Spring Newsletter (2010)

The Trailblazer Management Team and supporters attending the Ta Trav Primary School inauguration. Pictured L-R: Narem, Sothearos (both TCO staff), Dale Novotny (TF Agriculture Intern), Sandy Seitz (Rotary), Pat Butts (TF VP), Mukia (TCO staff), Scott & Chris Coats (TF Founders), Malinin (TCO staff), Chhin (District Official), Lisa McCoy(CLMMRF), Chanta, and Rattana (both TCO staff). Hello!  We trust you had a joyous holiday season since our last newsletter.  Our teams in Cambodia have been hard at work.   Each year brings more to our plate, we make more new friends and we keep seeing more positive progress. We want to share with you all the good things that have happened in just 3 short months to help thousands of people.  And all this has been made possible because of you and your great support!  Thank you.       Ta Trav Primary School Inauguration Feb 18th 2010 marked the inauguration of Trailblazer’s 3rd government school.  Our Vice President, Pat Butts, along with Sandy Seitz, President of the Jackson Hole Supper Rotary Club, were in attendance.  (See top photo)    Many speeches were given during the event. Pictured is TF founder Mr. Coats giving his address.       Women’s Development Center Thanks to everyone who donated towards our sewing machine campaign!  We raised $7,400 and were able to purchase 38 machines towards our 100 sewing machine goal.  Please click here if you are interested in helping us reach our goal of 62 more machines to be placed in the Women’s Development Centers and the Production Group Centers, a wonderful government initiated women’s project!  Each machine costs $200 USD.   Trailblazer Agriculture Specialist Narem, and our new Agriculture Intern, Dale Novotny took part in the recent drip irrigation system training conducted by IDE [International Development Enterprises].  This training took place at the Sras Village community garden for about 24 rural farmers from 6 of the surrounding villages.    International Rotary Grant In November, Trailblazer was successful in receiving its second International Rotary Grant, against 900 applications and a 70% cut back in giving due to the economy.  This $37,150 grant will support over 20 agricultural and economic development projects in Siem Reap Province this year!         Biochar Project: The Trailblazer Foundation is pleased to announce that we have been selected by the UK Biochar Research Center, University of Edinburgh, to participate in a biochar demonstration program in Cambodia.  Agriculture Program With the Rotary Grant, Narem has begun meeting with rural farmers in numerous villages in Chuptatrav, Svay Chek, Kantreang, and Reul communes on drip irrigation, vegetable seeds, composting, and organic fertilizers. Pictured above: Cucumbers grown in the TCO test garden!  In other News: We’re working on a new website! Please visit www.thetrailblazerfoundation.org for more information on all of our updates!           Trailblazer Foundation  is driven by your donations. With your generous support we can continue our work of bringing water and hope to rural villagers, please consider donating now.   We still have our Matching Donation Challenge going on.  Any new donation of $100 or more will be doubled!  Thank You.

 

First International Assistance to Rural Village

Excerpt from c0-founder, Scott Coats’ e-mail from Cambodia:

“I just returned from Prey Veng Province, Mesang District, Trea village, from personally handing out 280 mosi nets to the villagers of Trea.  The commune chief Lay Sarat, village chief, Rang Saroon, and policemen Det and Soon, they stated that this was the very first aid from outside the commune that had come to their area.  The villagers were very excited to say the least and my 3 days there were very memorable and emotional. This is the poorest district in the entire country and not another NGO in sight.  This is true trailblazing.  Here are a few photos that were taken by a villager who had never used a camera, best that I could do.  I had to hand out every single net so I had my hands full. I spent the rest of the next 2 days going from house to meet and eat with them upon their invitation.  This went well into the evening with a lot of celebration.”

Mosquito Net Delivery to Trea Village.

Scott handing a mosquito net to a woman for her family.

Happy Holidays!

We would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and thank you fro making 2009 such a great year!  There’s a lot of new exciting things happening in 2010, I’ll keep this blog updated with pictures as they come in and updates from the field.  With all of the focus lately on sustainability, people forget that the ultimate sustainablility comes from commitment for a better life.  That’s what we do!

Scott and Chris head back next week!

Trailblazer founders, Scott and Chris Coats are heading back to Cambodia on November 11th for another season! There is a lot of new exciting developments taking place with the Trailblazer Foundation, we are expanding our bio-sand water filter operations to Battambang, about 4 hours South-West of Siem Reap to address the clean water needs in that area.  We have been asked by the ministry of education to help build a kindergarten for a women’s development center in Ankgor Thom Province.  This is the first government initiative of its kind, and we are honored to have been asked. That says  alot about our reputation on the ground. Stay tuned for more….

