hfh cambodia february 2012 e-newsletter

HFH Cambodia carried out its week-long first phase of a 5-year Strategic Planning in Siem Reap on 23 to 27 January.

The workshop created a buzz amongst all HFHC staff from all units, aside from being able to contribute to the planning process, the workshop also provided the perfect avenue for all colleagues to personally connect and strengthen their ties towards one another.

Program units convened for the SWOT analy-sis on the first day. Various activities were conducted in the following days, including the presentation of the Strategy Planning Frame-work where the interdependence of strategies and timing between the national offices, area offices and the head office were highlighted. To set the direction of the team, the Macro-socioeconomic Environment of Cambodia was presented, and skits and creative presen-tations made the days more dynamic and fun.

The Business Marketplace held on the third was yet again another creative way for partici-pants to present findings from the SWOT. A group work was again conducted this time to allow the staff to express their greatest dreams, hopes and visions for Habitat for Humanity in Cambodia. A stimulating capacity build-ing exercise was conducted for the Strategic Planning Task Force on the final day where

the team was prepped for further work on the next stages of the planning process.

HFHC staff were indeed appreciative for the opportunity to part-take and be consulted about the next major steps that HFHC will take in serving the many sheltering needs of families in Cambodia. When asked about his experience, Thoeun Sina said “Once the strat-egies are finalized, I will be able to say that I contributed to it!” On the last day of the work-shop, Bernadette Bolo-Duthy, Country Direc-tor of HFH Cambodia, presented the review of the setting sun that referred to our work in the last five years. She also mentioned that the planning and review cycle is like the sunrise-sunset - we review and learn from what we have done.

After a very successful planning phase, ev-eryone also made time to relax and enjoy the temples of Angkor.

The recent Strategic Planning is the key to helping us collectively and cooperatively gain control of the future of HFHC and to ensure that we are able to carry out our vision “A Country Where Everyone has a Decent Place to Live” unwaveringly, and just like the setting of the sun, the sun will again rise as we under-take stronger plans for the next five years.

Issue 37 | 1 | Februar y 2012

Listing down main issues collectively

On 3 January, HFH Cambodia’s (SCSGPDSS)project facilitated the public meeting on So-cial Land Concession (SLC) Application an-nouncement in Prek Preah Sdach District, Battambang.

The objective of the meeting was to conduct public announcement to SLC land recipients at the project site about opening the oppor-tunity for them to apply for SLC. Participat-ing in the meeting were H.E Oeun Sokhon, Municipality Governor, Deputy Provincial Governor, local authorities, armed forces leaders, NGO partners, and families living within the target area.

Towards the end of the meeting, H.E Oeun Sokhon encouraged families to participate in the project and make their application as an excellent starting point of their new lives as future recipients of secure land titles. The governor urged community people to follow proper application steps prepared and facili-tated by HFH Cambodia to ensure secure ac-quisition of land.

Social Land ConcessionApplication Announcement

in Battambang

HFHC Moving Forward to the Next 5 Years

Morning devotion

More than 250 villagers joined the public meeting

Have we made a difference? We continue to ask ourselves this question especially when it comes to our projects. January 30 marked the beginning of a week-long ef-fort of verifying, assessing and pondering on the results of the work we have done in our first Disaster Response project.

The Project Monitoring and Evaluation began with an orientation to 3 indepen-dent researchers for the Household Sur-vey. The project staff and implementing partner - represented by Lisa Stead of HFH Great Britain, participated in Key Informant interviews and visits, Focus Group Discussions and Field observation which were conducted for 3 days.

During the project M&E, the team has gathered a number of interesting facts proving how the first DR project was able to impinge on people’s lives. Affected families’ housing support needs were met through the provision of useful shelter repair materials and their hygiene habits were positively influenced by introducing them to the habitual use of simple hygiene materials. The team was also able to rec-ognize some aspects that can further be improved in the next DR effort.

True to its goal of strengthening HFHC’s DR capacity and to build on the M&E findings, the project team engaged them-

selves in a Reflection Workshop on Feb-ruary 3 where experiences were shared, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the project were collectively pondered on and recommendations were drawn out for the succeeding project.

HFH Cambodia project team was joined and supported by Wayne Bacale, M&E

Making a Difference through Disaster Response

Manager and James Samuel, DR Manager for Asia Pacific.

Over-all, for another of HFHC’s first, we can say yes, we have made a difference.


Highlights

Reviewing results of the SWOT at Reflection WorkshopHFH plastic bucket is also used to keep the rice safe

As the second year of EHOPHHS project comes to its mid-point of implementation, HFH Cambodia under the guidance of Lisa Stead of HFH Great Britain and Wayne Bacale of HFH Asia Pacific, conducted a mid-term evaluation of EHOPHHS project which is designed to provide secure land and safe housing for HIV/AIDS affected and infected families and orphans and other vulnerable children in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Prey Veng.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to assess the relevance of project interven-tion to the needs of the beneficiaries, to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of project implementation, to measure initial improvements and significant changes as an effect of project interventions to the ben-eficiaries, and to document good practices and lessons with regards to project start-up, partnership building and implementation.

