សួស្តី (Hello)
Meet Satya and Samphors. Satya is Water.org’s Senior Program Manager in Cambodia and Samphors represents Chamroeun Microfinance Institution, one of Water.org’s partners in the region.
Meet our team
Join some of our team and partners as we take you on a journey to meet some of the families in Cambodia who now have lasting access to safe water or sanitation.
As natives to Cambodia, Satya and Samphors understand the complexities of the water crisis here. The challenges faced by millions of people in Cambodia are why they do what they do today.
Out of its population of 16 million people, 12 million people lack access to safely managed water, and 3.8 million people lack access to safely managed sanitation.
Mao's family now has safe water and improved health
North of Phnom Penh, on the west side of the Mekong River is the home of Mao. From her stilted home with a blue wooden door, Mao recalls for us the days she and her children had to collect water from a nearby lake.
Thanks to Water.org’s partnership with Mao’s local bank, where Samphors helped establish lending for water and sanitation as a priority for the business, Mao’s family got affordable access to the safe water they need. Now Mao can do more farming for income and her daughter has the time and health to go to school.
Sa's home: where safe water and education are now possible
As we head across the Mekong River, and a few miles southeast to Kampong Chamlong, we meet Sa. Sa lives in a village similar to Mao, full of colorful flowering trees and humble homes made mostly of concrete and steel roofing. And here, many children like Mao’s daughter, now have access to the safe water needed for healthy days at school.
From her home, Sa, a retired teacher, continues to pursue her passion for education by teaching local children in her village. Each day a handful of kids walk to her house where Sa teaches them at child-sized tables and chairs covered with books, pencils, maps, and learning aids.
Until recently Sa was unable to offer this affordable school program to her community. Without safe water at home, Sa’s focus could not be on teaching but rather, on collecting water from the river for her children and grandchildren. Things changed thanks to the vision of a man in Sa’s community and your support.
Hom is changing lives in his own community
Meet Hom Nguon, the owner of Kampong Chamlong Water Supply (KCWS). It is through Water.org’s partnership with Hom’s utility company that Sa finally got a water connection to her home, as did many of the families in her village. Hom found the water crisis to be one of his country’s most critical issues to address. He saw his neighbors, women like Sa – educated, hardworking, and raising families without access to the water they needed to survive and thrive. Hom wanted to do something about it.
Hom's utility company is reaching people in need
Hom worked to set up a water utility company that could reach nearby homes through a piped network flowing with safe water. After years of learning and hard work, Hom established Kampong Chamlong Water Supply (KCWS). Water.org and other supporting organizations helped improve and expand Hom's service so today KCWS serves more than 12,000 households across 7 communities in rural Cambodia, including Sa’s community.
As we say goodbye to Sa and Hom’s community, we travel further east to Tral Village where we’re excited to introduce you to more families who now experience the health and hope safe water brings.
Meet Thai and Hoeun in Tral Village
Here in Tral Village, the results of having safe water at home are undeniably life-changing for families like Thai and Houen’s families. These two dads know that the health and safety of their families starts with access to safe water.
With small loans from another partner of Water.org in Cambodia, Phillip Bank, Thai and Hoeun’s families now have lasting, affordable access to safe water at home.
Thai's young family now has access to safe water at home
Thai worked with Ouch Vichet, his local loan manager from Phillip Bank to make safe water a reality for his family. However, prior to working with Ouch, Thai walked to a river to collect the water his family needed. He did it to protect his pregnant wife's health and their nine-year-old Maya’s safety. Unfortunately, Thai could not control the quality of the water he brought home. Humbly and regretfully Thai explained, “The water wasn’t hygienic, and it made us sick.”
Sit down with Thai, to learn about how his family’s lives are now changed since getting affordable, lasting access to safe water at home.
Safe water for Hoeun's family and soda for his customers
Now let’s take a short walk from Thai’s house, up a peaceful dirt road lined with palm and banana trees, to Hoeun’s house. Hoeun is a soda salesman and his wife runs a snack store that can be seen on the road in front of their home. For years, Hoeun spent his days selling drinks, yet the only drink he could give his little girls each evening was water he or Hai collected from the Tonle Touch River. And that water often made the family sick.
Join us at Hoeun’s home for a conversation on the porch about the immediate difference a small, affordable loan made for his family’s health and safety.
Thank you for helping change lives in Cambodia
From Tral village, we head west, back to Phnom Penh. Our journey ends with a hopeful outlook from above the developing urban scape and beyond to the regions where affordable access to household safe water and sanitation solutions is changing lives.
Thank you for traveling with us and thank you for supporting the work of Water.org in Cambodia and around the world.