Update from Community Liaison and Assistance- Road Repairs

In this post Project Manager Va talks about the impact of the road repair activity that took place earlier this year. The funding from this important food for work scheme came from those who responded to our emergency appeal at the end of 2011. To read the background to the activity click here. 






Road Use and Impact Report

Lberk and Roharl villages are located in Duon Keo commune, Pouk District, Siem Reap province. Owing to the flooding in late 2011, the road connecting Lberk and Roharl villages was broken. To meet with the needs of the community, Community Liaison and Assistance Project discussed with community people to provide assistance in road rebuilding, for purpose of providing food for villagers and a good road for assess. 

The road repairs were completely finished in February 2012, and it has been used for many different activities by villagers. On March 30th, 2012, Community Liaison and Assistance Team spent a full day to conduct observation and interviewing with some different people using the road.
In total we observed 354 people using the road, mostly using bicycle or motorbike, showing it is well used. To get information on the difference made by the road repair we also interviewed people using the road. 

From the answers to the interviews we know the most common uses of the road were- going to school, going to the market ( to buy and sell) and going into Siem Reap town to work as a laborer on construction site. All of these activities are important for people's economic situation. Other than these common uses we also found people travelling to the the health clinic, visiting family and going to work in another area. Everyone interviewed agreed that with the road rebuilt recently it helped and supported their travelling to their destinations quicker and felt safer on the smooth road. Below are some quotes from our interviews. 

Mr. Tem Samarn, student said “I go to school every day by my bike with the road repaired, I can use my bike somewhat quicker and I feel comfortable and I can arrive school faster not late for school any more. Moreover, I would like to ask organization about helping more with tree planting on each side of the road because they will provide shade along the road and trees can help protect road for long time. Thank a lot for your help and support to rebuild this road,”

Construction worker, Mr. Yeourm Youn, said “Everyday, I use this road with my bike for going to work since this road has been totally repaired.  I go to work quicker, I feel very happy and comfortable for making it easy to use my bike. Now, I can use my bike on this road fast as I want and I feel safety because it is smooth. Before I travelled to work on my bike I had felt tired and hard because I use more energy for getting the place on time, but now the road looks good I can use my bike on it very happily."

Meouy Check (above), is a grocery seller in Lberk village. She said, “I use my bicycle on this road for going to Pouk Market to buy grocery products for selling in my village, I have used this road for many years, before it was a bit hard to make travelling with my bike, but now, I could travel quicker to reach the place. I feel safe and easy to use my bike on this road. I am very happy to get this road repaired by JWOC organization. Thanks to organization for assisting and helping rebuild this road after flooding."

We will return to the road once the rainy season starts to assess if any further work is needed to maintain the road in its good condition. 

Thank you to everyone who donated to JWOC's relief and recovery work! 

To read more about our work during the flooding take a look here.