Project Profile

Neary Khmer is a health-education NGO based in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.  The organization strives to improve health and nutrition for women and children in some of the poorest areas of the country.  Its programs include hygiene workshops, HIV/AIDS information sessions, water filter distribution, promotion of sustainable farming practices, and food distribution to malnourished children.  To learn more, contact Harry Schnur (hschnur@bowdoin.edu). 
 
Partnership History

Neary Khmer has been an Omprakash partner since October, 2007. 
    -In November, 2007, Omprakash donated $2000 to enable Neary Khmer to purchase and distribute 200 water filters in the village of Kok Daung.
    -In February, 2008, Omprakash donated $1000 to enable Neary Khmer to purchase and distribute 90 water filters in Khnong Phnom Commune.

Need for Volunteers
   
Individuals with experience and training in issues of health, nutrition, and/or sustainable agriculture are encouraged to consider volunteering at Neary Khmer.  Proficiency in the Khmer language is ideal but not necessary. 

Need for Material Resources 

The financial needs of Neary Khmer are numerous and cannot be fully described here.  However, here are a few things your money can do:
         -For $10, you can fund the purchase of one family water filter.
         -For $15, you can buy a family six chickens.
         -For $20, you can provide a needy family with 1 kg of seeds for their home garden.
         -For $87, Neary Khmer can install a water pump that serves over six families. 

Neary Khmer does not have a website of their own, and Omprakash is pleased to offer this page for Neary Khmer to represent itself.  Below, please see text posted by Neary Khmer.

Project Description

Siem Reap, Cambodia, is home to the famous Angkor Wat temples and brings in millions of dollars of tourist revenue each year. It remains, however, one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia, a country where the per capita annual income is under one US dollar per day. Beyond the main roads servicing the temples and other touristed sites, infrastructure continues to be extremely poor, with health services inadequate, expensive or nonexistent and local knowledge of basic health practices highly limited.

Private donations are crucial to fulfilling our mission. Not only do contributions directly fund the purchase of water filters, well installation, home garden seeds, livestock, and other material aid, but they allow for staff capacity building, health education, livelihood training and more. These latter activities are vital to helping our communities become self-sufficient and breaking the poverty cycle. A little goes much farther than you could imagine.

Objectives and Activities 

Our focus is on improving the nutrition and health of young children, pregnant women, new mothers and the community as a whole. Over the years, our scope has widened to meet new needs. Each of our activities is designed to promote long-term well-being and eventual self-reliance and involves significant community participation.

Our activities include:

·        providing supplementary food to malnourished children and monitoring their growth regularly

·        educating mothers and community members in nutrition and health

·        establishing and supporting home gardening and farming schemes using organic and chemical-free fertilizers

·        supporting small-scale animal raising (chicken, pigs, ducks)

·        teaching the essentials of sanitation

·        providing water filters and other small scale water systems

·        providing technical training and seed grants for groups of villagers to take up new livelihoods of their choice

·        training local women to teach about nutrition and help us monitor village progress

·        working with Commune councils to improve their governing capacity

·        educating communities about HIV/AIDS and Dengue Fever prevention

·        sponsoring and organizing community based small infrastructure projects

As of July 2007, we are working with over 1700 families in 33 villages.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to learn more or help out (and there are many ways to do this!)

Direct any questions to Harry Schnur (hschnur@bowdoin.edu) or Chan Taen (nearykhmer@camintel.com) 

Donations to Neary Khmer can be made by donating to Omprakash and writing “Neary Khmer” in the check memo. If you have a special use in mind for your donation, please include it. All donations are tax-exempt in the U.S.

If you’re thinking of donating, volunteering, or just want to be updated about our activities, email us and you can receive periodic updates from NK!

NEWS 

Thanks to funding from the Omprakash Foundation:

On January 11, we distributed 180 home water filters to poor families in Kok Daung commune. We also trained all recipients in the proper use and maintenance of filters. We also continued our water and sanitation education program. To learn more about the water filters we distribute, click here. See a picture of the distribution below.

Note: This page reflects only activities from December 2007 on. For information on past activities, email hschnur@bowdoin.edu.