In
this post we look at two of the people helped by JWOC’s Community Liaison and Assistance
Project. This project was started last year in response to the extended flooding that
hit Cambodia and other parts of Southeast Asia. Our activities were initially
relief work but as the water went away we started to work more with recovery
efforts such as repairing
roads. Through our ongoing Liaison work, matching people in need with services
and facilities offered by other NGOs, we are able to help strengthen communities’
ability to cope with emergencies by improving their food supplies and economic situation.
We can’t prevent emergencies but we can help to make families less vulnerable.
Noeurn
lives in Antangkun, a small village 30 kilometeres ( 18 miles) from Siem Reap.
Like most people in Cambodia she is a rice farmer, working alongside her
husband. Noeurn has tried growing vegetables at home in the past using techniques
learnt from her parents but often the results weren’t good and she felt her
efforts were not rewarded.
Since
joining JWOC’s Home Vegetable Garden activities Noeurn’s success with vegetable
production has increased greatly. She said “I received technical skills
training and materials assistance from the project and now I am skillful in
vegetable growing”. Using the materials and knowledge provided by JWOC Noeurn is
able to grow enough vegetables to both enhance her family’s diet and have
surplus to sell at the market.
JWOC’s
Home Vegetable Garden activities involve practical training sessions on all
aspects of vegetable production. The participative sessions are run by a local expert
who has long experience in training villagers about modifications to traditional
farming techniques that make a real difference to production.
To
see pictures from one of the training sessions please take a look here.
A
Chance at a New Livelihood
Touch
is 20 years old and from Peam village a rural village in Siem Reap Province. She
is from a rice farming family but was keen to develop her vocational skills so
she could start a new job that would earn her more money. Our Liaison team
worked with Touch to find out more about she wanted to learn and were able to enroll
her in a free sewing course.
Touch
is very happy with the new course and all she is learning and she shows real commitment
to making a change for herself. She told the team “Sewing skills are useful for
me to run my own shop in my home-village to make money for supporting myself
and family. Even though the training place is very far from my home-village, I
don’t mind. I learnt a lot from this course- not only sewing skill also
business concepts from trainer.”
The
Liaison team continues to match many people with services including training courses, language classes and medical assistance.
