level of both of her parents. Her parents use the bike on Sunday to go work on the farm, while she uses it also to go to the market for her 3-person family.

Seyha and Srei Mau thank Trailblazer profusely, smiling widely, for giving them the bicycles because the donation has helped them concentrate on their studies with more passion. Bikes save students’ valuable time so that they can study and learn more while following their dreams. Both students also ask if Trailblazer can donate more bicycles or school supplies in general to other poor students, Srei Mau relating poignantly, “please try to help us some more…because we need it.” For only $45, you can supply a bike to help a Cambodian student pursue his/her educational goals, thereby improving well-being and quality of life. More educated Cambodian youth means more power for development and social change, and a brighter future for Cambodia.

We went to both Seyha and Srei Mau’s houses to get photos with their families (that I had to really try to coax smiles out of) and bikes. In both cases, the father was not at home. Seyha actually did not have his bike at school in reality because his mom used it that day. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in these cases albeit slightly awkward (I mean, we were doing an interview about how he bikes to school). Nevertheless, his bike was at home which was great because using the same bike in their individual photos at school was honestly super obvious.

For the photos at Srei Mau’s house, I hid the TV that Srei Mau had in her house toward the front entrance within visibility of the camera. Contrary to popular belief, you can be in dire poverty and still have a television–but most people do not want to see or know this. “If they can afford a television, why do I need to donate a bike? Shouldn’t the latter be the top priority?” Well, it can actually be easier to access a 3G network in the jungle than it is a proper waste system in a town, for example. What’s more: who are you to tell a family how to spend its money? Just because a family cannot readily afford a bike, does not mean it should be deprived of any simple entertainment. Must a family live extremely basically / in borderline squalor if it cannot afford rudimentary items, but can afford a small toy for a child for the time being? I also made sure not to photograph the solar panel that a Japanese NGO installed on Seyha’s roof the day beforehand. The family also had a water filter from yet another NGO, furthering my burgeoning opinion that NGOs in Cambodia are, in a sense, enabling the government to continue their corrupt practices by doing a ministry’s job. That being said, would the government actually step up to the plate? Moreover: we cannot wait ten years for water, transport, education, etc. etc. etc.

What was most shocking about where Seyha and Srei Mau live is that the flooding is so bad in the rainy season that they must take a boat to cross the murky river that separated their neighborhood from the main village roadway (a bike is not going to help in that situation!). Right now, a very slippery and narrow bridge connects the land masses–a bridge that a little girl held my hand walking across because yours truly is terrified of heights even if I am 6 foot one. Houses are right up against the river, and I can only imagine the living conditions inside of them during the wet season, and what this does to water supply as well as sanitation practices. Sadly on the way to Lon Sey’s motorbike, the little girl was not there to hold my hand.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Yesterday late afternoon, I went to visit the Khmer Youth Association’s (KYA) office in Pouk District, about 40 minutes outside of Siem Reap city for a meeting with the Siem Reap Province director, Lun Bunthay. I was interested in meeting with KYA in order to get experience with an NGO that is locally founded and run, rather than having a Western director or staff as so many NGOs (including Trailblazer) in Siem Reap do.

I arrived, Lun greeted me, apologizing for how cold it was that day (it was 90 degrees), and offered me a small bottle of water which I graciously accepted even though I clearly had my own water. I had prepared about twelve questions beforehand, mostly about how youth can participate and engage in Cambodian political society, to get the most of the meeting and was very interested to hear what Lun had to say. I also really appreciated him for trying to understand my questions, rather than just smile and say something else as often happens here if someone does not understand your English.

As I expected, Lun told me how many Cambodian People’s Party members and community / commune councils often do not like KYA, but that this is changing. KYA fosters youth to think independently, not for any particular party. KYA also has strict transparency and anti-corruption education and policies. For example, KYA is trying to get hospitals to post their prices instead of relying on patients to bargain for their well-being. KYA also offers a forum to report corruption, although I am not sure what the success rate of this is.

One of the more difficult barriers for youth is that many Cambodians believe that politics and decision making are best left to the older generations; however, this is not fair seeing as these decisions affect the population at large. This part of the Cambodian, and Asian at large, cultural framework that dictates that respecting your elders is one of the most important aspects of society. KYA does not wish to “break” culture per say, but rather it wishes to educate youth to vote and take political action that is rightfully theirs to take. Educated youth can be the agents of social change.

