Our next stop at Phnom Penh was primarily driven by World Renew. World Renew is the development and disaster response agency of our church’s denomination and one that we regularly support. We had wanted to visit one or two of their field locations on this trip and Cambodia was one that they suggested. Their Cambodian office is based out of Phonm Penh but we spent two days about 2 1/2 hours south of Phonm Penh in various small farming communities around the town of Chhuk. It was a full two days, meeting their local partner organization and visiting 10 farmers/families. It was a learning experience and good for all of us to see. Cambodia has definitely been through a lot in the last 30-40 years and there was more would could have seen of that history. However, rather than visiting some of the killing fields which might have been a bit much for the girls, we discussed with our local guide some of the history here and tried to explained to the girls what happened. So though we didn’t ignore the civil war, the focus was on the work of local agencies that we support that try to improve the lives of rural Cambodians.
Just some fun pictures of cultural experiences from our walk around Phnom Penh, mostly to find dinner. We quickly discovered Cambodia has some of the most interesting candy bar variations to big name brands and though the rats nest of wiring seems to be found in lots of places in the world, this was one of the more interesting ones.
Our first tuk tuk ride was in Phnom Penh. Annika had to sit on Marika’s lap to squeeze us all in.
Chhuk
We first visited a partner organization for World Renew called OREDA which stands for Occupation of Rural Economic Development and Agriculture. We learned about the training they do in the area and how they organize farmers to try and improve their market access.
We then visited a few leaders and farmers out in the rural countryside. Even out in the rural setting, there was a contrast between some really poor houses and some new and quite nice houses, and regardless of “quality/niceness”, some that were well kept-up and others with garbage everywhere. Same with the farmers we met. Some were just raising chickens with help from OREDA to supplement the family income, and some were full blown farms with diversification of livestock and crops. With so many stops it would be too much to explain it all but here are some highlights.
Our first stop was at a lady who used micro finance to start a noodle shop and now has a full restaurant. The microfinance aspect is something that Julia finds very interesting, as she did a lot of research on it while doing her Masters degree in the early 2000s. All the tables were sit tables and each little section had a hammock for relaxing on before or after your meal which the girls gladly took advantage of. Turns out that is a common theme in this part of Cambodia.
We of course had lunch at the restaurant with her, the World Renew and OREDA staff and ourselves. We got the true cultural experience with the chicken foot in the soup!
After lunch and a short nap in the hammocks, we sat down with her and her husband and we got an opportunity to ask questions of how World Renew and OREDA helped them when they started and the effect of the program in their area. When things were first starting off the goal was to save $0.25/month. Since then the community savings fund has grown to 60+ members and they have now saved $55,000 as a community. This now acts as the community bank, so to speak, to allow new loans to be granted and to be self-sustaining. Sitting down, asking questions, and listening to their stories would be the theme for those two days.
Another reoccurring theme was everyone’s desire to give us fresh coconut water to drink. Here at our first stop, the teenager was sent up the tree and they tried to give us two or three each to drink!! It was some of the sweetest coconut water I’ve ever had.
One of our stops at a group leader’s house we got the full farm tour. In addition to the usual chickens, he also raised ducks and hogs and then had planter beds of fresh vegetables that he fertilized with pig manure. As a leader he helped others get products to market as well as did training on proper techniques for other farmers.
And of course, more coconut!
Most houses were like this with the bedrooms closed and up on stilts, but the rest of the living area out in the open below.
One farmer we visited had used loans to diversify into raising lobsters and tilapia in addition to her chickens. She said it required training and setting up the holding tanks for the young lobster but the market price was much better than chicken.
Kind of fun to go down these crazy bumpy backroads and find a World Renew sticker on someone’s sink.
Lots of visits!
Though a few farms had some older tractors, what was way more common were these machines that had two wheels and along handles. In most cases they were hooked up to wagons to haul things around. However I saw one with big paddle wheels attached vs the rubber wheels and I’m guessing that it is used in the rice fields to plow the trenches (in lieu of the water buffalo). It wasn’t planting season so I didn’t see any in the fields, but I did see one on a dike where it had hoses attached and it was being used to pump water from a ditch up into a field. So a multi-purpose machine!
During our overnight stay in the small town, the World Renew staff and driver introduced us to Cambodian BBQ which you do yourself at the restaurant table.
We also stopped the second day at another restaurant with bamboo huts and hammocks for a late lunch before heading back to Phnom Penh. The girls thought restaurants should do this in Canada. Seems we have been out of Canada long enough that we had to remind them of the nature of winter and that an open air concept in Canada would need to do really well in the non-winter months to make this concept work 
When we arrived back in Phnom Penh we had time for a quick stop to the World Renew office. The girls are pictured with the World Renew employee who was our guide, coordinator, and interpreter! At the end of the trip she gave us each a gift of a Cambodian scarf that her aunt had made.
Overall it was a tiring couple of days with travel and lots of visits, but it was a great learning experience for all of us. It was nice to not do the normal tourist thing for a change.