Spending the first night at Croap was a totally different experience especially for the girls as it was the first time they could live close to nature. On the other hand, the guys bathed with toads and slept with a white palm-sized gecko. Nevertheless, the CROAP compound is beautiful and is a different sight from all the high rise buildings we see in Singapore.
The 30 minute trip from CROAP to Sustainable Cambodia(SC) on the tuk-tuks was an eye opener for some as we had to sit through the bumpy and dusty ride on Highway 5.
Today was split into two parts – theory and practical. On arrival at SC, we managed to get things rolling immediately with a lesson from Mr David Scott, an in-house volunteer. He had also attended lessons from CAWST. We got more details of the BSF and managed to clarify our doubts on the subject matter.
Immediately after the lesson, we got down to the work sieving through 210kg of sand to get the fine sand for the filter layer of the BSF.
Then, it was break for lunch! Right outside SC, at a local restaurant.
After lunch, it was down to serious business. We were split into two groups. The first group did the washing of the fine sand while the other group worked on the casting of the 5 BSFs out of the iron moulds.
After the hard work, we were invited to attend a Human Rights Day celebration in the SC compound. The co-founder of SC, Ms Susan J. Mastin, highlighted to the Cambodian students about their right to learn.
They had games and performances lined up but we had to leave early as it was getting dark.
In these 2 days, all of us can be quite sure that we took back a lot from the hard work today and we also realized the importance of safe and clean water, especially in rural areas where tapped water is not even readily available.
In these 2 days, all of us can be quite sure that we took back a lot from the hard work today and we also realized the importance of safe and clean water, especially in rural areas where tapped water is not even readily available.
