Sam Shrouder, a key supporter

Trip to Cambodia

I travelled to Cambodia, with Lynne Morris from World Vision UK, last October and although the trip happened several months ago, I can still close my eyes and some wonderful images start to dance in my mind. I went to visit two World Vision projects and to meet some of the families and children World Vision works with.

Bustling capital city, Phnom Penh 

After a long journey we made it to Cambodia. Phnom Penh is a bustling capital, full of lovely Buddhist temples and modern buildings intermingled with run down homes and cars. The city’s roads are chaotic and jam packed with scooters. Tiny motorbikes weaving through busy streets carrying two or three passengers. Often an entire family could be seen travelling to school on these little scooters.

Sam with World Vision staff in Cambodia 

The World Vision staff I met in Cambodia were amazing people, dedicated, talented and passionate. I was hosted to visit two projects funded by World Vision UK.  The first project we visited was helping families to deal with the devastating impact of HIV and Aids.  World Vision is working with children who have lost either one or both parents to the virus.  I met several families where the father had died and the mother was HIV positive.  Most of the women I spoke to were full of live and determination, looking for creative solutions to get their children into school and out of poverty. Amazing women who were desperate to provide for the next generation, caring little for their own needs.

Meeting the Chanty family 

One family in particular stick in my mind. We were invited to the home of Mrs Lot Chanthy. She lost her husband three years ago to AIDS. Now she is living with her mother-in-law and three children in a small house at the end of her village. The children are not in school. Mrs Lot Chanthy is HIV positive, her dream is to live for another 10 years. She does not want to leave babies, but give her children as much time as she can.

Overwhelming to think that your dream is just to live.

Please don’t read this and think the time I spent with the family was depressing, the exact opposite really. We laughed, we talked about life in England and Cambodia. We talked about education, we shared medical stories and histories and we talked about our families. World Vision is helping this lovely family by providing a loan for a small business venture. The family are breeding chickens to sell at the local market and then reinvest the money in more chickens. Simple yet effective.  World Vision supports Mrs Lot Chanthy in purchasing, caring for and selling her produce – good practical support, but more than that the World Vision staff in Cambodia are just there. They give the family a link to the outside world, letting the family know they are not forgotten, letting the family know they matter, that they are important.

Invaluable when you feel every day is a struggle to survive.

Visiting The Peace Club

The second project we visited was my favourite because of my interest in  drama. We spent the day with some teenagers who were part of a Peace Club. The Peace Club have been created with the support of World Vision to help young adults deal with the issue of domestic violence within the home. Some of the young people we met were still living in homes were domestic violence was commonplace, often fuelled by alcohol. The Peace Club’s objectives are twofold; to help these young people deal with the reality of their situations, to teach them how to cope and to engage the wider community. One young man told us his story; it was heartbreaking and yet universal. He spoke of his deep anger and frustration at his life and described how he regularly became so angry he did not know what to do with himself, so he resorted to going to the paddy fields and screaming at the top of his lungs in sheer desperation.  The Peace Club and the other teenager have helped him to work through his anger and although the problems remain the same at home he is dealing with them a little better.

The second objective of the club is to devise dance and drama workshops, which they perform for the community. I had the absolute joy of seeing one of these performances – it was brilliant. I sat on a woven mat under some tarpaulin and watched really talented teenagers present a clever and well-produced play that encouraged the audience to consider how damaging domestic violence can be for all involved. The music was fantastic and more importantly the message was fully understood by all, even me.

Children in the local villages 

Before my trip all I really knew about Cambodia was the Khmer Rouge. While in Phnom Penh we visited a genocide museum (and old school building in the centre of the city) and I came face to face with evil. I saw the faces of those tortured and killed and I looked into the black and white photographs of those who committed these crimes. The Khmer Rouge took photographs of all their victims and documented all the torture procedures with clinical precision. One photograph haunts me, a young mother sitting holding her young baby son… knowing what was just about to happen to both of them. Horrifying.  So for me, when you take this into account, the work World Vision is doing is all the more amazing and the people even more resilient than I am able to articulate in this little article.

The trip is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Cambodia and Mrs Lot Chanthy. Both of the projects I visited need money to carry on this great work - please call 01908 841066 for more information or to donate today. Believe me your gift will make a real difference to real people’s lives.

All the best,
Sam

Sarah Driver, our Microfinance advocate

Trip to Armenia

Armenia – a different face of poverty

The first thing that struck me about Armenia was its beauty.  The huge, fountain-filled squares surrounded by imposing buildings in the capital, Yerevan, the awesome Mount Ararat in the far off distance and the snow-capped mountains of Sisian.  It was breath taking!

