In the last two months or so our loan officer, Um Norak, has  made a number of the required visits with our clients in Phnom Penh, including our very newest client, Khon Saroeurn, who received her $150 loan in November.
 
The poor in Cambodia get by on less than $2 per day - in other words, about $50. So when you look at a small loan of just $150 you are really looking at an amount equal to three months' income, which is a large amount of money for Saroeurn. It's an amount that she could never hope to save up on her own, and gives her the capital she needs to build her business.

All of our current seven clients are doing fine. They're making their required loan payments on time, and as we can see from the comments to the left, are thankful for the opportunity we are giving them to grow their businesses. I'm really pleased with the work Norak is doing on our behalf. It's a good fit for our program.

If you would like to read more comments from some of the other women in our lending program, and see the photos, you can do so by clicking on the links to the left. You'll see the links to the monthly reports from November and December. They come to me every month as our program progresses. Our director, Suy Leang, does a great job in putting them together and sending them to me in a timely manner. It's encouraging for me to see the successes our clients are having, as I'm sure it is for many of you.
     
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      Sanitation

As I mentioned in our last newsletter before the holidays, we are continuing to serve the rural community of Kos Khel, but with only the Sanitation Program, in which we building latrines for poor families. We've been  doing this on an occasional basis as funds are available. It requires far less ongoing supervision and support than the lending program in Phnom Penh, and the benefits to the overall community are very significant.

As we improve the health of one family after another the whole community benefits by living with neighbors that have a higher level of sanitation.

You'll have noticed that we made a major push during the holiday giving season to raise funds specifically for  latrine construction. We had a very successful campaign. One that far surpassed those of previous years. It's a sign that improving sanitation in the developing world strikes a chord here in the Western world where we take for granted the availability of clean water and proper sanitation facilities throughout our society.

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Good sanitation is essential for health and well being, but it's not the norm in rural Cambodia. Old habits of poor hygiene, of using open fields in elimination of body waste, are still wide spread. The result is the contamination of streams and soils, the spread of disease, high rates of infant and young child mortality, and heavy caseloads of diarrhea and other infections.

According to the World Bank's Sanitation program (2008) only about 17% of Cambodian rural poor households have access to improved sanitation facilities, and by other studies it shows that among the very poor, fewer than 5% have access to a decent toilet facility. I'm extremely pleased that we are able to provide a small measure of assistance in this complex issue.

 

      

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And, don't forget, there's an easy way to have Amazon donate a little extra cash to our cause. Look to the left here and see detail of how its done. It's smart, quick and so easy to do.

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