It was incredible this year to see the joy on the six girls faces as they passed their final Grade 10 exams and made it into their last years of high school. This year, five of the girls will attend Grade 11 and one girl will be in her final year of Grade 12. The end of high school is close now and they are already turning their sights to want they want to do after school.

Each of the girls is the first person in their family who has received an education. They all come from very disadvantaged backgrounds and grew up in a remote slum village where there is no electricity or clean water available.

Today, the girls stand confidently to present themselves at school and because of your generous continiung donations their dreams of finishing high school and changing their lives is coming true.

A message from one of the girls, "My name is Pov Theara, I am super delighted to finish Grade 10 successfully for the year of 2023. I am looking forward to attending Grade 11 soon. Furthermore, I would love to say thank you so much to Well Directed and supporters for supporting me from the beginning until now. I will study hard to complete Grade 11 for this upcoming new school year. You support means a lot to me and my family. In the future, I want to be a teacher".

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It is now four years since these six young Cambodian girls (Theara, Ra Youksy, Nern, Bol, Sehya and Rith) were all faced with dropping out of school because their families could not afford to continue with their education. I still remember after we first raised the money for them to continue on and Chhunly went out to the village to tell them and their families that they could continue their education. For these girls education is a dream they never thought possible, and they are each the first in their families to ever attend high school.

This year all the girls passed their grade 9 state exam which is required to continue on to grade 10. They have all put in a huge effort to try their hardest and attain the best results possible. Chhunly shared some of the moments as the girls received their passing grades and there were many tears from both the girls and their families. One of the students Theara shared her grateful thanks to us and her grandma for not giving up on her education. She was happy in tears for passing the grade and moving forward to next school year and she committed to everyone to try even harder for the next school year.

Thank you so much to everyone who has given to make the girls dream of an education possible.

For a cost of US$800 per student we can fund their Grade 10 of high school next year (total of $4800 for the 6 girls). This includes school registration and fees, school uniforms, school shoes, books, supplementary classes as well as food and rice for the year.

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Pov, Youksy, Nern, Bol and Sehya are young girls from disadvantaged families in Kalentea Village, Cambodia. This year Rith also joined the other girls in high school. It was Rith's first year in high school and she received a 'Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Students'. An amazing achievement!

The girls all dropped out of primary school or were at risk of dropping out because their families couldn't support them. With the amazing support of Well Directed donors they all finished primary school and this year they attended their first year of high school with excellent results.

The girls are the first in their families to attend high school. The high school 'O'embel' is too far from their homes and they stay in a dormitory near the school. Their classes include Math, Chemistry, Physics, Khmer Literature and English.

A message from Pov on behalf of the girls: " My name is Pov Theara. I am so excited. I will be in grade 9 next school year and I deeply thanks for your great support to study. Finally, I wish you good healthy and may God bless you."

For a cost of US$800 per student we can fund their second year of high school next year (total of $4800 for the 6 girls). This includes school registration and fees as well as food and rice for the year.

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Pov, Youksy, Nern, Bol and Sehya are young girls from disadvantaged families in Kalentea Village, Cambodia. The girls all dropped out of primary school or were at risk of dropping out because their families couldn't support them. With the amazing support of Well Directed donors they all finished primary school and achieved remarkable results finishing near the top of their classes.

The girls now have the opportunity to be the first in their families to attend high school. The high school 'O'embel' is too far from their homes and they will stay in a dormitory near the school. Their classes will include Math, Chemistry, Physics, Khmer Literature and English.

A message from the girls: "We would like to say a deep thanks to supporters who help us to get the opportunity to continue studying at O'embel high school. We will be in grade 7 for the next school year. We would love to wish you to be healthy and wise. Merry Christmas!"

For a cost of US$800 per student we can fund their first year of high school next year (total of $4000 for the 5 girls). This includes school registration and fees as well as food and rice for the year.

