Yesterday, a few of the Calvin students decided to visit RULE (Royal University of Law and Economics) with our Cambodian friends.  It was amazing to get to see a university in a country so different from our own.  It turns out that our friends were ditching class to hang out with us, so we ended up actually visiting that class.  It was a bit awkward at first since we didn't know that we were going to be brought into a class and had no idea what to say to the other students.  Then they started asking us questions about Calvin and our majors and then we asked them some questions and it was really interesting.  After vising the class, we got to see Vandenn's office (he's one of the ELIC teachers that we've been hanging out with).  He says that the 9 ELIC profs that work at RULE are some of the only ones that get an office.  They also have a small English language library that he says is really helpful in getting to know students better and in a deeper way.  Overall, I thought the school was nice, but I could tell that the classes are really large.  I think that if any of the RULE students ever visited Calvin, they would be completely shocked by how new and nice all of our classrooms are.  I wish we could have spent more time than just an hour there and that all of the Calvin students could have been there, but I'm glad it worked out for some of us.   

We have a winner of the last contest - Bob Dornbos (Jason's Dad) indicated correctly that the item pictured was a screw type pump.  The advantage of using this type pump instead of a typical impeller type pump is that you get the same amount of volume pumped with one rotation of the motor regardless of the speed of the motor.  This system works well for solar applications.

Here is another contest question:

The group will be travelling by bus from PP back to Siem Reap on Sunday.   The trip will take about 6 hours. How many kilometers is this distance? 

Thank you for your continued prayers. 

Regards,

Leonard De Rooy 

Early morning in the kindergarten 

Some of the students braved the hot early sun and played volleyball 

We then went to the slums of PP 

All the houses were built on a lake of raw sewage - we all prayed that the board walk would hold. 

We watched a self-help group discuss micro financing.  The members all contribute 500 Riel (4000Riel=$1USD) and then they could borrow money from the group for projects.  The biggest problem of the group is that almost everyone in the group was illiterate. 

They proudly showed us their books.   Once they have established the books and have been self sustaining for a few months, the NGO would donate some additional funds. 

Later we went to another village to discuss gender issues.  The ladies and our students had a great discussion covering things from equal rights, birth control and how things were in Cambodia and the USA. 

That evening we went to a restaurant called "No Problem"   The food was good and I think we were the biggest group they have ever had.  The only problem was that they did not have a menu in english, so Prof DeRooy discussed options with the head waiter and they made us a great meal - No Problem!.....

Val had her first taste of squid and chicken necks. 

Here is an example of a pit toilet.  

I have not heard from anyone about the last contest (identify the item in the photo).

Regards,

Leonard 

     Today was our last day to be split into multiple groups. Five of our group ( the on that didn't go to the village) went to work with "Doctors without Borders" today. They seemed to have had a great time working with the Cambodian doctors in the gov't hospital and western doctors in the private hospital. The rest of our group learned about a CRWRC supported organization that works with people living in the slums here. In the morning we sat in on their saving group meeting. community families voluntarily join and agree to contribute at least 500 riel(~12 cents) per month. The CRWRC trains local Cambodians to lead the project and from there its all Cambodians leading/helping Cambodians. I was shocked by the conditions in the slims. All the (tiny) homes were built on stilts and constructed of corragated metal and scrap wood. the path between the homes was a rickety boardwalk that I constantly worried was going to collapse beneath us. the worst part was that the boardwalk and stilts were there because there was a lake/rive of open sewage beneath them, so there were bugs everywhere.

After an interesting lunch, we went to another poor area to join a gender issues group meeting. they organized roles into essential useful and not useful (I'm changing the titles because I can't remember the original ones they used). the mone-earning (male) roles were useful and the ones that did not bring money into the household often went into the other category. After the discussion wrapped up they allowed the Cambodians and Americans to ask one another questions through the translator. We covered a wide range of gender topics in cultural, and legal areas and found many similarities in the gender issues we face.

I just got back from an incredible immersion experience into the culture of rural Cambodia.  We hopped a van about two hours away from Phnom Penh and endured the bumpiest dirt roads yet to get out to a remote village.  We were welcomed by the community church, which is being partnered with the CRWRC to develop sustainable resources in the village.  We visited nearby villages and learned about new rice farming techniques that can double production with less effort put into the crop.  We also tasted delicious sugar that was handmade in the village from the palm trees.  Some of the other things going on for development are raising poultry and swine.  We ate rice three meals a day and slept in a bungalow on rattan mats inside mosquito netting.  That was quite an experience.  The first night I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom(fortunately there was one!) and got to see the most incredible display of stars.  It was truly amazing.  We woke up to roosters crowing at dawn after not much sleep on the floor ( a cool experience, but not that comfortable).  I rode on the back of one of the local's dirt bikes to another village where we sat in on a CRWRC seminar for small business owners.  After a few days in the bush, our hotel is practically five star! I would have to say the most shocking thing in the village was the dances at night in the church building.  Nearly the whole community gets together for dancing to Cambodian MTV and karaoke!  They fire up the generator and blast the speakers and it was a blast.