More than 100 families and partners partic-ipated in various evaluation approaches in-cluding household interviews, focus group discussions, and partner interviews to evaluate the working partnership and draw our recommendations for the project’s con-tinued improvement. The mid-term evalua-tion will also provide information to Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF), the generous

EHOPHHS Mid-term Project Evaluation

M&E team and villagers in a Focus Group Discussion

Focus group discussion during the project evaluation

Global Village Wrap Up

January 16 to 24: A core brick house was built and another half completed in Trapaing Anhchanh community, Phnom Penh by 11 Global Village volunteers from Australia. Af-ter a farewell lunch joined by home owners and skilled workers, the team celebrated the house dedication along with other villagers in the community and the home partners.

January 27 to February 05: A 15-member Global Village volunteer team from United States built two houses - one brick house and one wooden house with HFH Cambodia in Andong and Trapaing Anhchanh Commu-nities, Phnom Penh. Aside from their build-ing work, the team also took the opportunity to visit the school and experience the Khmer culture by taking a ‘Cyclo’ tour around Phnom Penh city.

February 07 to 18: To support HFH Cam-bodia’s work in its new target area, a Global Village volunteer team formed a group of 10 to initiate building work for the first time in Thnol Torteng District, Kompong Speu province. After a hard day’s work, a group of students and teachers from Wabitat High School from Japan was able to build and complete a core brick house for the home owners. On the dedication, the team, home owners, and skilled workers, shared about their unforgettable experiences, the lessons they learnt from each other during the week and expressed appreciation towards one an-other. They also delighted each other with a program of songs and traditional dancing.

Filling the foundation

Pound, pound! To strengthen the

foundation

Stone filling session

Australian team handing the key to

the new home!

“I’m very happy to be here and help

Cambodian people. Even if we are not talking

the same language, we are still able to help

and we are able to complete our build work

successfully.”

Hayley O. Thomas

Global Village Volunteer from Saudi Arabia

GLOBAL VILLAGE TEAMS

Viva VolunteersViva Volunteers

Visiting students at the primary school Helping save Mother Earth


Pass it on... Perfecting brick laying

The US Team at the Independent Monument on their city cyclo tour

I can handle it “I am the gate keeper!” It’s a piece of cake

Close-Up

How many times you have been volun-teering with Habitat? This is my first Habitat trip, and I really enjoy this build work in Cambodia in the midst of the re-ally hot weather.

Tell us about your building experience. The build is great, and we learned a lot from working with the team.We also had a chance getting to know families, villagers, and skilled workers. Plus they all are very friendly and welcoming.

What do you think about Cambodia? Cambodia is a very beautiful country and I love it here because people are very nice, warm and always smiling, they are warm and always smiling.

How many times you have been volun-teering with Habitat? This is my first time in Cambodia and volunteering with Habitat.

Tell us about your building experience. I am privileged with this wonderful experience. The students did a pretty good job and they worked very hard despite being tired. I can see that they are happy while they are working and excited that they can communicate with the local people. It is good that we can give back to people in the community.

Any plans to volunteer again soon? I would like to return and volunteer withHabitat again next year around February.

How many times you have been volun-teering with Habitat? This is the second time for me to join with Habitat.

What inspires you to volunteer with Habitat? Being able take-part in NGO work is my dream; hence I involve myself with lots of NGO to gain more experience. This experience allowed me to affirm the importance of a proper house in one’s life.

What do you think about the construc-tion work? The construction work is a little hard be-cause it’s very hot, but we really enjoy the work very much. Skilled workers and home owners are very friendly and nice, we had enough break time daily and the food was delicious!

P E T E r B O N N E Y L I z V A L L E j O Y U k I T A N I q U C H I


February 09 to 15: 15-member Global Village volunteers including students and teachers from Dhahran High School, Saudi Arabia, joined together with Habitat Cambodia to complete foundations and walls for two brick houses in Vimean Trung Community, Phnom Penh. Coleman Thomas shared dur-ing the house dedication, “the whole team really loves Cambodia! We tried new food, made new friends and we are all humbled that we can come here to help build houses for families in need and we hope they will live happily in their new homes.”

If you would like to make a difference and volunteer with Habitat for Human-ity Cambodia as a Global Village volunteer, visit this site for more information:

http://www.habitat.org/gv/

Celebrating their new home!

Volunteers’ Voice

Collect...collect...

