[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 28, 2019); Translated by Y. Nakamura/S. Altman]
The scene of the transfer ceremony on February 27th, 2019. At a courtyard of the Royal University of Agriculture of Cambodia.
Hello, everyone. JVC Cambodia Office transferred the TRC (Trainer’s Resource Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development) to the Library at the Royal University of Agriculture of Cambodia on February 27th, 2019.
This library was built in collaboration with a Japanese organization.
We started the TRC in 1994. It had been putting books out for general use and lending them to the public for free, having a library of about six thousand books related to agriculture, rural village development and the environment both at home and abroad. After much discussion with the parties concerned, we came to the conclusion that it was best to transfer the TRC to the inside of the Royal University of Agriculture of Cambodia, where the youth with responsibility for future agriculture in Cambodia were learning. This university specializes in agriculture since it was established in 1964, providing pupils with a whole range of agricultural education not only in technical knowledge but also management and development. A graduate from this university is working as a staff member at the JVC Cambodia Office. This university consists of Departments of Agriculture, Biology, Agricultural Environment and Development, Agricultural Technology, Fishery, Veterinary Science, and Agricultural Business Administration. JICA and some Japanese universities have given supports to the university. A lot of promising and fantastic students have been learning there.
Pee, the project manager at JVC Cambodia Office, is the graduate.
We had been operating the TRC within JVC Cambodia Office for a long time, but only sixty people or so recently came to use it this year. On the contrary, one hundred people are using the Library at the Royal University of Agriculture every day. We started to discuss about this transfer hoping these important agricultural documents could be utilized by more people.
First of all, starting by cleaning up the warehouse.
Since we were having difficulty in bringing so many documents at one time, we rented a warehouse in a reliable location and temporarily stored them there. We brought them there using trucks, taking several round trips on the moving day.
Mr. Imai, JVC’s president, came to attend the transfer ceremony and made a speech.
A message from Imai, JVC’s president
JVC was established with the purpose of supporting refugees across the border between Thailand and Cambodia. JVC started activities in Cambodia to build a village without refugees in the middle of 1980’s. The TRC, which was established in 1994 has been broadly utilized as a place to offer documents for practical activities such as agricultural training sessions and also to let people study to build sustainable agriculture. I was surprised that even researchers at the Royal University of Agriculture had come to the TRC.
Even though the TRC ended its function as time passed, the value of the books and documents at the TRC has never faded. It is great pleasure to JVC that they have been transferred to the Royal University of Cambodia and are utilized by young people studying agriculture. I hope many people will utilize them for the future in Cambodia.
Setting nets to prevent animals or birds from creeping in through the openings. Ritu, a driver, was outstanded!
We successfully completed the transfer ceremony in sunny weather in collaboration with many concerned people. We brought many bookshelves of documents into the library, starting with documents with registration numbers, and many students started utilizing them as of May 2019. We hope these various precious documents related to agriculture will be effectively utilized by the young people responsible for the future in Cambodia and contribute to the future development there. (Some portion of documents were not transferred but still stored at JVC. We will utilize them also.)
Subdividing documents into carton boxes in accordance with their contents.
Documents were not directly delivered to the library but temporarily kept in storage in order to give out registration numbers. En, JVC’s staff member in charge of TRC at the time (on the left) and the Head of the Library at the Royal University of Agriculture (on the right.)
A part of the Library at the Royal University of Agriculture. Documents were put on shelves, as their registration numbers were given out. A nice and tidy library.
Mr. Imai, JVC’s president, makes a speech. Deputy President of the Royal University of Agriculture at the center. Head of the Library at the Royal University of Agriculture on the right.
Students attentively listening to a speech.
Together with people concerned at the Royal University of Agriculture and JVC’s staff. Holding a commemorative plaque.