Of course, this is all easier said than done. Through workshops, public outreach, and a network of peer educators (the latter also used for educating villages and towns about water and sanitation!), KYA is trying to garner youth support and awareness. One of the largest challenges is getting young women involved as not only are young women young, but also women (an obvious double whammy). KYA strives to target young women, and realizes how important it is to have gender equality in decision making. One of their future goals is to have more young women in the government in decision-making positions, and even sooner to organize a KYA Women’s Rights Day. In fact, UN Women–a representative of which who came to talk with the 0-credit Human Rights Seminar with Vasuki on Wednesday–supports many of KYA’s female initiatives, Lun said.

What I found super interesting is that ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), although allowing for great travel mobility between the member nations, will in 2015 allow for more worker mobility. This means that educated persons from Singapore or Malaysia (Lun also mentioned Korea and Japan, although these nations are not part of ASEAN I realized about an hour after our meeting so I am a tad confused and looking into it) can come to Cambodia and take upper level jobs because they have the means and education–something that many Cambodians, notably Khmer youth, do not have. This worries Lun because this policy could potentially further marginalize uneducated Khmer (or even somewhat educated) youth into migrant worker jobs in Thailand (a huge problem already–in fact one of KYA main outreach programs in the western part of Cambodia is educating the massive amount of youth that migrate to Thailand seasonally / for extended periods of time etc. about their rights. 7,800 youth, aged 16-30, go to Thailand annually from Pouk District alone, Lun said).

There are also some environmental initiatives KYA does that relate directly to water rights that I am studying with Trailblazer Foundation. As Lun said: “plastic…will be climate change.” I was once explained in Bali that a large problem with plastic is that it has replaced banana leaves as a tool to carry / contain items, etc. Banana leaves were thrown in a river when they had served their purpose. And now this happens with plastic bags. Khmer people love plastic bags as well as plastic bottles; however with the bottles, many poor children (and even older women I have seen) collect cans and bottles to earn 100Riel ($0.025) per three. Water and sanitation have everything to do with the environment. In fact, as I witnessed yesterday evening, a big rain can cause the sewage to overflow into people’s homes, the road, workplace, etc. Lun was explaining how people have yet to understand their impact on the environment (à la the banana leaf). KYA has a program that installs toilets and also has peer educators in these villages to help explain the toilets and promote their protection from misuse. This is vital as so many organizations install sanitation without properly explaining its function to recipients and without being fully cognizant of the cultural framework and sanitation effects. There are also initiatives to conserve water and grow crops while saving water at the same time.

KYA has a plethora of other initiatives, but I do not want to bore you, dear reader, to tears. I am excited how youth social change and participation can help instigate environmental change and help spread drinking water and sanitation rights around the country. KYA has the potential to hit the root of the problem of water / sanitation access in Cambodia with their good governance policies.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

All of the time I have spent sifting sand, sifting gravel, washing sand, and washing gravel has paid off! On Friday, I went to Lolei Village outside of Siem Reap to install eight water filters which–let me tell you, reader–was a very long and arduous day.

The village had no electricity, only one generator in one of the nicer houses. There was one dirt road that went through the village, houses lining either side, and a few small shops. Behind the houses were either more houses or gardens / farms / open land. Most of the villagers were at home to receive the filters, and from what I observed at least, about half of the children went to school.

We installed eight filters, which took a total of about six and a half hours including lunch, installation time, and driving time. The filter mold comes from a Canadian organization called CAWST (The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology) that creates a lot of filter molds, I am told, for NGOs all over developing countries. The filters are immensely heavy, as they are made out of concrete, and so are the bags of sand (I really never realized how heavy sand could be). The filters are relatively easy to install seeing as they are just plopped on the ground wherever the family wants them (and this means they can be near a toilet or sewage source, but because the filter does not draw on this water (necessarily) this is theoretically fine). We installed the filters either next to their well or next to their kitchen area.

