“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.

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.’

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

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,

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.

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

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 : )