Sharing Foundation: About Communal Vegetable Growing

Roteang Farming Project
Pure Water comes to 45 TSF Farm Families (as of January, 2005)

Nothing is as essential to life as having safe drinking water. It is estimated that thousands of people, especially infants and young children, die every year in Cambodia from diarrhea and dehydration secondary to contaminated water. Eighty percent of deaths from disease in Cambodia are attributed to water related problems and one child in ten dies before his/her first birthday; UNICEF published in October that 63,000 children under five years of age died in Cambodia in 2003.

Obviously TSF cannot take on the whole problem, but we have focused in the last few years on doing what we can for the people around Roteang Village. An added problem in our area of Cambodia, on top of bacterial, parasitic and pesticide/chemical contamination of water, is that the village lies in the part of Cambodia where drilled wells are contaminated with arsenic. This is a naturally occurring problem due to geological substratum, quite recently discovered, of all drilled wells within 2 km either side of the Mekong River. Ingestion of arsenic is similar to cigarette smoking in that the effects [at low dose] are not immediate, but long time exposure can often lead to malignancy of liver and kidneys, and central nervous system destruction, in addition to other effects.

Exposing children to arsenic water through their childhoods and adolescence is like handing them cigarettes early in childhood. The government wells in our area are all drilled wells, as are many private wells; TSF drilled 3 wells in the area in 1999, before it was clear the water was not safe for drinking. All have long since been painted red- the universal sign for don’t drink or cook with this water- and we have been moving forward as fast as possible to provide safe water. [At the Orphanage, we have always ONLY used tested bottled water for cooking and drinking, so this is not an issue]

Last year we replaced the government drilled well at the Roteang village school with a very large rainwater collection system, utilizing the tiled roof and gutters of the biggest school building. We have been patiently waiting in line [behind UNICEF] for nearly a year to move ahead to provide all our Farm families who have worked with us for over two years [and most for four years] with individual rainwater collection systems for each house. In January we were finally able to do this: 46 “earth tanks” have now been installed to collect rainwater, protect it from mosquito access, and provide clean drinking/ cooking water for the people. The company we have worked with is RDIC: view their rainwater collection section at www.RDIC.org if interested in the technical details.

We are very proud to have this major effort in place in time for the rainy season this year to fill the tanks, each expected to provide enough water for families of six until the next rainy season. A good deal of education still has to go on, to make sure water is taken off into clean vessels, and that the water is not used for clothes or body washing. [We still have the “red wells” in place for that.] This project, which included replacing thatch roofs in some cases, as one must have a metal roof to collect rain, was paid for in entirety by a donation to TSF by the Ruettgers Family Foundation, long time supporters of the TSF Farm project.

Next? We would like to replace drinking water systems at the schools in as many villages in our general area as possible. There are many nearby schools with arsenic contaminated wells. A giant school sized system, such as was donated in honor of Tim Hult [Carlisle, Mass] on his Birthday last year for Roteang Village school costs $2000.

TSF plans to go ahead with one system soon, with a Rotary [Portsmouth, N.H.] donation plus general funds. We would welcome anyone who wants to help with this, or perhaps even honor someone else with a School water system, that can protect hundreds of children from many contaminants, including Arsenic.