Samraong Tong District

Samraong Tong District (Khmer: ស្រុកសំរោងទូង) is a district located in Kampong Speu Province in central Cambodia.

Samraong Tong is made up off 15 communes and 294 villages. The population in 1998 was 74,651 people.

Overview

In the community of Samrong Tong, half of the population is children and youth under 18 years. The lack of food, clothing, adequate health care and protection of children makes them extremely vulnerable to malnutrition, disease and abuse. The most vulnerable families are marginalized and subjected to harsh living conditions, their home is not safe.

Too low incomes increase the risk that children leave school to earn money and thus help support their families. The work not only increases the risk that children are overworked or neglected; it also makes them prone to abuse and physical violence.

82% of people in the community earn their living through agriculture and depend mainly on rice crops, poultry and palm sugar production for both their income on food. However, the sandy soil often limits the crops and farmers then have difficulty providing for their families. In addition, drought and the destruction of natural resources have reduced food production and damaged water sources in the region. In this environment, the well-being of children is threatened.

Education

At Samrong Tong, children often leave school to work in industries such as textiles to make money and support their families. Many of them are unable to read or write at a level appropriate for their age and have no school or career aspiration. There are few resources to help young people acquire life skills and little groups defending their education. Community schools also face difficulties in educating and supporting children. Teachers do not have the abilities, learning resources and teacher training needed to offer students quality education.

Health care

Health is a major concern in Samrong Tong. New mothers and pregnant women in the community have limited access to health services or information on good maternal health practices. Local health centers have no waiting rooms, delivery rooms or adequate medical equipment. Additionally, many pregnant women have not had the opportunity to learn about prenatal and postnatal care nor adequate birth spacing and other options of date for health care.

World Vision

World vision has been involved in helping in this area; Samrong Tong is in Cambodia's Kampong Speu province. World Vision has reached 88 villages, with a total population of 45,000. Since 1997, there have been many significant achievements.

Health and Nutrition

New health centers provide all children with vaccinations against eight deadly diseases

Prior to help received from World Vision, 12 per cent of children under 5 died from diarrhoea, malaria and acute respiratory infections. Since the vaccination project began, there have been no reported child deaths from infectious diseases.

Economic Development

Farmers learnt about rice intensification to increase productivity. Today, seventy per cent of farmers have switched from traditional to system of rice intensification (SRI) farming practices. Most farmers grew crops for their families' short-term survival rather than to make a living. Their traditional farming methods left the soil in poor condition, resulting in low crop yields. With the help of World Vision, Farmers were given training on modern ways of farming to ensure that more crops were being produced, and that the soil was kept healthy.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

441 pumps now provide clean water for the poorest and most vulnerable families.

In the past, 61 per cent of villagers used to get their water from an unprotected source, such as a pond or river. Children often fetched water up to 5km away. It now takes only 5 to 10 minutes to fetch water. To store water for the dry season, 145 rain tanks have also been installed at the homes of low-income families, and 13 at primary schools in the area. Water and sanitation user groups in each village (335 in total) manage the maintenance and repair of the wells.

Economic Development (Banking)

5,252 families are now part of 52 community cash banks across 60 villages.

If low-income families ran out of food, they would have to borrow rice or cash to buy food from local moneylenders. The interest rates charged were crippling - upwards of 50 per cent for rice for the period of the loan.

To help the community, World Vision established community banks in each village to help families borrow money, rice and livestock at low interest rates. Because villagers now have enough rice to eat, many communities have changed rice banks to cash banks so villagers can borrow money for running small businesses or buying agricultural supplies for their rice fields. The number of families without enough food has fallen from 64 per cent to 9 per cent, a reduction of 86 per cent.

Some of the local people made a video to thank the people of World vision New Zealand https://www.worldvision.org.nz/projects/completed-projects/samrong-tong

To change children’s lives, we need to change the world they live in. World Vision works with some of the world’s poorest communities to help create a better future for children by equipping them with the basics of life - clean water, nutritious food, healthcare, education and incomes. Community members are trained with skills and knowledge to lead their own development journey, without World Vision’s help.

For Samrong Tong that day has come – we’ve reached that goal!

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samraong_Tong_District

https://www.worldvision.org.nz/projects/completed-projects/samrong-tong