Bring Safe Water to Cambodia for Mothers like Na

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“I have nothing to rely on.” - Na

Cambodia

GPS: 11, 104
  • Story
  • Cambodia
  • FAQ's

Your gift provides a clean water source, health training, and hope to mothers like Na living in Cambodia.

 

Na’s Life Svay Leu, Cambodia

September 2021

 

In Cambodia, 1 in 5 people do not have access to clean water, and 1 in 3 people do not have a toilet. People defecate out in the open, which has created a major public health crisis.

Na lives in Roung Reoung Village with her husband, Pov, and their three daughters. Na works hard every day, cleaning, washing, and cooking for her family. When she has time, she even picks up odd jobs around the village for extra income.

Na’s family relies on a hand-dug pond in their yard for water. During the rainy season the hole fills with water, but it is murky with mud and unsafe to drink.

“Our children often get stomach aches, fevers, and coughs,” said Na, referring to the waterborne diseases the pond water carries.

When the rains cease, the pond dries up completely, forcing the family to use their meager income to purchase expensive water.

“I have nothing to hope for,” said Na. “We have nothing to rely on.”

This is common in Cambodia, where torrential rains are followed by months of clear skies. Many families are in the same position as Na’s. 

Sometimes, Na has to keep her oldest daughter, age 11, home from school so that she can work to make money for food. It grieves her, but she has no other choice.When you give safe water, you give to families just like Na’s in Cambodia. You’ll give clean water, health and opportunity, helping to empower local communities and address the public health concerns for the country.

 

About Cambodia

 

Cambodia is home to an estimated 16 million people, where 76% of the population live with limited to no access to safe water.

Around 1 in 3 people, or 32% of the population, do not have a sanitary toilet so they go outside in the open. This creates an ongoing public health crisis, coupled with the fact that 34% of Cambodians do not have a hand washing facility with soap and water.

Lifewater’s vision is not just “safe water for every child,” but also “the love of Christ for all.” For over 40 years, this call to action has propelled a relentless commitment to serving others as Jesus would. It’s with this commitment to serving as the hands and feet of Jesus that Lifewater is adopting a new “church first” approach in Northern Cambodia.

This pilot approach prioritizes reconciliation and community relations. It acknowledges the generations of trauma brought on by the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, and it seeks to foster trust within communities, a building block to progress.

Today, Lifewater teams are at work identifying existing churches and church organizations within the country. Afterwards, they’ll provide training, capacity building, and WASH programming. Each church will adopt one village, nurturing their neighbors with the love of Jesus and the results of improved sanitation and hygiene.

Give safe water to Cambodia today.

 

Am I sponsoring a specific village?

Your gift will help bring the good news of Jesus as well as life-saving sanitation and hygiene practices to Northern Cambodia.

Will I receive updates?

Yes! You can expect regular updates on progress in Northern Cambodia. Lifewater is just beginning a “church first” approach, and we’ll update you as milestones and stories of transformation arrive.

Can I visit programs and/or my sponsored water project?

Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.

Where does Lifewater work?

With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).

Why these countries and regions?

Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.

Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.

Can I request a water project in a specific country?

Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.

What percent of funds go towards programs?

Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.

Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.

Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.

Is Lifewater approved/vetted by 3rd party organizations?

Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:

Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.

How does Lifewater integrate faith into its work?

Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.

Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.

To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.

Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.

Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.

What is Lifewater’s process? What does the organization do, and how does it do it?

Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.

We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.

Story

Your gift provides a clean water source, health training, and hope to mothers like Na living in Cambodia.

 

Na’s Life Svay Leu, Cambodia

September 2021

 

In Cambodia, 1 in 5 people do not have access to clean water, and 1 in 3 people do not have a toilet. People defecate out in the open, which has created a major public health crisis.

Na lives in Roung Reoung Village with her husband, Pov, and their three daughters. Na works hard every day, cleaning, washing, and cooking for her family. When she has time, she even picks up odd jobs around the village for extra income.

Na’s family relies on a hand-dug pond in their yard for water. During the rainy season the hole fills with water, but it is murky with mud and unsafe to drink.

“Our children often get stomach aches, fevers, and coughs,” said Na, referring to the waterborne diseases the pond water carries.

When the rains cease, the pond dries up completely, forcing the family to use their meager income to purchase expensive water.

“I have nothing to hope for,” said Na. “We have nothing to rely on.”

This is common in Cambodia, where torrential rains are followed by months of clear skies. Many families are in the same position as Na’s. 

Sometimes, Na has to keep her oldest daughter, age 11, home from school so that she can work to make money for food. It grieves her, but she has no other choice.When you give safe water, you give to families just like Na’s in Cambodia. You’ll give clean water, health and opportunity, helping to empower local communities and address the public health concerns for the country.

Cambodia

 

About Cambodia

 

Cambodia is home to an estimated 16 million people, where 76% of the population live with limited to no access to safe water.

Around 1 in 3 people, or 32% of the population, do not have a sanitary toilet so they go outside in the open. This creates an ongoing public health crisis, coupled with the fact that 34% of Cambodians do not have a hand washing facility with soap and water.

Lifewater’s vision is not just “safe water for every child,” but also “the love of Christ for all.” For over 40 years, this call to action has propelled a relentless commitment to serving others as Jesus would. It’s with this commitment to serving as the hands and feet of Jesus that Lifewater is adopting a new “church first” approach in Northern Cambodia.

This pilot approach prioritizes reconciliation and community relations. It acknowledges the generations of trauma brought on by the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, and it seeks to foster trust within communities, a building block to progress.

Today, Lifewater teams are at work identifying existing churches and church organizations within the country. Afterwards, they’ll provide training, capacity building, and WASH programming. Each church will adopt one village, nurturing their neighbors with the love of Jesus and the results of improved sanitation and hygiene.

Give safe water to Cambodia today.

 

FAQ's

Am I sponsoring a specific village?

Your gift will help bring the good news of Jesus as well as life-saving sanitation and hygiene practices to Northern Cambodia.

Will I receive updates?

Yes! You can expect regular updates on progress in Northern Cambodia. Lifewater is just beginning a “church first” approach, and we’ll update you as milestones and stories of transformation arrive.

Can I visit programs and/or my sponsored water project?

Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.

Where does Lifewater work?

With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).

Why these countries and regions?

Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.

Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.

Can I request a water project in a specific country?

Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.

What percent of funds go towards programs?

Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.

Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.

Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.

Is Lifewater approved/vetted by 3rd party organizations?

Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:

Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.

How does Lifewater integrate faith into its work?

Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.

Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.

To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.

Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.

Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.

What is Lifewater’s process? What does the organization do, and how does it do it?

Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.

We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.

Your gift reflects your trust in Lifewater International. We commit to honor your generosity by using your gift to help further the mission and vision of Lifewater International. Your donation is used by Lifewater International according to the project objectives to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene within the specified program area. Lifewater International is a charitable organization as described in 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, registered in the United States. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Donations are non-refundable. Lifewater International will honor a donor’s request for any pre-approved program or project whenever possible. In rare occasions where this is not possible, gifts will be used where needed, in accordance with the organization’s charitable purpose. In accordance with this policy, donor’s explicitly release Lifewater International from further restriction on such funds.