The year was marked by significant developments and activities such as the launch of Enhancing HIV and OVC Programmes with Holistic Housing Solutions supported by the Elton John Aids Foundation, World Bank’s approval of the one year extension of the program on Strengthening Civil Society-Government Partnership to Deliver Land Tenure Security, the evolution of our Housing and Community Development Program, covering more project areas both in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and the growth of families served in our Water and Sanitation program in Siem Reap – both supported by The Charitable Foundation, and the success of Khmer Harvest Build that allowed us to build homes for families, strengthen our ties with our affiliates, global village volunteers and donors, and build new promising relationships with local private companies, among others.

We also concluded the previous year with the successful implementetaion of our first ever flood response project where we assisted resiliency of 490 families to flood and disaster.

We embrace 2012 with so much fervor as we prepare to implement the extension of our HIV OVC program and gear-up along with HFH Australia for the Hands and Hearts Build and the Hope Journey headed by HFHI CEO Jonathan Reckford. We are excited to host more GV teams in Battambang.

We are grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from you and we look forward to the wealth of new opportunities that await us this year.

2012 will not be successful as we hope it to be without your support. We trust that you will continue to share your resources, time and skills to help us in sheltering more families and building more communities.

Bernadette Bolo-Duthy, Country Director

HFH Cambodia and HFH Australia collaborate for another exciting build happening in March – the Hands and Hearts Build, which will host 50 volunteers from Australia. 5 vulnerable families will own their homes in Trapiang Anhchanh, Phnom Penh at the end of the build and more vulnerable families will also receive support from this project.

The special build will fund a long term HIV OVC project that aims to improve the shelter security of families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and OVC by providing secure houses and access to safe water service, and to help increase their livelihood opportunities.

Friends, we invite you to build with your hands and with your heart.

05 to 06 December: EHOPHHS facilitated the Basic Construction training to 25 family members at SEAD’s office in Toul Kork, Phnom Penh. Em Thonnak and Kelvin Au, HFH Cambodia Construction supervisors were the facilitators. The participants learned how to read house designs, basic technical construction techniques, calculate cost estimations, and the importance of site safety.

20 to 23 December: A Family Financial Management and Chicken Raising training was conducted by Sharing Experience and Adapted Development (SEAD) in collaboration with HFH Cambodia. The purpose of the training was to teach the villagers how to improve their income-generation, manage their financial resources and how to analyze and calculate their expenses and savings effectively. The villagers also learned ways of planning for their family’s future. The session also included the agricultural skill where participants were taught how to successfully raise chicken and ducks to help increase their home-base incomes.

26 to 30 December: 30 home partners from Russey Keo District, Phnom Penh participated in this five -day training in facilitated by Khemara and organized by HFH Cambodia. The training is again on income generation particularly about Chicken and Fish Raising. The trainees were taught the right raising methods to help improve their income. Ms. Sao Sophan HFH Cambodia home partner said, “I’m happy that I’m able to join this training. I know nothing about chicken and fish raising before, but I learned a lot now. I will share with my family what I learned from this training and decide whether we will raise fish or chicken. I hope we can start soon. ”

In response to the needs identified in their previous visit (March 2011), the team of doctors, nurses, dentists, physiotherapists was this time joined by chiropractors, thereby being able to serve significant medical needs of most of the community people.

Along with the medical mission, a First Aid training was also given to Habitat home partners and other villagers; equipping them with important basic knowledge in first aid.

The trainees are given the responsibility to share their knowledge and be able to help other villagers during emergencies by employing first aid techniques before reaching the hospital. Each trainee received a medical book called “Where There is No Doctor” which was translated to Khmer.

While preparing lunch for her family, Nhim Phy, one of the new 22 home owners from Khmer Harvest Build project, gladly shared her thoughts about being in their new home.

Nhim Phy and husband Ren Ran, and her three children, Phyrak, Sreylen, and Sreylin moved to their new homes to begin a new chapter of their lives at the New Holistic Hope Community in Oudong. “It has been about a month and a half and my children look healthier and feel healthier. I think this is because of the clean surroundings and the fresh air that we breath, ” said Nhim Phy. Along with their new live, she and her husband are now working at the farm nearby where each of them are able to earn about US$3 a day by plowing the field, planting, watering vegetables, and feeding the fish. “My husband and I are now working at the farm with the other family members. The income may not be as much as before, but just enough for our daily needs. We are also able to buy vegetables and fish from the farm where we work at lower price.”