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Seyha is 13 years old and lives in Kalentea village, Cambodia. She studied in grade 5 before she had to drop out because her parents could no longer afford to send her. She has 2 brothers and a youngest sister. Her brothers have married and moved to Thailand and she lives with her parents and her youngest sister. Seyha's parents make money harvesting cassava by hand when there is work available.

Here is a message from Seyha:

My name’s Seyha a pupil of Kalenthea school. I am grateful thanks to donors who have been supporting for my study every day. My favourite school subjects are Khmer Literature, Biology and Mathematics. I want to be a doctor in the future. I commit myself to try my best to studying order to achieve my goal. I wish your family be healthy and successful. I like reading story books, biology in my free time. Merry Christmas!

For just US$270 we can send Seyha to school for a year which includes food at school as well, as a school uniform for $10, and school supplies for $10.

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Champy lives in Kalentea village, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Kalentea is a remote village where there is no electricity, and a lack of water. She has a mother and a younger brother. Her father died when she was young. Last year she had to leave school to work with her mother because she couldn't afford to send her school. With your help this year we sent her back to school and we'd like to do the same again next year so she can finish Grade 6!

Here is a message from Champy:

My name is Champy I am grateful thank to donors who supported me to go back to school. I wish you all the best. My favourite school subjects are Khmer literature and Mathematics. I am to be a teacher in my future. I commit myself to try my best to study for the next grade. I like helping my mother’s housework after school. I hope that I will get good marks for the upcoming semester. Merry Christmas!

For just US$270 we can send Champy to school for a year which includes food at school as well, as a school uniform for $10, and school supplies for $10.

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Youksy lives in Samrong village, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Her parents are not educated people and they can’t make money enough to support their family and their daughter to continue her study. Youksy is a clever student. She got certificate of achievement every year at school. She really wants to reach her dream to finish high school and continue studying at university.

Last year you supported her to finish Grade 7 and this year we want to help her stay at school and study in Grade 8 at Secondary School!

Here is a message from Youksy:

My name is Ra Youksy a pupil of Tuek Thla school. I am grateful thanks to donors who have been supporting me for my study. My favourite school subjects are Khmer literature, Moral, and Geography. In my free time I like reading books and reviewing my lessons. I hope that I will get good marks for the upcoming semester. I want to be a teacher in future. I would like to wish all of the donors for upcoming Christmas to be good health, and succeed every work you do. Merry Christmas! May God bless you!

For just US$330 we can send Youksy to school for a year which includes food at school as well, as a school uniform for $10, and school supplies for $10. (Secondary School fees are an additional $60)

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Pov is a 15 year old girl. She lives with her mother in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia and this year she was in Grade 5. Last year she worked with her mother planting Cassava for a local businessman and catching fish because her parents couldn't afford to send her school. With your help this year we sent her back to school and we'd like to do the same again next year so she can finish Grade 6!

Here is a message from Pov:

My name’s Pov a pupil of Kalenthea school. I am grateful thanks to donors who support my study every day. My favourite school subjects are Khmer Literature and Mathematics. I commit myself to try my best to study for the next grade. I wish your family be healthy and successful. I like reading story books in my free time. Merry Christmas!

For just US$270 we can send Pov to school for a year which includes food at school as well, as a school uniform for $10, and school supplies for $10.

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Bol is 13 years old. She lives with her grandmother in Kalentea Village, Cambodia and has three younger brothers. Bol does jobs for people in the village such as mowing grass and harvesting Cassava to buy food for her brothers and grandmother. On a good day she makes $5.

Bol said, “I really love studying and I want to come back to school. I want to get education and have a good job to help my family."

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Youksy is 15 years old. She studied in grade 7 and has a younger brother. She lived in Samrong village, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Her parents are not educated people and they can’t make money enough to support their family and their daughter to continue her study after grade 7.

Youksy is a clever student. She got certificate of achievement every year at school. She really wants to reach her dream to finish high school and continue studying at university.