A special Valentine’s day with the home partners Boys posing at the farewell party

Greener Community Center


Khmer Harvest Build

On our way to the farm, we were greeted by some home partners from the Holistic Hope Community who were busy plowing the field. They were up and about preparing to plant new seeds, others were feeding the fish and looking after the 1,800 chickens in the big shed. More and more work are keeping our home partners busy at the farm. With the summer approaching, the farm people are also busy ensuring that the irrigation sys-tem is kept in good shape.

Kids were at play at the community center in one weekend field visit to Oudong of our partner volunteer, Eva Lloyd of Collaborative Studio. The sight brought her so much joy as the kids ran around its green surroundings. The plants our volunteers transplanted in November have grown; some are flowering bringing color to the place and some mango trees are starting to bear fruits!

It is encouraging to know that the commu-nity people have given their share in main-taining the community center that was built with care .

Besides being used as a play area, the com-munity center, which was built by US GV teams and further decorated and refined by the KHB volunteers will also soon host English teaching classes where children and those who wish to learn English will gather to study the language after work and school.

What’s more at the Farm?

Mr. Ly Senlim, Farm Manager at Oudong Project from International Children Care Australia shared, “work in the farm is in good progress. We are increasing the num-ber of our products; we have expanded the planting area for our crops and vegetables. I can see how the community people have improved in handling their farm work more independently.”

Corn grows well with the newly set up water system 1,800 chicken are being raised in the new big shed More and more vegetables

Prepping for the next planting session


Special Feature

Mr. Chen Phon and his wife and his vegetable garden

A Story of Hope

Mr. Chen Phon is a 47 year-old farmer who lives in Kortrakeut village in Angkor Chum district with his wife Som Pohn, 53 and 15-year old daughter who goes to a local high school. The family raises poultry and vegetables at a garden behind their house and sells the crops to their neighbors. Mr. Pohn lost his right leg to a landmine blast during the war decades ago, and pieces of the exploded landmine shrapnel still lodged in his eyes. His right eye became blind and his left eye could barely see .

The family used to walk 1 kilometer to fetch water from an uncovered hand dug well. The water was impure and contaminated as it carried various diseases. Animals also drunk water from the same well, and pesticides were being used on the fields nearby.

Mr. Pohn and his neighbors then decided to dig a communal well in their village. Soon after they finished digging a 6-meter deep hand dug well, other community members started to collect water from the new well; especially during the dry season when most of unimproved wells were dried up. Mr. Pohn’s well was one of the only three wells that had water throughout the year. Nonetheless, due to the heavy usage, the well started to cave-in and could not draw anymore water.

In 2008, HFHC project staff found the caved well Mr. Pohn and his neighbors built and decided to talk with Mr. Pohn to inquire about the well usage. After the staff consulted with Mr. Pohn and informed him about HFHC’s initiative of assisting communities in constructing water wells, the Pohn family and the community members of Kortrakeut Village agreed to supply labor to build a new cement well. Habitat provided the construction materials and technical knowledge along with coordinating a Global Village team from Singapore. May of the same year, the construction of a secure and improved well was completed. The well was again used by other community members and this time, the water supply was more secure and the quality of the water has evidently improved as less illnesses were reported among those who drunk from it.

Mr. Pohn then decided to build 3 water tanks in line to draw water into his garden. The access to such a secure water source opened up a new possibility for the family. They started to expand the garden to grow more vegetables throughout the year and sell the crops to their neighbors.

What’s inspiring about his story is that not only did he build all 3 tanks by himself in 2 weeks; he only had one leg and was barely able to see at the time of the construction. With the improved well and 3 tanks, his family increased harvest of vegetable crops all year around in his beautiful garden and is able to sustain their livelihood.

Sophon carefully appreciating the water from his well


09 February – 10 MarchPaul and Aileen Munn Visit HFH Cambo-dia Projects

20 – 24 FebruaryFamily Financial Management Training in Prey Veng and Phnom Penh

24 February – 06 MarchGlobal Village Team from japan in Siem reap

27 February – 08 MarchGlobal Village Team from japan in Siem reap

6 MarchEHOPHHS Focus Group Discussion in kandal and Phnom Penh

10 – 18 MarchGlobal Village team from Singapore in Takeo

26 – 30 MarchHands and Hearts Build in Phnom Penh

Special Feature

Upcoming Events

Please join HFH Cambodia in congratu-lating Heng Piseth on his promotion to Fi-nance Officer for the National Office.

Please contact Piseth at [email protected]

Welcome to Sayaka Yabuki who joins our Siem Reap Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion project as WatSan Project intern. Sayaka is taking up a Masters Degree in So-cial Work in Boston University

Please contact Sayaka at [email protected]

Congratulations and New Faces

The condition of Mr. Pohn’s his eyes worsened over the years and he became blind, but this did not stop him from working on his garden.

