At the beginning of 2021, we have completed the complete renovation of 4 houses.
We have stopped the construction of 2 other sites, because of the Covid-19 which does not spare the inhabitants of the slums of Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
Although the inhabitants of the capital are gradually regaining their freedom, some of the precarious neighborhoods where we work are still classified as red zones, with strict confinement. The sanitary crisis has strongly slowed down our project these last two months, but we have managed to complete the renovation of 4 houses in the communities of Preak / Preak Ta Kong in the first quarter.
These first complete renovations are experimental at this stage. In fact, in 2020, we provided renovation kits to 43 households. And after a few years of presence in these very poor neighborhoods, we are finding that the kits are sometimes insufficient to secure the homes and provide sanitary facilities to the families.
So we want to go further. Our team identifies families in need, but also able to get involved in the project. Indeed, each selected household participates to the tune of 20 % in the renovation (1 000$ on a maximum budget of 5 000$). We then take care of making the plans, ordering the material, recruiting the workforce and coordinating the work site.
Mrs. P.V. is now very proud to pose in front of her new house which shelters the 9 members of her family, in this context of confinement.
We hope to be able to quickly resume work in these neighborhoods, where we have also halted construction of a water drainage system to stem repeated flooding.
But what we hope for even more is that the strict containment and ongoing vaccination will free up the most precarious residents, who have already been hit hard by the economic crisis and the fall in tourism in 2020. 90% of the families we interviewed in the spring of 2020 had already revealed that they had lost income, 59 % lacked money for food, and 36 % faced health problems.
> To go further :
"I struggled a lot to feed everyone" (April 2021)
May 25, 20201