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Champy is 15 years old. She lives in Kalentea village, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Kalentea is a remote village where there is no electricity, and a lack of water. She has a mother and a younger brother. Her father died when she was young. She studied in grade 5 last year and she is an outstanding student in her class. She loves studying and has dream to finish high school. Unfortunately, since her family situation Champy had to leave school and help her mother to make money planting cassava for a business man. She makes 20000 Riel (5$ per day).

Champy said “I really want to go back to school. I want to run out of this poverty that I have been facing for years. Life without a father is very hard for me”.

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Seyha is 13 years old and lives in Kalentea village, Cambodia. She studied in grade 5 before she had to drop out because her parents could no longer afford to send her. She has 2 brothers and a youngest sister. Her brothers have married and moved to Thailand and she lives with her parents and her youngest sister.

Seyha's parents make money harvesting cassava by hand when there is work available. Chhunly spoke to Seyha and she said “I really want to go back to school and get an education like other children in my village."

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Nern is 14 years old. She studied in grade 5 and has 3 younger brothers. She lives in Kalentea village, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia.

Nern said about having to drop out of school, “I cut cassava and mow the grass to help my parents make money. I make 20000 Riel (5$ per day). My mother spends that money for food and medicine. I want to go back to school but I think that I might not have a chance to finish my study because my family can’t afford for me to go to school and buy food without me working to earn money with them. When I heard there are donors who want to help me and give me chance to come back to school - I can’t believe that it is true for me. My parents were very happy. I want to get rid of the poverty like I am confronting every day by getting an education. I hope when I finish school I can find good job and help my family such as my younger brothers”.

For just US$320 we can send Nern to school for a year which includes food at school as well as a school uniform for $10, school supplies for $10 and a bicycle for $50 to get her to school (it's 8 kilometres from her home).

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Pov is a 14 year old girl. She lives with her mother in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia and studies in grade 5. Her father has left for Thailand to try and find work as a Fisherman. Her parents can't afford to send her to school so she works with her mother in the fields planting Cassava for a local businessman and catching fish.

Pov said, “I have no hope to finish my study because my mother can’t afford me to go to school. I really want to come back to school and have a good chance the same as the other girls."

For just US$320 we can send Pov to school for a year which includes food at school as well as a school uniform for $10, school supplies for $10 and a bicycle for $50 to get her to school (it's 8 kilometres from her home).

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Prum Vuth is 50 years old and lives in Chambork Teb village near the Vietnamese border. Prum has 2 sons and a daughter aged from 13 to 20. Prum works from home as a seamstress from which she earns up to 6000 Riel (USD $1.50) per day. Because of her financial circumstances she had to ask her eldest children to drop out of school to look for work.

Prum needs to spend a third of her income on buying water for cooking and drinking. But because her income is very small, she can't buy very much. It takes her and her daughter an hour each day to reach the water seller. She uses a cart to carry the heavy water and push it back home with her daughter. Some days villagers need to stand in line to wait for water at the seller. Sometimes Prum and her daughter arrive back home in the darkness and have dinner late in the evening.

There are hand dug wells in the village but they can only supply water during the rainy season. Some of the hand dug wells are empty and the villagers are worried about the water shortage. The entire village used to fetch water freely from the Kampuchea Kroum people but now they are not allowed as the Kampuchea Krom require it for their own needs. Now, Prum's family are suffering because of the money they need to spend on water every day leaves them short on money to buy food. She hopes that if her village has access to free water she will be able to use it for cooking, drinking, and washing. Moreover, she can plant fruit trees and vegetables in order to earn extra income. Money saved on water could be used to support her daughter going to school.

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Thourn Tip is 32 and lives with her husband and children in Sreng Meanchey village. They have permission to use a private water reservoir that was installed by a Cassava farmer but the water is dirty and contains chemical run off from the plantation. The village use it because rains are unreliable and they have no choice. Water can be trucked in to the village but the roads are bad and sometimes impassable so it is very expensive. Enough water for two days for Tip's family would cost half of her income for the same period.