Basically, we wheeled the filter on a dolly to where the family wanted it installed. The family pays 13,000Riel, or $3.25, for the filter that then goes to the village fund. The price in 2012 was $2.60, but due to inflation, I am told, the price increased. This place has to be level in order to function properly, and in a few cases we had to add sand or a pebble or two underneath the filter in order to ensure this. We then put some water into the filter, pour the large gravel into the bottom, and level it. I leveled the gravel as I can reach the bottom of the filter with my rather long arms and still not get my sleeve wet. Then, we pour in the small pebbles, level these again, and then the sand which two people need to pick up to dump in due to its immense weight. We level the sand carefully without packing it in, and also then clean the filter using water and a cap-full of bleach. Finally, we pour more water into the filter and place the blue perforated filter contraption on top of this sand and water (it fits nicely into the concrete filter). You pour water on top of the blue filter and then, after about two weeks of being installed, clean water comes out of the drinking end.

The two-week waiting period is for the biofilm to develop and mature in the sand. The biofilm is created in the sand to trap bacteria in the water (it will consume bacteria such as E.Coli), and is developed organically and biologically specific to that water source. A biofilm for pond water would be different from a biofilm for well water, for example. The biofilm traps about 40% of the bacteria, while 60% or so of the other objects / not-so-great minerals in water (if there is a lot of iron, for example) is physically trapped with the blue filter or does not make it through the sand at all. For example, pond water had a lot of silt that is physically blocked with the sand and/or blue filter. Biosand filters trap about mid 80s to high 90s % of the bacteria and objects found in water, with percentages varying due to maintenance and quality of the original water source. When the biofilm develops after about two weeks, clean water is good to go.

The cleaner the water is going into the filter, the cleaner the water is coming out. Therefore, if you use water from a stream that feces run into, the water that comes out of the filter will not be as clean as water coming from a well 30 meters or so from a toilet. With each filter Trailblazer installs, they also hand out and explain a blue booklet in Khmer with pictures to show how to maintain the filter, how to use the filter, and how to drink/use water responsibly and sustainably in general. The pictures show fenced in livestock so they do not poo in streams, and also enclosed toilet areas, for example.

By the end of the day sand was sticking to me and my shirt nearly transparent in the back. We arrived back in Siem Reap by four, and I took a well-needed shower.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Well, contrary to the popular belief held among many Cambodian villagers, I am not the tallest woman in the universe. In fact, the tallest woman ever was reported to have been eight foot four inches, while I am a mere six foot 1 inch. But, this is what everyone (so I am told, I have not learned the Khmer sentence “you are the tallest woman in the world” but am on lesson three with my tutor!) has been saying about me, wherever I go.

Although this week at Trailblazer I have mostly been working on filtering sand for the water filters or picking salad / weeding (and dealing with my uncooperative stomach), on Tuesday I (along with others) delivered 82 new cooking stoves to eight different villages (or rather, we went to one village where villagers from eight different villages gathered). The cooking stoves are meant to simulate what Cambodians normally use to cook, but instead of fill the enclosed cooking space with smoke, these new cook stoves make the indoor air quality much better (and contrary to popular belief, indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality). The stoves are also meant to reduce time spent cooking, allowing the villagers to pursue other projects and improve overall quality of life.

We arrived at a village Town Hall at about 9:30am, and the families from the eight villages selected to receive the stove also met us there. In order to be selected to receive the stove, each family had to fill out a baseline survey, asking questions such as “How long does it take for you to cook dinner?” or “How many people do you cook for?” The surveys will avoid yes/no questions unless it is about something directly observable (ex: “is there soap in your bathroom area?”) and not opinion (“do you think you cook for a long time?”). After the families who want the stoves fill out the survey, the village chief (of the eight villages, there was one female village chief which is quite rare–they are almost always male) decides who gets the stove. Trailblazer picks the villages, the village chief picks the villagers. Trailblazer works within the already existing systems as not to impose onto the villages; however, this can also create problems if the village chiefs are corrupt (as is often the case).

The Cambodian president of Trailblazer, Ratanak, showed the villagers how to use the stove briefly, and the stove itself came with picture instructions. Scott, one of the American founders of Trailblazer explained how it had taken two years to get the stoves shipped from the US with customs and everything. Some villagers had already paid the $1.50/6,000Riel fee (Riel and USD are basically interchangeable all over Cambodia) for the stoves, while with others we saw the transaction take place with the village chief taking and recording the money for bookkeeping. The money goes to a central village fund / savings account, as I described a bit in my last post.

