[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 7, 2020); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/M. Olagoke] I am Mariko Omura, the JVC Cambodia Office Representative. I continue to work remotely from Japan in concert with the staff in Cambodia. For more than 3 weeks, no new COVID-19 infections! The Cambodian Ministry of Health reported on May 4 that there has been no new infected person since April 13 up till today. The total number of cases is 122 with 120 recovered and 2 still remaining in hospital. Most infections were imported. I really hope the decreasing trend will continue. A survey in our operation villages and the results Currently, the local staff…
A Day in the Life of a JVC Cambodia Office Representative @ Phnom Penh
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (February 13, 2020); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/M. Olagoke] Following the previous blog report, I’d like to tell you about my official trip to Phnom Penh, the capital, which I make once or twice a month. A four to five-hour drive completely changes the landscape I go to Phnom Penh by the JVC car or by bus (one-way costs $11). There are many domestic flights to Phnom Penh, so I suppose that most businessmen prefer traveling by plane. From our project site to the capital, it takes four hours in the fastest case or five hours if the traffic is heavy. Phnom Penh is in…
A Day in the Life of a JVC Cambodia Office Representative @ the Project Site
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (December 25, 2019); Translated by J. Tsuchiya/A. Taguchi] I came back to Japan for one month from the middle of last November. Whenever I am in Japan, I often get questions from the people who attend events about what kind of work I do and what my daily schedule is. So, I would like to write here how “A day in the life of a JVC Cambodia office representative” is like. I will start with my tasks at our project site. 7:30 Morning Meeting. Everyone wakes up early in the morning in Cambodia! In Cambodia, many corporations and organizations start work at around 7:30-8:00.…
Coriander Challenge Part 3 – The First Day of Shipping
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (November 25, 2019); Translated by E. Miyazaki/ A. Taguchi] (Continued from Part 2) The first day of shipping It was early July 2019 when we shipped our coriander for the first time. Unfortunately, Ms. Chomno was absent for another appointment, and we could not take any pictures of her. Here, we report how Ms. Bopper did it. We made a video of her journey from the day of the first harvest until the shipping, so please take a look at the video clip. She looks so happy that it makes us smile! (Video captions) She lives with her mother. This reservoir was made with…
Coriander Challenge Part 2 – Coriander Growing Training
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (November 21, 2019); Translated by E. Miyazaki/A. Taguchi] (Continued from Part 1) Coriander growing training JVC provided training on growing coriander to two women, Ms. Bopper and Ms. Chomno, who wanted to try shipping their coriander to the restaurant. The training took place at the end of April 2019, after we went on the study tour to Siem Riep in March. Weekly follow-up After the training was completed, JVC staff conducted a follow-up with Ms. Bopper and Ms. Chomno at least once a week to check how they were doing and if there were any concerns. In order to ship coriander at a constant…
We dug a reservoir!
[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. 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…
Behind the Meeting about “Where should we dig a reservoir?”
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (February 14, 2019); Translated by M. Goto/A. Taguchi] Here is the inside story of the meeting about “Where should we dig a reservoir?“, which we have reported on recently. Two members of the JVC activity area named Somach and Pok planned and facilitated the meeting that was held at the end of December 2018. Pok is a daughter of a farmer whom JVC has supported. By looking at her mother who had been enthusiastically attending the training organized by JVC, she got interested in JVC and applied to become a staff as well. They have been working here as assistants for a few years…
Coriander Challenge Part 1- Observation at Siem Reap
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (November 20, 2019); Translated by E. Miyazaki/M. Hajjaj] I have an achievement that I would like to write about that as a blog on social media networks. I will start sharing that as series from today. Since I regularly update these stories also on Facebook, please would you follow up them also on Facebook (in Japanese)! Study tour to Siem Reap The story goes back to March. There are several farmers of JVC’s project sites, who succeeded in expanding their vegetable gardens and grow their vegetables. Ms. Bopper is one of them. She usually sells her surplus of the vegetables to a middleman, but…
Where should we dig a reservoir?
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (January 10, 2019); Translated by M. Goto/D. Duchaine/K. Stepanchak] Happy New Year! On the last working day of 2018, the JVC Cambodia team held a meeting about “Where should we dig a reservoir?” Villagers, the village headman, and two of executive officers attended the meeting. Why are we going to dig a reservoir? From May to August 2018 (may be longer than this, if we include the preparatory period), we have reviewed our activities for these two years and half. We then realized that more than 70% of the participants who practiced food processing and farming training produced a good result. On the other…
TRC HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO THE LIBRARY AT THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
[Original by Mariko OMURA, Cambodia Project (May 28, 2019); Translated by Y. Nakamura/S. Altman] 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. 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…