School history

Bay Damram Lech Primary school is located in Bay Damram Lech village, Chheu Teal  commune, Banan district, Battambang province. It’s 14 km from Banan’s district capital.  There are two older wooden school buildings and a newer concrete building built in 2015. There are 202 children attending the school.

State of the school before the conversion

Power supply

Available

Water resources, incl. WaSH

The school is connected to the village water supply system and has a deep pump well, both of which currently provide enough water for latrine use and cleaning year-round. However, due to budget constraints, village water system water is not always purchased, leaving some of the latrines unusable in the dry season. There is also a 20m³ RRH that holds about half of its storage capacity. There are two latrine buildings with a total of five toilets.

The school never provides drinking water to the children. In the rainy season, rainwater and pump well water are used in the latrines, both for daily use and for cleaning. Children wash their hands either directly from the pump well or in small buckets in the classrooms, which have contaminated water. In the dry season, the school uses water from the pump well and water bought from the village water supply. However, when their budget for purchasing water from the village supply system is not enough, the latrines do no function due to not having enough water.

Comment: This school doesn’t provide drinking water to the students they just encourage them to bring from home. Children either wash their hands directly at the pump well or in shared buckets in the classroom, which are filled with contaminated water.

Condition of the latrines

The structures are in good condition and the toilets are kept reasonably clean, but could be cleaner. The latrines sometimes don’t work due to water shortages and improper allocation of water. With better water management, there seems to be enough water for complete latrine needs, both using and cleaning. 

Waste Management

Each classroom has its own garbage can. While there are no garbage receptacles on the school grounds, they appear to be relatively clean, although the garbage collection system could be improved. Garbage is burned at 5pm at an old incinerator, after the children have gone home.

General condition of the school (cleanliness / maintenance)

There are duty rosters for cleaning latrines and collecting garbage only. That said, the school appears to be fairly clean, although the WASH cleaning and maintenance system can be improved.

Upgrading the school

In May 2018, a WASH (Water Sanitation Hygiene) project was launched. This project is a joint initiative of: Bareebo Organization (Bareebo), a non-profit organization in Cambodia, sponsor-team Christian Linne, a member of the fundriding tour 02/2018 and Kleine Hilfsaktion e.V., a German non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged and / or underserved population groups in Cambodia. Only through the financial commitment of the sponsor-team of Christian Linne the disastrous conditions were able to be eliminated.  By financing the WASH at the Bay Damram Lech Primary School, countless diseases will be avoided in the future, and the children will have a chance for education, the only way out of the vicious circle of (educational) poverty.

Planned Measures

• Rainwater collector, including foundation and rainwater delivery system: 10 pcs. with 4,000 l each
• Bio-Sand-Filter (BSF): 7 pcs.
• Hand washing stations: 3 pcs.
• Latrine (1 toilet): 0 pcs.

Teacher training

• Project organization and planning
• WASH use and maintenance
• Waste Management in cooperation with Plastic Free Cambodia

Student Group Formation & Training

We collecting smart student from each level of class to form them to become Youth Club and let them understand:

• How to leading group
• How to do teamwork
• How to set Washing Activities in their school
• How to share knowledge to the others
• How to report their activity.

Water analysis
All drinking water will be tested to ensure that the drinking water is safe and clean

Monitoring & Evaluation
Ongoing

Cost per capita / child for an effective, long-lasting and sustainable implementation of
basic living conditions 46,81 €

Date: September 13, 2017

Detailed project costs

Condition of the school after upgrading

With a total budget of € 9,455.50, the hygienic learning and working conditions for 200 pupils, ten teachers and other employees of the school were improved effectively, over a long period of time and in a sustainable manner.

The health risks are thus significantly minimized and the number of diarrhoea diseases caused by poor sanitary conditions, impure drinking water and lack of hygiene are drastically reduced. The WASH project of the Bay Damram Lech Primary School was implemented on budget and all given goals were achieved. The quality and quantity of the installed WASH infrastructure and technologies are continuously checked by the local organization Bareebo, the partner of the Kleine Hilfsaktion.

Date: March 13, 19

Project coordinates: 12.996139, 103.159167

Emergence and meaningfulness – WaSH (water sanitary hygiene) project

During our trip in January / February 2013, we became aware of the disastrous conditions of a school near Banan. There is no drinking water, no hand washing facility and no toilet. The children are forced to releive themselves in the bushes behind the school. It is not hard to imagine which health dangers emanate from this condition.

When Bong and I visit the school together with our team, we ask the children who would like to have something to drink. About 30% of the small children have some water, bottled in an old plastic bottle, cloudy and unimaginably dirty. When a little girl proudly pulls out her bottle to drink from it, I suddenly feel the need to knock the bottle out of her hands. It brings tears to my face, especially as I myself have a little daughter at home. The idea that she would have to drink this broth and then make her emergency (95% diarrhea) behind the school, all without toilet paper and without the option to wash your hands …. this idea will not leave my mind for days.

We had to work out a plan of how we could change this. Back in Germany, I had the opportunity to present this project to the Rotary Club „Willich“. My listeners quickly realized that with little money, many children can be sustainably helped. The projects are sustainable, effective and almost unbeatable in relation to the budget needed and the quality / quantity of the aid. We are building a pilot project and one of our most successful programs has its origins: WASH.

Today, four years later, in cooperation with the two Austrian organizations „Wasser-für-die-Welt“ and „Last-Hope“, the Rotary Clubs „Willich“ and “Neuss”, we have launched the „moeglichkeitenschenken“ initiative Partner agency „springer f3“ and, of course, our partner organization „Bareebo“ has already converted 21 schools and thus helped around 3,000 children.

Talk to us and become a development worker. We have schools that fit into your budget and you can help there effectively, concretely and sustainably.