Getting the stoves turned into a celebration of sorts. With each stove handed out, we got a photo of giving it to the villager handing it to them. One of them men receiving the stove remarked about its high quality, literally saying “Looks like quality” and was very excited and proud to have the stove–it was truly moving. Men, women, and children strapped the stove to their motorbikes or bicycles to go home, excited to use them.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

I arrived in Cambodia early early morning May 20th and was able to get to Trailblazer foundation by 9:30am. My home-stay unfortunately fell through, but I booked a guesthouse for three nights and will go on the hunt tomorrow to find a cheaper one with a monthly rate that is closer to Trailblazer. I have been taking motos or tuk-tuks to Trailblazer and unfortunately, this will begin to add up more than I would like (even though I love motorbikes with a passion).

When I arrived, I had a tour of the NGO grounds, and learned more about what they are doing. The three main areas of work that Trailblazer is involved in are agriculture (a recent addition), water for families (filters), and township water (wells). The Cambodian people pay a very small amount ($5) for the water well, and the money is collected by the town and creates a sort of town trust. People can borrow from the trust to buy chickens or to take their child to the doctor’s office, for example. The filters provide water for up to three families, and I have already witnessed that this water comes out very slowly so it cannot be used for commercial use (such as creating a fish pond). As for agriculture, Trailblazer is working on setting up local gardens in towns in order to jumpstart economic activity with the vegetables. At the moment, Trailblazer is test-driving arugula and other high end salad greens to sell to tourist restaurants in Siem Reap as that is where the most money is and the demand is highest. If all goes well, Trailblazer will set up gardens in the village communities to give extra sources of income. Trailblazer also attempted to grow and sell mushrooms to restaurants, but this did not work and right now, I am helping with the aftermath of this. Next week, I was told, I will be working on installing filters (and will also likely help a current intern inputting data about filters).

After the mushroom attempts failed, I have been opening each plastic bag that held the soil, comprised of lime, sawdust, and rice for the mushrooms, and emptying it into large bags, formerly used for fish, to be used for compost in the future. The mushrooms were grown in plastic bags molded in the shape of plastic bottles. My first day was brutally hot, while yesterday it had cooled down a bit after it rained last night–making this work much more enjoyable (because I went to bed at 6pm May 20, and accidentally screwed up my alarm and woke up 11pm, I missed this rainstorm although I heard the thunder was very loud–a testament to my heavy sleeping). By hot, I mean it feels like the sun is pressing against my shoulders, and as sweat drips off me (in waterfall proportions), my knees my buckle into the dirt ground and I will slowly melt. Although it is somewhat mundane work, I am still learning a lot about how things are run at the NGO and although it sounds corny: I am learning that not everything attempted works (which might seem obvious), and it is good to know that when things do not work, they don’t try and pretend they do but rather stop (what also might seem obvious but think about it: how often do people recognize their mistakes and backtrack just like that?). Mushrooms can work in Cambodia, so I have been told, they just need to have very specific conditions.

On a more academic and environmental note, rice farming in Cambodia overwhelmingly uses pesticides, while there is a new push to use organic pesticides (don’t be fooled: organic pesticides are not always better for the environment than synthetic, and in fact, synthetic pesticides can be better), according to my supervisor Rataunak. Fun fact of the day: the verb “to eat” in Khmer actually means “to eat rice.” This reminds me of the verb “to work” in Indonesian and how it literally means “to work in the rice field.” This further proves how rice is not only ingrained in the culture and nutrition of Southeast Asia, but also in linguistic structures.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Throughout my independent study, my knowledge of Cambodia has expanded leaps and bounds. Although I do believe that going to a country is the best way to learn, Cambodia does a great job at covering up the country’s realities with a facade of romantically verdant rice fields and sandstone temples. I am still in shock about my dis-knowledge (ignorance, but I like to think that I was not totally ignorant) of the country before this course. I have learned a lot more about the Khmer Rouge, French colonialism, and the current state of Cambodian political affairs today. I have looked at contemporary art from Cambodia and have realized how we, the West, impose this sort of image of what is supposed to be Cambodian art and Cambodia as a whole. The five+ films I have watched, two books I have read, museum exhibitions and talks I have attended, and more JSTOR articles than I even know have given me a mixed-media-filled insight.

