Kerang Rotary Schoolies Alternative 2018

Last year, our team completed the construction of a mushroom house at the Footprints Farm (now referred to as the ‘Old Farm’).  This project saw the building of a shade structure and shelving to house the mushroom beds.  Over the past 12 months, the mushroom house has provided a good source of this essential staple to the diet.  However.......in 2018, the heavy rain lead to major flooding in Siem Reap and surrounds - including parts that had not been affected by flood waters before.  The impact on the Green Gecko Footprints Farm was HUGE!!  Never before had almost the entire farm been under water.  Crops were lost and the pond was so full of water that the fish stock literally swam away and chickens could not be kept. Tania and Rem had already purchased a second block that was to be an ancillary farm.  It too hard been impacted by flood water, but to a far lesser extent.  All the hard work that had gone into preparing this second block and getti...

Today we headed to Green Gecko, an NGO run by Tania and Rem.  Our tasks today were: (1) make the grade boxes for the vegetable garden (to prevent soil and plants being washed away), (2) construct a fence along the sides of the vegetable patches to keep the wandering cows away from the plants, and (3) de-construct the mushroom house from the Old Farm in preparation for relocation to the New Farm. This project was funded by the Kerang Agricultural Research Farm and they have supported this project for a number of years now.  Their donation paid for the vegetable patch development, the fencing and part of the new Visitor Shelter. Over to Paddy for more details.... In human history, never before have Cambodians lay witness to the human suffering that occurred on Thursday morning. Baxter’s Holes and Poles employed contractors Mr Jon and James to set to work digging holes for their poles to make their new fence. As they had so bravely done the day before, Paddy and his Group 1 ...

An unusual challenge came our way at the school - could we repaint the mural on the end of the building to represent a sense of community.  Thanks to Billy and Ethan for taking on the challenge.  Over to them to tell you how it happened...... On Wednesday whilst others were continuing to liven up the school with a fresh coat of paint, Ethan and I were awarded the special honour of painting a mural at the front of the school. We were informed of our task on Tuesday by the monks and administrators of the school. We were to replace the 3 existing murals with new ones that would convey the idea of a ‘happy community’. We spent the rest of the day coming up with designs that would exude this message. The following day it was time to get to work. At first we were very trepidatious as the existing murals were of a high quality that we couldn’t hope to match given that we only had a few hours to complete it. We were so pressed for time that we even decided to repaint one of the exi...

You’ve heard the adage.....but sometimes, when it is broke, you have to think laterally about how to fix it. Cambodia certainly shows us some ingenious solutions.......

Today saw the second day of our painting project with Life and Hope Association. Arriving at around 8:45 to the delight of the Cambodian children, we set out to work and continued painting the school. Whilst Ethan and Billy spent the majority of their day occupied with their impressive murals, the rest of the crew proceeded by painting what had been missed yesterday. The warmer weather meant a few tired faces by lunchtime, however after re-fuelling at a local restaurant everyone was reinvigorated and ready for the afternoons activities; landscaping and planting trees out the front of the school. Breaking several of our tools, it seemed as if Jon was working against the cause. But after a great effort from everyone else, we were able to leave the school with a fresh and friendly looking front area. All in all, seeing the impact we had on the kids, and the difference our contribution made on their education and livelihoods, the experience could be summed up as humbling and rewarding; wit...