After nine days in this wonderful heart warming and sometimes heart breaking village we are about to head away for the weekend, and thought it was about time we try to explain a little bit about what we are actually doing here.

The project is based on community agricultural development. The focus village was established in 2004 and currently supports about 200 Khmer families. There are several organisation sponsored employees and volunteers who help to manage things at present, but the plan is to eventually pull resources and let the community manage themselves. We have really fallen in love with the place and are looking forward to the next few months with eager minds and active hands.

The story started with an increasing awareness of illegal deforestation, poaching and unsustainable slash-and-burn farming techniques in Cambodia. These are huge environmental threats to the countries ecosystems and waterways. In an effort to help, the organisation is involved in a number of projects, including education, development of eco-tourism as an alternative income, reforestation and the mentioned SB project.

In 2004 the organisation involved was granted a large amount of cleared derelict land, which they divided into lots. 'Criminal' families who had been abusing the forest were invited to an artificial village to build their homes. Each family was given 1.5 hectares of land to farm for personal and, ideally, commercial use. They were originally given all the supplies, such as tools, seedlings and fertilizer. In the last couple of years the organisation has started to back off, providing less support and charging the villagers a small percentage of the cost for these supplies. The idea is to empower the villagers, so that they will no longer rely on our help.

A major problem facing the project is that many of the families are used to simply clearing a part of the forest, planting rice seeds and then returning in three months to reap the rewards. Some families are not used to thinking long term and are not motivated to attend to their farms regularly. A few expect the organisation to provide free supplies and do not understand that they cannot always be spoon fed. The problems are made worse by the fact that many of these people are not practiced in living as a community. The families are from several different parts of the region and seem better at simply taking care of themselves and not each other.

Some families, however, are really embracing this opportunity and not only have great farms, but have created coffee shops and corner stores as well.

Regardless of their attitude towards farming, all of the villagers are incredibly happy and very welcoming. Whenever we walk around in the village, we are greeted warmly and invited to sit down with them. Every day we are learning bits and pieces of their language and our conversations are getting less broken and awkward every time!

The children here are fantastic. They make their own entertainment out of the most basic ingredients and are forever enthusiastically greeting us with shouts of 'hello bye-bye!' Without access to education before the village, they are always hanging around the classroom, even outside school hours! They are really keen to learn anything, especially English, and embrace any chance to practice. We have tried to teach a bit of 'g'day' and 'howsit goin?' but the Aussie accent is a bit difficult for most.

There are a few teenagers who have only been learning English for a few months and are already dedicated to teaching the younger children everything they know! In between their own school, teaching English and attending to their farms, a couple of them have amazingly found time to give us all a lesson in Khmer twice a week aswell. We are convinced that the Khmer people are among the strongest and most generous in the world!

Like with most poor communities, there is a lack of awareness of healthy living. Many front yards are covered with plastic and food scraps. Animals roam free and are often covered in lice and fleas. With limited access to health facilities, common diseases can become deadly. Sometimes the only way to get proper treatment is to catch a bus to the capital, which for most of the villagers is a very intimidating and expensive burden.

A few days ago, one of the happiest and friendliest kids here, Perin, was bitten quite severely by a dog. The poor health of many of the dogs here meant that a preventative rabies shot was necessary. However, after raising funds to send him to Phnom Penh, we had to spend over a day trying to convince his mother to take him and not gamble the money away. In the end, one of the staff had to take them both or Perin would not have received treatment. The dog was shot and, we were told, cooked up for dinner that night by a few of the villagers... :/

We are just starting to develop some ideas for projects to help the village. There is a heap of room for improvement, but the hardest thing is convincing and motivating the families to continue to live sustainably when all of the Barangs (foreigners) eventually leave them to themselves.

If anyone has suggestions, feel free to let us know!!