Clean Water for Cambodia
By Nathan Kou, Fall 2022 Writing Finalist
Imagine this, you find yourself waking up to loud thuds of heavy rain hitting the tin roof of your 8 x 8 ft home. You forgot to take off the wooden board that covers your 3 ft deep clay pot that is your water source for everything including showering, cooking, and washing the dishes.
You have access to a well but collecting rainwater is much cleaner than the water out of a well. You quickly run outside to uncover your clay pot in hopes that the rain will fill it up before it stops pouring, so that by tomorrow you may use this water for your daily needs.
According to water.org, this is the life of over 2 million Cambodians currently lacking insufficient access to clean water. Cambodia is a third-world country and is the third poorest country in Southeast Asia. Approximately 77% of Cambodians live in rural areas and many of them do not have access to clean water.
In 2017, I had the chance to know a family in rural Cambodia who lived in a similar situation as the story mentioned above. A single father of five children, they lived in a tiny tin home. Their main source of water was from a homemade well made out of PVC pipes. Their water was not clean as that was the same water the animals on their farm drank from.
When I first met them, one of their daughters was bedridden due to drinking contaminated water. This could have entirely been preventable if her family had a clean source of water to use. This experience touched my heart and I saw the importance of having a clean water source.
Without access to clean water, many Cambodians end up getting sick with diarrhea, and other diseases like hepatitis A and cholera, especially Cambodian children. Serving my mission in Cambodia and going back there many times after, I have noticed essential needs for Cambodians that are waiting to be fulfilled, and therefore I am submitting my story to Changemaker.
I aim to provide clean water to Cambodians living in remote areas throughout the country. I have a plan to work with local water facilities by providing aid to strengthen their functional performance. On top of that, I plan to raise funds to build sanitary water sources with water filters to eliminate contaminants.
Lastly, I would seek out volunteers and influencers to go out in remote areas to educate children about the importance of healthy hygiene habits, such as handwashing with soap and clean water, which will greatly impact their health as they become adults.
Through Changemaker, we can join the fight to provide clean water to millions of Cambodians across Cambodia, so that they too may enjoy the benefits of clean water in their everyday lives.