In order to insure the longevity of the church , it is necessary for the local Cambodian Christians to have a way to adequately support themselves. Economic development is a must. Cambodia Outreach (New Life Fellowship of Churches in Cambodia and New Life Foundation Cambodia) have been involved in the following relief and development activities:
Houses for the Poor In the past years we've been had the privilege to partner with Samaritan's Purse Canada and build more than 60 houses for the poor. The original house is usually a thatch hut or a wooden building that is falling apart. With generous donations from donors we've been able to build, small, but suitale an permanant homes for those who are in desperate need of them. We can build these homes for $1,500. If you would like, we would love to build a home and give the owner a photo of you, the person/family or church that donated it. This is especially helpful during the rainy season.
Rice Banks Rice banks are ways for the church to buy havested rice and then re-sell it at a time when the subsistence-level farmers lack. During harvest season (usually around December of each year) through generous donations from people like you, the village church is able to buy rice that the farmers are selling at a reasonable and fair price. It is bought locally and the local family farmers are blessed. About November of December of each year families who have stored rice from the previous harvest begin to run out. Many of them literally have nothing left to eat. They must borrow money or rice from "loan sharks" in the village at high prices, which they must pay back at harvest season, thus diminishing the amount of rice they have to eat even more. However, if the church has prepared a rice bank the villager (believer and unbeliever) can come and "borrow" rice to hold them over until harvest and the church doesn't charge them the interest like the loan shark does. We've done this for many years and it's a wonderful system the Cambodians love to use. We would like to receive $10,000 before Christmas to help with rice banks in our various village churches. Contact Pastor Jesse at jesse@cambodiaoutreach.org for more information.
Water Wells Cambodia is comprised of subsistance-level rice farmers. As the population has grown the amount of mouths to feed of the land grows, too, but the size of the land stays the same. These family rice farmers depend solely on the rain. If there is rain, there is rice; if there is no rain, there is no rice. No rice means no food. The end of December is usually the harvest time. While the Christian world is celebrating the birth of our Lord, many of these farmers have consumed all the rice they stored from last year and are now going without. It's common for poor villagers to come to our pastors and ask for a handful or cup of rice so they will have something to eat for their evening meal. We have a vision of digging water wells in the villages where we have churches that can be used for irrigation and drinking. It's difficult to find pure water through digging wells in Cambodia so we will want to provide a filtration system for each house, as well. In the past we have used a simple sand filter 5 gallon bucket with a spigot. Pour in the bad water, out comes the good water! It's wonderful. The costs for digging wells varies from place to place in Cambodia, depending upon how far you must dig and how far you must haul the well-digging equipment. However, the approximate cost is $2,000 per well. Costs for a sand filter for a family is $15 and cost for a water pump is $350.
Rice Cooperatives
Vegetable Farming
Raising Goats, Chickens and Pigs
Rice Bank
Water Well
RiceFarming
Water Well Pump
Houses for the Poor
Rice Farming
Completed House for the Poor
Rice Farming
Rice Bank
Completed House for the Poor
Poverty in Cambodia
Please consider the following statistics regarding poverty in Cambodia:
78% of the population is estimated to live on less than USD$2 per day.
Of the 13.4 million Cambodians 10.3 million are poor by the $2-per-day standard.
Only 44% of Cambodians have access to clean water, 22% to toilets or latrines, 17% to electricity, 0.2% to the Internet, and only 4% of roads are paved.
More than 80% of Cambodians live in the countryside where little has changed in subsistence farming.
40% of the population live below poverty level - the equivilent of less than USD$1 per day. Poverty is four times higher among rural Cambodians than among city-dwellers. Farmers are the majority of the poor.
Nearly half of the 24 provinces are food-deficient areas.
Nearly half of Cambodian children are malnourished and infant mortality is on the rise.
Recently 200 families in Kraing Yov Commune, Kandal Province, gave their last .50 to taxi drivers to go to Phnom Penh to beg. Some passed out from hunger before they arrived and others in the commune didn't have the money for the taxi.
Economic growth during the past decade has not reduced poverty. The gap between the rich and poor is widening. The poor see the rich, but the rich don't see the poor.
Agricultural investments account for 8 percent of all annual aid. At the core of the problem is the poor use of land.