In this post as well I was planning on describing my expectations for this summer, but I am not going to do this. One of the main teachings of Buddhism says that expectations are one of the greatest sources of suffering and can lead to unhappiness. Letting go to expectations makes you a freer person. I am going to be living in a rural village about 15 kilometers outside of Siem Reap for at least one month, but rather than form expectations, I am just going to go for it. Rather than wonder how I am going to shower or more pertinently, exactly what I want to get out of this summer, I am going to go with the flow. By creating an expectation, I might try to cater my experience to fulfill this expectation, rather than wait and see what happens. This is not to say that I will have no ambition, but rather I do not want a long list of objectives. I can say this: I hope to learn, I hope to do something meaningful, and I hope to make a connection to the place.

Carolyn Balk
Trailblazer Foundation
Siem Reap, Cambodia

As I began discussing in my first post, access to clean drinking water is an essential human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that human rights center on the “inherent dignity” of all men and women. Clean water access creates a pathway for more human rights due to greater well-being as well as allowing people to preserve their “inherent dignity,” an essential part of the UDHR. As United Nations Social and Economic Council (ECOSOC) succinctly states: “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity” (1).

Drinking water access is a vital human need for survival and “better standard of life” (UDHR). The “better standard of life” implies better health and wellbeing, in turn allowing for “social progress” (UDHR). The United Nations officially recognizes that all humans have the right to drinking water and sanitation and that these are “essential to the realization of all human rights” (UN). This is because the benefits of clean drinking water. including the prevention of water-borne illness and creation of stronger immune systems, in turn promotes the perpetuation of human rights and gives more agency to the Cambodian people. Sustainable water filters in homes and villages as well as piped water in certain areas allow Cambodians to obtain adequate housing and clean living standards (UDHR). Fundamentally, drinking water is crucial to human dignity, essential for the right of life, and critical element for a host of other human rights.

Water can also easily be viewed as only a biological need, in order to sustain life, rather than a human right. The short answer is that access to clean drinking water is both a need and a right. We need clean water to live, and we have the right to access it. Moreover, labeling clean drinking water access as a human right rather than a need elevates its status and urgency in the international political arena. Human rights, after all, tend to garner more attention than human needs, which do not have the same rhetorical power.

As Andrew Clapham, author of Human Rights: A Short Introduction, explains, it becomes difficult to define “need,” particularly when that definition may shift across countries. Clapham describes the “right to food” as signifying that the government is prepared for food shortages and can ensure access to food for all of its citizens (122). The right to food does not mean that the government must give free food to all of its citizens (Clapham 121). Guaranteeing food security is true of water security as well: the government should ensure that clean water is available to its citizens. It is a right to have access to a need. The government should take a keystone role in insuring water security in its country because the government will ideally always be there and be accountable, while private organizations can instead come and go. As I discussed in my previous post, privatized water is often more expensive than public water as well.

Many scholars and political analysts are critical of human rights rhetoric when framing any problem, saying that it is too “feathery,” or rather, idealistic and intangible in developing potential steps to lessen the problem. In “International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?” academic David Kennedy discusses his fear of creating a “fantasy government” in terms of problem solving and obtaining human rights (20). He argues that human rights discourse and rhetoric—often too narrow or too broad—are usually not grounded in concrete problem solving, necessary to obtain human rights, and often promise more than they can deliver (Kennedy 9, 12, 15). Nevertheless, access to clean drinking water is a vital human right, especially in terms of obtaining other human rights, and the human rights framework is vital in elevating the problem’s status to an international level.

Works Cited:
Clapham, Andrew. Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction. New York, New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2007. Print.

Kennedy, Kennedy. “International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?” European Human Rights Law Review. 3 (2001): 1-23. Print.

United Nations Economic and Social Council. Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. General Comment No. 15. Nov. 2002. Retrieved from http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/a5458d1d1bbd713fc1256cc400389e94/$FILE/G0340229.pdf. Web.