-Jonathan Cooper

David Goodwin was the first to answer the last contest:  David Dornbos and his team are living in a small village checking out the farmers that are experiminting with a one-stem rice system called SRI (System Rice Intensification).  Basically the farmer would transplant a single stem (instead 4 or 5 stems) and also plant them further apart.   So you plant less rice further apart and get more yield.

Here is another question for everyone:

 In the picture below, what is the thing that Arjen is holding?  And why might this style of that thing be better than other more common styles? 

We had another sick student today, but she is feeling much better now.   Please continue to pray for our health and safety.

Regards,

Leonard De Rooy 

Today our group went to Kamworks a young solar energy company located about 40 km outside of PP.  This morning it took us about 1.5 hours to travel the 40km due to traffic. 

Arjen Luxwolda is one of the owners and he gave us a tour of their facilities.   The whole complex is run off of solar panels with battery storage.   Arjen did indicate that they did have a generator for backup but that they did not use it very much (they still needed it to run the welder).

The company is located on an orphanage.  They support the orphanage and hope to employ “graduates” from the orphanage.  They mentioned that a high percentage of employment in Cambodia is family based – you go work for the family business.  So therefore an orphan has a hard time finding a job.

Here we are walking around one of the solar panels.  They have a manual tilt control to track the sun but find that at this location it is not needed.

In the workshop, Arjen is showing some of the prototype thermo-form molds made out of plaster.  The machine on the right is a used thermo-form machine that he hopes to use to manufacture the lights.  If anyone knows of other machines that they would like to donate then let us know! 

 They just recieved the new molds from Viet-Nam yesterday and were excited to try them out.

A "graduate" from the orphanage working on a board. 

Today we went to KamWorks, which is a company that partners with an NGO, the NGO started an orphanage and the company sets up solar panels in homes and schools and orphanages, but it is a company. It was really cool because they involve the entire design process using student interns, that usually come from a university in the netherlands. they also employ and train the orphanage kids to build the products so that they have skills. It was good to see that all the stuff we learn in class has application. 

We also went to the russian market and I got some neat souveniers. And guess what I got to see my friend Julie, that I went to high school with. She lives here, so she came and met us at the market. she seemed really happy and excited about her work, she gets to travel a lot.

Well, thats about it for the day. We are started to get hungry for burgers and fries. we mostly have rice and curry. or noodles. which is good, but theres not too much variety.

 -Elizabeth Smit

Thanks for the many emails about our contest #2.  It is good to know that many of you are praying for us - we need prayer support here!

Kathleen Pavlich was the first to send us the correct answer. Bob Dornbos did NOT win :-)

Here is a harder question.  You should be able to find it at the CRWRC's website possibly using the name Navy Chann - the missionary we are working with.

What is the name of the new type of rice planting that David Dornbos and his team are learning about?  Why is this form so counter intuitive to the farmers?

Again the first correct reply will get a small prize from Cambodia.

Regards,

Leonard De Rooy 

Today we separated into two groups.  David Dornbos and some of the students went to visit a remote village for three days (two nights).  They will be sleeping in a small church (most likely a hut) and living with the local Cambodian people.   This remote site is one of the work sites that CRWRC is working with.  They are focusing on a rice technique that is counter-intuitive, but increases the yield by up to 2 times the conventional method.  I don’t think they will have access to the internet (let alone electricity) so we will patiently wait for their return.  Please note that they will have access to cell phones so they can contact us if needed.

Our group went this morning to a remote village about 2.5 hours from PP.  There we met in a small village where a group called OREDA was working.  The goal of this group is to make the people of the village self sufficient.  They proudly showed us their farm:  rice fields, corn fields, egg plant, chickens, hogs, dogs, cows and fish to eat.  The community voted leaders who helped with things like a rice storage bin, small community loans, and other community  building items.  It is a big step for a community like this to have leaders step forward to lead.  We ended the tour sitting around a new well that CRWRC helped build in thier community.  It is amazing to us to find people so excited about a well.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 First a few photos from yesterday:

Caleb our tourguide at RDI knew about Calvin College - he said they always have great concerts there! 