But the other thing I noticed too, were the rusty, aged trucks by the roadside, the abandoned factories, their walls open to the elements, and the decaying apartment blocks with their broken windows and wayward electrical wires.  Whilst from a distance, villages filled with houses and farms and people bundled up in sweaters may give the impression of prosperity, it’s a different story when you dig a bit deeper.

A sense of dignity yet an air of hopelessness

In a country with extreme weather conditions, the temperatures range from –20 degrees Celsius in the winter to 46 degrees Celsius in the summer, the people have much to cope with.  Whilst they may have homes, all with asbestos roofs, they often don’t have food for the table and spending on healthcare is just 1.3-1.4% of GDP, one of the lowest in the world.

Against the dignity of the people there is a sense of shame and hopelessness as the adult population, well educated in Soviet times with literacy rates of 95%, now find it hard to get work and educate their children to the standards they were used to.  Armenia, on the world’s happiness scale, a true measure of hope for the future, comes one from the bottom, above only Zimbabwe.

World Vision – development in an integrated way

But World Vision, the country’s largest charity, is making a difference.  The real key that I saw is the way our work is truly integrated.  Not only are we addressing the basic educational, health and agricultural needs of the communities we work in, we are also helping in practical ways such as helping to train local mayors with their budgets and providing microfinance to the entrepreneurial poor, helping them work their way to a better life.  World Vision seeks to help build stronger communities with self-determination – building towards their own goals.

Nursery school with eggs and honey
I visited a nursery school, spotless, cheerful and friendly, with a specific focus on vulnerable children.  With World Vision’s help, they now have a yard full of chickens and beehives, which provide eggs and honey for the children and a modest income that helps with their costs.

Cheese making equipment provides another source of income

We went to a milk co-operative where World Vision have provided the machinery to make cheese in a barn redecorated for the purpose by local farmers.  Not only does this ensure another food product within the community, it also provides another outlet for the milk produced, introducing competition and ensuring prices are not unduly suppressed. 

World Vision doesn’t seek to create but to formalise existing situations

On one of our journeys we stopped off at a highway market that World Vision had helped to improve by the provision of electricity, light, and running water.  We had also helped select an operator to be in charge who now donates $50 every month to the Ishkhanasar community fund, a joint account held with World Vision that provides items that the community needs such as school books and tractors.  Farmers, able to take advantage of this improved market, sell their produce for free on this busy crossroads.  For the future, the operator plans to open a more formal, small shop as well as a café.

Microfinance gives a family the chance of a better life

I spent a lot of time interviewing our clients to see what a difference microfinance has made to their lives and the following family’s story says it all.  I met Apetnak Avetesyan in the village of Salvard and his story tells poignantly of how World Vision have helped him.  His two older children, Arthur, aged 8 and Ghazhar, aged 12 were sent to a state boarding school when their mother walked out on the family.  With World Vision’s support, the boys were reunited with their father and younger brother, Samvel.  All three boys are now sponsored and a World Vision social worker makes regular visits to help with the family.

In addition, our microfinance institute, SEF, knowing of their circumstances, gives advice on helping him to expand his business.  Apetnak, who had 2 cows and 2 calves, took out an initial loan for $720.  Now he has 3 cows, 2 calves, 2 sheep, 2 bee hives and 15 hens with plans to trade turkeys in the summer months. When I met him, he had already paid back $350 having raised his monthly salary from $50 to $120.

What touched me most were his boys.  Shy at first, they took time to come out of the house.  Arthur crept out to stand by his father, his muddy boots tied up with a piece of string.  Ghazhar, in the background, tip-toed over to the running water tap and plunged his shoes under them, scrubbing with a brush.  He disappeared again only to return in a clean, faded t-shirt, his black, pointed shoes shiny without a trace of mud.  Straightening up his shoulders, he posed by his father, ready now for us to take his photograph.  A poor but united family on the road to improving their lives with the help of World Vision and a loan from SEF.

Find out more about World Vision's microfinance work

Richard & Nicola's Trip to Bolivia

Visiting Eduardo, Nicola’s sponsored child, Bolivar ADP Region

To be able to visit Nicola’s sponsored child and take photographs showing World Vision’s work in Bolivia, inspired us to extend our holiday in Bolivia and head out to the remote parts of the country overland.

First stop – Oruro

The trip to Oruro in an ubiquitous Toyota Land cruiser took around 3 hours driving due south from La Paz. The streets of Bolivia are always busy with buses and lorries all packed and overloaded with goods or people. Frequent check points made progress slow, but allowed us to see the local traders and village folk carrying on their business decked in colourful clothes and carrying impossibly large bundles. Finally, we arrived in Oruro and settled into our hotel by the local bus station. Evidently the bus station operated 24 hours a day in this busy crossroads town. We were in for a restless night!