Ta Trav School in the Phnom Penh Post

Trailblazer Foundation is getting some national attention in Cambodia for its work in rural villages.  After 4 years and 3 schools, word is getting out about the work Trailblazers is doing in this amazing country.

A great article was printed in the Phnom Penh Post today (3.26.09) about the construction of the school in Ta Trav.  Read it here!

Here’s the best part:

‘The current school building has been housing 340 students, but this recently swelled to 478 after construction work closed the  school in neighbouring Bos Ta Trav village. The new Ta Trav school building will be able to accommodate  the maximum number of students permitted by the government, which is 40 students per classroom for two sessions per day.’

6-classroom school going up! (photo 3.17.09)

We have a facebook!

Trailblazer Foundation has just gotten hipper. 

We have joined the online network wonder that is facebook. 

Check it out for some fun photos, and great updates from the field!

Just click on the logo below!

The Trailblazer Foundation Facebook Page

Thank you to our visitors and supporters!

We had the pleasure of meeting David Scott and Lynn White from Yellowknife, Canada in February who stopped by our water filter site.  Thank you for your support of Trailblazer and our mission to provide clean water!

E-mail from David and Lynn:

“Hello Chris, Scott & Rattana,

 

It was nice to meet you in Siem Reap last month.  We have made an online donation to your foundation and wish you all the best.“

  

                   Lynn and David

 

Learn more about our Bio-Sand Water filters on our website!

   

 

 

School #3

Just down the road from Sras village is a smaller village called Ta Trav.  This is where Trailblazers are setting our focus for the next year starting now!

The children of  Ta Trav village will be able to begin school this fall thanks to a new 6-classroom primary school that will be finished this May!  Trailblazers broke ground in January and the villagers have all assisted in the construction, the school is probably going to be finished ahead of schedule because of their exhuberance. 

 This new school is the 3rd school that Trailblazer Foundation has been able to help construct in Siem Reap Province since 2007.  The success of this school’s existence is due to generous donations from the British School of Beijing and the Cambodian Landmine Musuem Foundation Fund, and the villagers – most importantly the children- of  Ta Trav village are eternally grateful.  Approximately 300 more children will now have the opportunity to get an education.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Spring Newsletter

Coming up this Spring: 

Eight students from Jackson Hole High School Interact Group will be taking a trip to Cambodia in April.   They will be getting some volunteer experience at the Trailblazer water filter site, and will do arts and crafts projects with the Sras village students.  We’ll keep you posted on their trip here on the Trailblazer Blog.

                                   Jackson Hole Interact Group

It has been approved to train and implement a Trailblazer well drilling team in Siem Reap to install wells locally and where accessible to eliminate the need for private contractors. This will allow us to fullfill smaller requests for 1 or 2 wells in a shorter period of time. 

A community garden will be developed next to the new school site, which will augment the on-going lunch program and will provide a sustainable food source for the school children.

                               New classrooms in front of existing classrooms

The new classrooms at Sras Village Primary School are going up!  Construction started Jan 12th, we had TF board members RobertYoungberg and James Minton visit the site in January to take pictures and see the progress.  So much has already happened in2008, we are really looking forward to the rest of the year!

Expanding projects

Here’s some updates from the field as of Jan 26th, 2008:

Installing first pump well in rural village of Sras, Angkor Thom District, 2005

The community leaders of Angkor Thom district have requested that we provide assistance to the villages of Preah Koh Chas and Kokkak. These villages have a low level of access to potable water, and desire wells and filters. Preah Kos Chas is actually two villages: part of the population moved away from the original site during the civil war and never returned, so we will be dealing with a total of three villages: Kokkak, Preah Koh Chas 1 and Preah Koh Chas 2.

Our proposal for each village is as follows: 10 pump wells, 5 pit wells and 20 filters.

This project is due to start in March/April.

 Rather than focusing so heavily on filters, it has been decided that TF will initiate training/recruitment of well-digging staff to assist us in some of our projects.  We have used a reliable contractor for two years, but he cannot travel long distances to establish one or two wells, as it is financially impractical to do so. We propose to use our established crew in Sras village to undertake local work that they find accessible, and use them to train our own crew who will travel further afield when we accumulate enough orders. This will provide local people with new skill sets and jobs, therefore enhancing the community. It will also enable Trailblazer to drill and install wells regularly and when they are requested.

Scott and Robert arrived safely back in the U.S. Saturday evening, Mr. Minton will stay in S.E. Asia for the rest of this month.  There is a lot of momentum for our 2008 projects and everyone is excited about the difference Trailblazer is making!

There will be a group from Jackson Hole High School Interact visiting Cambodia in April, so keep checking with us for that exciting trip!

Thanks for reading!

Erin : )