HFH Cambodia collaborated with Takeo Eye Clinic run by Daughters of Charity and Caritas International - an institution that supports landmine victims who were blinded or affected by the landmine explosions, and accompanied him to Takeo to receive free treatment and medication. A week later, HFHC staff visited Mr. Pohn and his wife to see how he was doing after the surgery.

Mr. Pohn now gained 50% of his vision on his left eye and 15% on the right eye. He still experiences some pain although he reported that it seems to be manageable. His face brightened up as he described about the moment he took the gauze off from his eyes for the first time after the surgery. He was in shock with the joy of being able to see again. His wife, Som Pohn was also happy for her husband to be able to see the world again, and more importantly, he now can see her face. She told us that the joy and excitement is in-comparable to anything, and their daughter no longer has to worry about discontinuing her education in order to help her father out.

Mr. Phon is now able to see how his vegetables look like, “it is so pleasant to be able to see what I grow without bending down and putting my face close to them. I can just see them fine,” he said. He sees a bright future for him and his family. “Now that he got his vision back, we can work harder and grow more crops,” his wife’s eagerness put a big smile on his face as he cheerfully told us about his plan to harvest more vegetables. With years of his experience in agriculture and livelihood training from several NGOs, he is confident of his knowledge in farming and working on his garden.

HFHC has been inspired by Mr. Pohn’s strength and innovative thinking to expand his garden by building water tanks. Our job is not only to construct houses and wells but also to build capacity and hopes among our beneficiaries so that they can invest in their skills and resources they have to improve their lives. Mr. Pohn’s hard work and dedication has touched us and showed us what it means to build hopes.

Join HFH Cambodia’s Social Media Network! Become a Fan or join our Cause on Facebook http://www.causes.com/causes/260473-habitat-for-humanity-cambodia

Follow Habitat Cambodia Tweets http://twitter.com/#!/HabitatCambodiaJoin our Group on Angkorone http://www.angkorone.com/groups.aspx?grp_link=HabitatforHumanityCambodia

Visit our website http://www.habitatcambodia.orgHFH Cambodia address: #35Bis, St. 478, Phsar Duem Tkov Commune, Chamkar Mon District, Phnom Penh City, P.O Box: 2452 Phnom Penh 3

Tel/Fax: (855) 23 997 840E-mail: [email protected]

Or Khun!

Habitat for Humanity AUSTrALIA

Habitat for Humanity GrEAT BrITAIN

Habitat for Humanity NEW zEALAND

Habitat for Humanity CANADA

SAN GABrIEL VALLEY Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity MALAYSIA

UNIVErSITY OF PITTSBUrG Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity of ST VrAIN VALLEY

WESTMINSTEr COLLEGE Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity GErMANY

HONOLULU Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity SEATTLE / SOUTH kING COUNTY

CENTrAL DELAWArE Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity ANCHOrAGE

SAN DIEGO Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity International - USA Global Village Volunteers

Habitat for Humanity CHINA (Hong kong)

Habitat for Humanity Cambodia says thank you to our corporate and international partners and our affiliate tithe donors.

Together, we will continue improving lives and building communities in Cambodia.

The Charitable Foundation, Elton john AIDS Foundation,

International Children’s Care Australia, World Bank,

japan Social Development Fund, Asian Development Bank,

Paul and Aileen Munn and Activate Church

Pannasastra University of Cambodia, Norton

University, Build Bright University, royal University

School of Social Work, Logos International

School, Northbridge International School,

University of Cambodia, Collaborative Studio

U N I V E R S I T I E S A N D S C H O O L P A R N T E R S :

A F F I L I A T E D O N O R S :

I N T E R N A T I O N A L P A R T N E R S :

C O R P O R A T E P A R T N E R S : ANz royal Bank, khmer Solar, Davies Paints Philippines, Hotel

Cambodiana

Habitat for Humanity GrEATEr LOS ANGELES

Habitat for Humanity GrEATEr LOWELL

Habitat for Humanity GrEATEr BOSTON

Habitat for Humanity EAGLE & LAkE COUNTIES

Habitat for Humanity INLAND VALLEY

Habitat for Humanity DESErT FOOTHILLS

Habitat for Humanity NOrTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY

Habitat for Humanity DOUGLAS COUNTY

Habitat for Humanity METrO DENVEr

Habitat for Humanity METrO WEST / GrEATEr WOrCESTEr

Habitat for Humanity WEST HAWAII

Habitat for Humanity OAkLAND COUNTY, MI

WEST PASCO Habitat for Humanity

ST. jOSEPH Habitat for Humanity, MO

Habitat for Humanity GrEATEr BIrMINGHAM

Habitat for Humanity GUAM

Daimler Financial Services, GErMANY

hfh cambodia february 2012 e-newsletter

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