Bolivar ADP

The next morning we set off to Bolivar ADP, soon leaving the black tarmac roads behind as we travelled on dirt roads heading ever higher in altitude. Even this road surface deteriorated until our speed was reduced to a crawl over lumpy rock strewn tracks. The road snaked up into the mountains and we passed local villagers ploughing their fields with oxen and traditional wooden ploughs. After four hours driving, we arrived at an isolated group of school buildings.

A chance to see the difference World Vision is making

Here was our first encounter with World Vision's activities. We were treated to an amazingly colourful and energetic display of dancing and singing with a multitude of performances from poetry and acting to dancing from each section of the school.

The mothers of the children had arranged a display to show how they have used the knowledge gained from World Vision to introduce a wide range of vegetables and fruit to their diet to provide a much broader choice over and above the Bolivian staple foods, which are llama and potatoes. Although Bolivia boasts an amazing array of colourful potato variants, (over 256 at the last count), the nutritional value of this diet can be low.

We were told that some of the farmers were confused when first they saw a tomato plant as they had no idea which bit they were supposed to eat, the leaves or the red fruit!

The food program, using greenhouses and irrigation, has helped to diversify the crop varieties and nutritional opportunities for this ADP area.

Dotted across the ADP area yellow roofed greenhouses (built by villagers from kits provided by World Vision) that are filled with humid air and healthy green leaved cauliflowers, lettuces and tomato plants.

The isolated dwellings are dependent on the water supplies from streams and rivers, which have been captured in concrete storage tanks.

It is then used to irrigate the field systems or greenhouses and in some cases is channelled to power water wheels for grinding corn to make flour for bread or cereal.

Everywhere we saw the progress made by World Vision in ensuring funds and materials reach the remote villagers.

Humbled by our welcome
Dressed in their brightly coloured and elaborately woven traditional dress, the villagers were all amazingly patient about our late arrival and full of enthusiasm at the prospect of visitors from outside Bolivia.

At each stop on the journey around the ADP we were treated to short plays, recitations of poetry, dancing and musical displays including the local brass band who entertained us with much gusto. We were truly astounded at how much effort had been put into making us feel welcomed by the local community. Whilst we felt tired from our sleep deprivation and long overland journey, many of the locals had walked for many hours to have the chance to meet us and this humbled us both greatly.

Villa Victoria, Eduardo’s home

We journeyed on and finally arrived at Eduardo’s home where we received a warm welcome from his family and neighbours who had all come to the house to meet us. The house had been decorated in bright textiles and a bench had been arranged and covered with bright fabrics.

Eduardo's father explained how they had just a small crop of potatoes to feed the family and one llama to provide some income. He explained that they did have a second llama but it had recently been killed by a local fox. We realised that this unfortunate incident would have a severe impact on the family's ability to earn an income so we both decided to arrange for another llama to be purchased for the family as soon as possible to restore their earning potential.

We were very pleased recently to receive a photo of Eduardo standing proudly beside their new llama.

It was a real pleasure to see the happy faces of the children cycling home from school on their World Vision supplied bicycles, which cut their journey down to under 2 hours. The arduous trip being an even longer 3 hour trip without this donated pedal power.

The rewarding day ended with a visit to a local school to present ID cards  to the children. These ID cards are an important document allowing access to schooling, medical care and other welfare services, which many remote village people would not possess without World Vision’s help.

A privilege

Finally we met up with World Vision’s staff for a meal where they welcomed us and told us of their responsibilities. It was a moving moment for us both to be in the presence of such dedicated staff and the evening and speeches were made more poignant by the experiences and sights we had seen during the day.

Despite the remoteness of the villages and farms, wherever we went we were
warmly greeted and entertained by people who smiled and had a strong family and work ethic. There are no health and safety regulations or work time restrictions and yet these people are happy and hard working folk.

It made us both feel humbled to be so very lucky to be able to live in the
Western world where we take so much for granted. We thought of children and adults we knew at home who could not contemplate how they would survive if forced to endure the hardships in some of the regions of Bolivia.

We were privileged to be allowed to visit the ADP and came away determined to do more to help World Vision and others to provide assistance in whatever form possible to help the lives of others who are so far behind our easy and comfortable lifestyle.

Darren and Sarah’s trip to Bangladesh

Visiting The Student Support Centre’s sponsored Nalitabari education project in Bangladesh

In November, Darren and Sarah will travel to the village of Nalitabari in northern Bangladesh on behalf of The Student Support Centre. They will be travelling alongside the charity World Vision to film exactly how the Nalitabari education project has transformed the lives of local children.

Darren and Sarah will be writing a regular blog featuring updates, pictures and videos capturing the before, during and after experiences of their trip. Their blog can be accessed here: The Student Support Centre’s blog