On June 9, Elder Spencer left at 7:00 AM to spend a day with Elder and Sister Meinzer, the humanitarian missionaries for Cambodia who represent LDS Charities. We were accompanied by an interpreter and a couple of local LDS Charities project employees. LDS Charities is hoping to drill a large number of wells (I think 64 was the number) in rural areas in this region of Cambodia and the day was spent making sure that everything was in order. We first met with the Vice-Governor of Banan District of the Battambang Province where the wells will be drilled. A contract had to be signed which he read out loud completely.
The Vice-Governor is the man gesturing on the right in back. He was extremely grateful that many of his people would soon have access to clean drinking water. Many of them currently depend on lake water and, not surprisingly, there is much illness especially among the children.
It is also important for each village that receives wells to enter into an agreement with LDS Charities which must be signed by each person in the village who benefits from a well. They must each agree to the rules of well use and the village as a whole must raise $200 per well to have in a bank account before the well is drilled. These funds are then available when the well needs repair. LDS Charities has found that without such funds at hand, the villagers do not repair a well that breaks and the well becomes useless.
To pull this off, meetings are held in each village to explain the game and to get agreement. Here is a village chief (every village has one) opening the meeting of the residents of his village before the well project was explained to them.
The meeting was held at the local Buddhist Wat (temple). Here is a shot of some of the villagers. They were all so grateful as well to receive new wells that cost about $2000 each to drill. Even though it will be hard for them, they agreed to raise the necessary $200.
In this village there is only one member family and here is a picture. The man in the skirt (?) on the left is not in the family. It is a grandfather with his daughter, her husband, and their children. These wells will service mostly nonmembers although LDS Charities does try to target villages with at least some members.
It was a wonderful day full of touching experiences.
The Vice-Governor is the man gesturing on the right in back. He was extremely grateful that many of his people would soon have access to clean drinking water. Many of them currently depend on lake water and, not surprisingly, there is much illness especially among the children.
It is also important for each village that receives wells to enter into an agreement with LDS Charities which must be signed by each person in the village who benefits from a well. They must each agree to the rules of well use and the village as a whole must raise $200 per well to have in a bank account before the well is drilled. These funds are then available when the well needs repair. LDS Charities has found that without such funds at hand, the villagers do not repair a well that breaks and the well becomes useless.
To pull this off, meetings are held in each village to explain the game and to get agreement. Here is a village chief (every village has one) opening the meeting of the residents of his village before the well project was explained to them.
The meeting was held at the local Buddhist Wat (temple). Here is a shot of some of the villagers. They were all so grateful as well to receive new wells that cost about $2000 each to drill. Even though it will be hard for them, they agreed to raise the necessary $200.
In this village there is only one member family and here is a picture. The man in the skirt (?) on the left is not in the family. It is a grandfather with his daughter, her husband, and their children. These wells will service mostly nonmembers although LDS Charities does try to target villages with at least some members.
It was a wonderful day full of touching experiences.
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