A new outfit..

On the occasion of Khmer New Year the children at Samrong receive new cloths. They all very much look forward to it and they are subsequently very happy and excited and thus a new group picture!

A new road (2)

 Further to our news from December 2009 we received various donations to complete the road surface inside and outside the gate. Particularly in the wet season the road was sometimes an impossible hurdle to take. With all hands engaged, the road was thoroughly fixed. And the volunteers helped as well!

Last April the manager Dr Vyrak together with the staffmembers Bunrom and Sarith went for training to The Fruit Republic in Dalat, Vietnam. This training visit was set up thanks to the assistance of our main sponsor Rijk Zwaan and was meant to familiarize the Samrong staff with the professional way of growing fruit and vegetables in the tropics. The staff learned a lot and will put this new knowledge in good use in 'our greenhouse'. The rainy season is now approaching and this is particularly the time of the year where the greenhouse should prove itself. We are watching the growth of the seedlings carefully.
In the next news we will advise about the results. The greenhouse is 'alive', the irrigation works (solar powered!) and the little plants are growing (with ups and downs of course but that is to be expected under the circumstances).

The subsidy application through the Dutch organization NCDO was approved and in the meantime we received a prepayment on the subsidy and part of the works has been subcontracted amongst which the building of a new staffhouse. The local contractor is making swift headway and the groundfloor is almost finished. Next is the 1st floor with the solarpanels on the roof. They will be starting with the solarwork shortly.

Due to disappointing catch results this spring and the ever increasing cost of fish food it was decided to terminate the farming of fish. Also the care for the pigs turned out to be expensive and labor intensive and that activity was stopped also. All pigs were sold.

During the first half of 2010 we have been able to expand the circle of sponsors and donors. We are very honored and grateful that more and more people choose WWCF and Samrong as a project which they wish to support. Specifically we like to mention the photo exhibition which Ollie Smallwood from England organized. He donated the proceeds from this exhibition to Samrong for which we are very thankful. Please look at his pictures atwww.olliesmallwoodphotography.com/index.html

In July next, WWCF board members Simone van der Putten (secretary) and Peter Maat (chairman) will travel to Cambodia to inspect the progress of the staffhouse building and conduct negotiations with various officials and subcontractors.