[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (June 4, 2019); Translated by M. Goto/M. Hajjaj]
Hello, I’m Omura from Cambodia. Today I would like to report about the reservoir which I reported in “Where should we dig a reservoir?” and “Behind the meeting.”
After narrowing down the candidate places in the meeting with villagers, we interviewed residents about the access condition to water, conducted a geological survey, and consulted with the village headman and the local administrative officer.
Interview with a resident (right) during a field survey.
A discussion with the village headman (center). He is busy with his job in the house, field, village, and other issues. He lost his wife due to the illness.
We finally decided the place to dig a reservoir at the end of January 2019 and held orientations for villagers to explain the rules on how to use it. For instance: “Do not take water more than necessary”; “Plant trees around the reservoir to prevent it from destroying”; and so on.
A local administrative officer (left) also attended the meeting and explained the rules of using the reservoir.
We asked a local company and started excavation in March. A heavy machine came in the empty land.
Conduct a field survey. We wondered why Japanese is written on the machine, and we found that it is a used one, which they bought 10 years ago in Phnom Penh city.
Start digging! …, but it broke down on the first day!
When the machine stopped, a child came out from it. He was working together on his father’s knees…
A lot of people came to see the construction. The machine breaks down, is fixed, and digs the land again. Everyone cheers it.
After the excavation for one week, it’s finally done!
The reservoir is completed. It is 25m in length, 15m in width, and 5m in depth.
We can save water in the rainy season and get ready for the shortage of water in the dry season!
It costed about 300,000 yen (US$ 2,500) to dig the reservoir of this size. We have used your donations with care. We hope to dig more reservoirs this year and continue field surveys. If you are interested in, please donate to the Cambodia project!