This is part of the filter factory at RDI 

We were served an excellent lunch of Chicken, beef, fish and rice - all locally grown/raised right in that village.

The kitchen where our lunch was cooked. 

We met an 84 year old lady.  She fell in love with Laura - she grabbed her arm and said she had nice skin.   She had 7 boys, 4 of them died during the Khmer Rouge.

 Our group at the new well.

On the way back to PP we passed many "busses" with standing room only - I guess our minibus was not that crowded after all!

Regards,

Leonard De Rooy 

Hello all,

Today has been an (another) amazing opportunity to see ingenuity and compassion at work for/through/with the Khmer people. After a little glitch in the schedule from commmunication lapse with the bus driver, we spent the morning at CRWRC Cambodia HQ.

We heard from Barnabas Mom, leader of the Church in Cambodia, about the history of Christian Church here. (The highlights: Due to some cultural, association with the western colonial powers, and the tenacity of Buddhism here, the Church was slow to grow in Cambodia. Before the Khmer Rouge, there were about 10,000 believers in 1975....after the mass killings and other horrors, there were only 200 in 1979. Today, the Spirit is moving in many different ways--many of which we have seen glimpses--and there are about 300,000 Cambodian Christians!) I am excited to see that God can use the few and the broken to do amazing things, and I will be praying for new leaders as they rise up to lead the Church here.

Next, we were briefed on the mission and vision of CRWRC in Cambodia. Growing up in the CRC, I had been partially aware of the denomination's relief and development work. After hearing from the workers and leaders, (and probably even more so in the next few days as we visit CRWRC projects and partner organizations and communities) their work to bring 'Shalom to all corners of this Earth has become much more real. I am excited by the emphasis on empowering the people to identify the problems, find solutions, and build community cooperation, rather than coming in as The West with all the answers. (Teach a man/woman to fish...)

The most exciting part of the day (for me, at least) was our visit to RDI. As an environmental engineering student, I was especially geeked to see the water treatment design and filter production (using local materials and labor), water quality testing and reporting (employing skilled Khmers and encouraging their lab workers to pursue graduate degrees), sustainable agriculture experiments (raising goats and hogs, growing tilapia, composting, vegetable gardens, and MORE!). I was so excited to see the ingenuity at work to solve such integral problem as clean drinking water for the people. The surface water is extremely contaminated (trash, human and animal wastes, and pathogens), and ground water has problems with arsenic. I would love to be involved in a project like this...!

Thank you for your prayers!

Peace in Christ,

Val Horstman

Today we learned about what the CRWRC is doing here in cambodia. The church growth in the past few years is really amazing. Navy Chann -the CRWRC organizer- is quite adamant that all the work is alongside the people to enable them rather than make them dependent. I think they are doing a great job of working toward that vision. They are working with microloans, agricultural improvement and encouruaging people to become involved in the communities.

We went to a buffet in Phom Pehn *spelling?* for lunch and just tried bits of everything. I discovered I really like rice pudding, but not cabbage. Many of the foods here are becoming familiar and I think it will be wierd to coe home and now have a rice-based meal three times a day. I''ll definiately miss the amazing taste  of the fresh fruit here, you can tell that its much fresher and closert to the farm here--the pineapple is AMAZING!!

After lunch we went to an organization called RDI- theyre doing some amazing things too! They have a factory for clay pot water filters. They doing water quality testing a in a mini chemistry lab and have documented the water quality for the entire province- they want to do this documentationfor every province in the nation. They're also doing agricultural reseach and promoting new, more sustainable methods of raising goats and pigfs. Thers so much the're doing I can't do it justice here.   

Here we are in PP!

Today, we spent a lot of time at the CRWRC learning more about the programs that are being run by this organization.  In addition, we had the privilege to meet Navvy Chan, a Cambodian woman who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime and who has decided to devote her life to help empower the Cambodian people.  She is currently leads the CRWRC team in Cambodia.

After learning more about this organization, we enjoyed a full buffet of Pan-Asian cuisine and then continued on to visit RDI.  I'm not sure what the acronym stands for, but it produces an affordable water filter so that rain water can be collected as an alternative water source.  In addition to water purification, RDI conducted contaiminated water testing for the entire country, helped educate Cambodians on some sustainable farming alternatives, and many more innovative farming techniques that could easily be implemented by farmers in Cambodia.

Tomorrow, we're going to be splitting into two groups.  Half of us are staying in PP and touring farms and other NGOs, while the rest of us (including me) will be going on a Cambodian immersion adventure by spending two nights in a rural village.  I'm sure we'll all have lots of stories to tell afterwards!