Let there be light. Solar is operational.
THANKS, A MILLION!
'LET THERE BE LIGHT'
And it’s free solar light for 3+ years now
FISH AND FARM PRODUCE
RICE FOR UNEMPLOYED FAMILIES
Wonderful to see Cambodians becoming skilled in solar technologies.
Solar was difficult to source when we first put it through ODA schools.
ODA CENTRAL SOLAR BATTERIES
Akun Tom Tom (Thank You Big Big)
Huge thanks to everyone for your wonderful contributions. Batteries are installed and making life much easier now without having to use the expensive online electricity.
Students are now able to spend their usual time back on the computers and show videos linked to their lessons, etc etc etc. Also not having to be so tight with activities after dark is great for them in lockdown. Thanks to a former ODA student who now runs a Solar Battery business, these new improved models are more efficient, cheaper and also a very good discount made them far cheaper than our usual supplier. Great to have former students putting back into ODA to assist newer students.
FISH AND HYDROPONIC FARM UPDATE.
Fresh food is supplied from the ODA farm, so they are very lucky youngsters. Of course with some 40 people, it isn’t possible to grow everything, but with the fish, they eat fresh, salt it for later, or make their own fish sauce giving them very healthy nourishment daily. With chemical wash off in the river systems now, Leng likes to provide as much organic food as possible to keep the students healthy. Fertilizer for the hydroponics is provided from the fish water runoff.
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They have always followed traditional Khmer economic food planning and preparation making their own soy milk etc.
A weekly chores roster shares the duties and older kids teach the younger ones.
These little kids often have 3 serves of rice. Such a change from their lives before.
Leng and his wife have always included the students in the growing and preparation of food and the management of household tasks, life skills as they would learn in a family. This is to ensure when it comes time to leave ODA after graduation and on employment, they are fully self-reliant.
So many pics of grateful people I could fill an album.
The Village Chiefs are so happy to have help for many families.
RICE FOR UNEMPLOYED FAMILIES
Leng has been working with an Australian lady to distribute rice to families who live around the Angkor Temples. These families live in simple palm thatch houses with no room to grow any food. They have had income from tourist-related products and services in the past to provide for their needs.
Leng has been working with local Village Chiefs to identify the neediest and he distributes rice to the families for this wonderfully kind lady. With lockdown restriction on movement around villages and the fear of contracting Covid, this distribution has had its issues and taken longer than Leng would have liked.
Along the way Leng came across a family with two sick children so was also able to give them the money to take their kids to the nearest hospital. Hospital is a very fancy name, as it is very simply set up under a stilt house, see pics below. There are no beds, just plastic chairs or dirt ground to sit on, open to the weather with life-saving drips hung up on the house stilts. The parents were so very grateful to have treatment for their very little ones.
Leng feels very fortunate to be in a position to assist this wonderfully kind lady to help his people. He still clearly remembers how, in Khmer Rough times, as a young boy, what it was like to have no food and a growling tummy!
Life-saving drips for fevers Family provides care. Lucky to have medicines
CLICK TO DONATE – HELP ODA MAKE A DIFFERENCE Forgo even just one cup of coffee a week eg $2.50 = a week of education for students. Due to Covid, there is currently over 90% poverty rate in the subsistence farming villages surrounding our ODA schools, many children miss at least one meal a day, and there’s no money for school essentials.
Even small donations assist ODA to survive these challenging times and ensure we can continue to help these youngsters to improved futures.