The two wells are finished and here are the pictures. The two wells are being used by three families which live at Rauveang village.
The Milano well is being used by Kauy Noch family(widow) with 9 children, 4 boys and 5 girls. The other family is Thai Tha and Seng Phally family with 6 members.
The Wild Bunch well is being used by a family is Long Vuth and Sao Proun with 4 members.
I was able to make copies of the pictures and give everyone that contributed a folder with the pictures and a bio of Theap Bunthin, our tour guide that we are working thru. An Englishman that toured Cambodia last November wrote it for Bunthin and also had a well built for a family. Here is a copy.
Theap Bunthin is a freelance tour guide in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He explains to his customers that because he has had the good fortune to obtain some schooling and learned English which has enabled him to earn a comparatively good living, he wishes to help others – particularly poor children - to have a chance to live a life. He believes that this starts with the gift of clean water. So many children in this rural area surrounding Siem Reap never reach a healthy maturity because of the endemic risk of dengue fever, malaria and dysentery through drinking untreated water from the lakes and watercourses.
This is his story:-
My name is Theap Bunthin. I was born on 12th February 1970. I have two brothers and one sister. My two brothers work for CAMAC (Cambodia Action Mine Centre) de-mining and clearing mines. (This was the work which Princess Diana did much to bring to the attention of the outside world, and is a legacy of the warring factions of recent history). My sister is a farmer, and I am an English Speaking Tour Guide.
From 1975 to 1979 we lived through a genocide regime, until the Vietnamese Military came to rid us of them. They were very dreadful and horrific days. I was so skinny then, but I swelled up through malnutrition. My stomach was full of worms, but we had no medicine and the only way to treat them was to burn the skin. My body is still covered in burn scars. Many, many people had nothing to eat and the Khmer Rouge killed innocent people every day – especially intellectuals. My mother, Chhit Sarrang was a teacher. She was executed. My father was Soth Thom was a soldier who had fought against the North Vietnamese and had helped the American Army in the 1960’s. He was also executed by a Khmer Rouge soldier. I was six years old.
Somehow, we four children survived the Pol Pot regime, and in 1979 after the genocide had stopped, we went to live with our uncle who presently lives at Banteay Mean Chey Province. At this time there were four factions.
It was very confusing. We did not know which faction we should follow. The Government was the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) which was established by the Vietnamese, and they started to conscript for their army. The alternative was to flee to one of the other factions and become a guerrilla. I decided to join Camp Site B which was run by Norodom Sihanouk called the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC). This camp was located in the north-west on the Thai – Cambodia border. At the age of 12, I joined FUNCINPEC’s army as a guerrilla and fought with them for two and a half years until 1985. During this time my brothers and sister were still living with my uncle in the country.
In 1985, I left the army and Camp Site B and went to Camp Site II which was run by Sen San – another faction called the Non-Communist Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, which was located on the north-west Thai – Khmer border. I left because Camp Site B was not very democratic and was much smaller than Camp Site II. When I arrived there I was taken to a big orphanage with 200 other orphans. The accommodation, clothes and food was supported by the United Nation Border Relieve Operation (UNBRO). Here I went to the Catholic Church for my part-time schooling hours and it was there that I gained knowledge of English. I was so lucky to have this opportunity. In 1990 I got my high school degree. That same year, I married my wife Thi Nai Kan who also lived in this camp.
I stayed at Camp Site II until the peace agreement was made by the UN, and the four factions finally signed a peace treaty on 23rd October 1991, establishing a temporary coalition government under the supervision of a UN peacekeeping force. Sihanouk returned to Cambodia as President, and the UN started to repatriating all refugees to their homeland. I had no home so I decided to go with my wife to her homeland in Kompong Thom Province, and we found temporary refuge at her uncle’s house. I had no job, and found nothing to do. Many refugees were jobless.
I decided to go to Phnom Penh to look for work in February 1992, and finally I got a job as an Interpreter for the UN Peacekeepers. I was allowed to choose one of 24 locations to work, and was lucky to choose Kompong Thom province where my wife lived with her uncle. I worked for the UN for one and a half years.
In May 1993, Cambodia’s first multi-party elections were held, although they were boycotted by the Khmer Rouge. The UN peace-keepers were withdrawn after the election and by July 1993 I was again without a job! In 1994 I became a Storeman for MSF, which lasted one and a half years. In 1996, I came to live in Siem Reap, where I bought a second-hand motorbike and set up as a motorbike taxi driver! In 1997, I worked as a Waiter at the Grand Hotel d’Anghor. This lasted two years.
During these years, the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot were continuing their insurgency against the Government, but with a declining power base. In 1996, the Khmer Rouge began to split. In 1998, Pol Pot died, and the Khmer Rouge were finally captured by the Cambodian armed forces.
In 2000, I became a Tourist Guide. Nowadays, I live with my family in Siem Reap town with my wife and our two daughters, Socheat (14) and Ramy (12), who are now at secondary school.
Bunthin now explains why he wants to undertake his well–drilling project in this area. He believes that at this time, no-one else is engaged in doing similar work IN THIS LOCALITY. He is aware that similar efforts are being made further north in Cambodia.
“Siem Reap was amongst the worst areas affected by decades of war in Cambodia. Prolonged conflict has had a widespread impact on the region with destruction and damage to infrastructure, (water, roads, schools & hospitals), and extensive landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO), leaving many victims of war in this area (amputees, orphans and widows).”
“The poorest households lack education/literacy and even a basic understanding of agricultural practices, so suffer loss of crops through pests, lack of access to, and knowledge of, basic hygiene and health services because of lack of road access to isolated villages.”
“The majority of people in the project target area, are dependant on surface water from natural or man-made ponds, streams or hand dug wells. These sources are reliable in terms of quantity only during the rainy season, but the quality of all these sources fails to meet even the minimum national and international standards for quality. This has led to a high prevalence of waterborne diseases – particularly of childhood diarrhoea.”
“Water sources are often quite some distance from villages, and this increases the time and labour necessary to collect water, (especially women and children), which would otherwise be spent creating food and sustenance.”
“The Well Drilling Project aims to improve the health of families living in the poorest areas – particularly children. Experience so far, has shown that the families whom we have been able to provide with a well, are able to prosper (by better utilisation of their time, better health, and a little irrigation on their plot,) producing a surplus of food to sell and so providing a little income which can be used to provide some schooling for their children.”
“I really do appreciate the generous help that some of my customers have given to my Well Drilling Project. I erect a sign at the side of the well with the name and country of my sponsors, and send a photograph to the donor, to prove that the well has been constructed. In some small way, I gain a great deal of pleasure to see these children prosper. I lost my childhood, but was lucky to survive and to eventually have some schooling. I want to give some luck to children who so far, have had none.”
Theap Bunthin