All three of their children are now attending the school nearby – Arey Kasob Primary School. Speaking to Nhim Phy’s daughter Sreylen, she says, “I’m very happy for being in 2nd grade. I made a lot of new friends. Aside from studying, I also enjoy being the playground during breaks.”

Chum Savy:

Chum Savy invites us to sit and join her in her brand new house. We met her at the community entrance when she was on her way back from the farm.

Unlike Nhim Phy, Chum Savy moved in right after the big build. She right away took advantage of the opportunity of applying for work at the farm in order to help one of her children who provides her support for their daily living and monthly repayment.

As a single mother, Savy is driven by her goal of sending her children to go through decent education. “My children are now studying in different grades, fourth grade, second grade, and kindergarten. I am so proud of them and excited for all the good things they will learn from school .”

“This first disaster response effort intensifies our effort to achieve our goal to assist families to be better prepared when disaster  trikes. Siem Reap is one of the five largely affected areas by the monsoon flooding this year however, the project requires more funding to  each out to more vulnerable families affected in other provinces,” says Bernadette Bolo-Duthy, HFH Cambodia Country Director.

Noun Sarun, a 26-year old mother from Pouk, watched her stilt house fall on the ground due to the strong winds. When asked about her experience she said, “I ran out of the house carrying my son when I felt that our house was about to plunge and we settled in my  parents house near the road while the floor and roof were still in tact and before the flood water started to rise.”

Another beneficiary from Angkor Chum district, Hem Yok said during the distribution “I am happy that I am able to receive help. I will now be able to use them to repair my house, and my children will be safer again.”

The district governors of Angkor Chum and Pouk attended the distribution along with local authorities and representative of Cambodian Red Cross. They expressed their thanks to the support provided by Habitat for Humanity United Kingdom and Jersey Overseas Aid Commission.

During the distribution, HFHC also provided a short talk about how they can properly make use of their new tools and on maintaining proper hygiene in their homes.

The baseline survey was divided into two main activities, the direct interview with the home partners and focus group discussion. The direct interview with home partners primarily focused on families’ socio-conomic,
health condition, daily living condition, their access to water and sanitation, electricity connection, and livelihood opportunities before receiving their new houses or house renovation.

Mr. Kheng Virak, Project Officer for EHOPHHS said, “baseline survey is key to the project’s success as it provides information which we use to measure the differenc of peoples living condition before and after the project.” The project team continues to work on EHOPHHS’ successful completion and is
gearing up for the second phase.

A group of 16 people consisting of HFH Cambodia staff, MTWG (full words) and community members- started its two-day work on the installation of the poles to signify land demarcation based on official reblocking maps approved by the Provincial Governor.

The team once again plans to carry on with the installation work on December 21 and 22 for the task completion for block I and II and aims to complete the rest of the six blocks by  January 2011.

The project site was divided into main 5 blocks and each was divided into sub-blocks. This is a key activity to illustrate that the project is now moving forward to reach its target of serving hundreds of families living within the area.

The two-year project in Battambang started in 2008, and was extended for another year to continue the project implementation. The installation of boundary poles is a key activity to illustrate that the project continues to
move forward in serving hundreds of families with secure land tenure.

Joining the workshop were representatives from Caritas, Build Bright University, Urban Poor Development Fund, and HFH Cambodia construction team.

The participants discussed trends on low cost housing designs and how they can work together on a design that will allow more people to access safe shelter. The participants also discussed key design principles and provided feedback on two house design proposals consisting of a stilt house with thatch wall and zinc roof and stilt house on zinc wall and roof; both designs cost lower than USD799.

The proposed designs will make use of more sustainable bamboo as a structural element. The participants presented their feedback on each of the design in relation to Habitat’s key design principles. Habitat team noted down the comments and to further refine the design to make the house more suitable and sustaining for the home partners.

The meeting with its senior management provided an avenue for HFH Cambodia to report progress on the EHOPHHS project, discuss lessons learned and project challenges and present data collection progress for the baseline survey. Participants also discussed the second phase of the project Chab Pdeum Chivet Thmey (New Start, New Life) – for 2012 and how the lessons learnt from the first phase were integrated into the new project.

Another highlight of the meeting was the discussing and agreement on the future steps that the project was to take such as ensuring that the follow-on project adopts and incorporates all learning from first project, the finalisation of project evaluation and INTRAC report, advocacy based on project evaluation and the oopportunity for other follow on projects.

Future EJAF and partners’ build in Cambodia for coming year was also planned.

The meeting was hosted by Anne Aslett, Executive Director, Mohamed Osman, International Grants Manager and other members of the EJAF team from finance and fund raising.