Children in the village regularly get sick with diarrhea due to using unclean water and malaria from the tiger mosquitos which are common in the area. The entire village was full of joy to hear that we were investigating the possibility of a well project for their village. When the dry season comes they are suffering so much being unable to collect rainwater for drinking.

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"Our village has faced a lack of water in the dry season and it is almost dry again. Even now we are suffering. We currently get water from a small pond and more than ten families are accessing it everyday. Other families fetch water from the river. Unfortunately, the river is now dry and the water is shallow and it is not clean", Hoau Hert said. "We would like to ask for 2 pump wells in order to have enough water for the 310 families in Anlongsa village."

Hoau Hert is 54 years old. She lives in Anlongsa village and has 2 sons and 2 daughters. Hoau supports her family by growing rice 6 months a year and selling fruit and vegetables surrounding her land, such as papaya, bananas, and sweetsop. She said, "Last year her family had very big issues with no water because the small pond and river they use to get water dried up. She is now worried of the water drying up again since it is being evaporated and used everyday."

Hoau earns $5 per day (20000 Riel). She buys food for $2.50 and the other $2.50 she uses to buy water. But sometimes she couldn't support her family to buy water so she and her daughter have to walk 5 kilometres to the river to carry water home. She added, "it was very difficult to fetch water from the river because it is hard to access“. Besides that the water is dirty and isn’t good for drinking just for washing and cooking. Hoau and the villagers are very happy to know that this project will provide water directly to the village and help many poor families in Anlongsa to access clean water from the well and no longer need to walk many kilometres from their homes.

"If our village has 2 pump wells through this project we are so blessed, our lives will be easier than before and villagers won’t get sick everyday because of diarrhoea, typhoid, and other diseases from using unclean water”, Hoau said. The villagers would like to say thank you very much to the generous donors who have helped us here in Cambodia.

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The village of Thnout in Banteay Meanchey, Cambodia does not have enough clean water and needs two pump wells to supply water for the 380 families that live in the village.

“We are now using rain water for cooking and drinking. We use water from a nearby water source for washing because it it not clean enough to drink and cook. When the dry season comes we are facing a very bad water shortage”, the chief of Thnout Village said. The privately owned water source used by the villagers is small and runs out of water when it is dry. The villagers make a living by growing rice and fruit and vegetables such as Papaya and Sweetsop. Those that can afford it spend much of the money they earn to buy clean water. “If we have two pump wells our village will be safe for the next dry season”, he said.

Bour Kek lives in the village and is 46 years old. She has 3 children. One of her sons and her daughter are now living in an orphanage in Poi Pet city because she cannot afford to care for them or send them to school. She lives with her eldest son who is 19 years old and her husband and they grow rice to make a living. Bour Kek has a bicycle and she uses it as her transportation to bring papaya and Sweetsop to sell in the village and Sisophon city. Some days she earns 5 dollars but sometimes nothing. She said, "this month every house has Papaya and Sweetsop as well so not many buy hers". She spends $2.50 (10,000R) of this income to buy water for cooking and washing. Bour kek is happy that they have rain this month but she is worried for the next dry season. She said, "I will be facing a water shortage again for the next dry season if we don't have wells in our village we can use”.

When they don't have money to buy clean water Bour Kek and her son ride their bicycle to their closest water source near the national highway about 15 kilometres away. She and her son sometimes don’t arrive home until 9 or 10 pm at night because it takes so long to travel to get water. Bour Kek is delighted if her village can have a well and her neighbours who are in the same situation as her can have a clean water too. She hopes to have clean water safe from diseases. The important thing is that they will have clean water and she is grateful for this project that will save many lives in her village.

For US$1460, two pump wells can be built that will provide a secure source of clean and safe water for all the families in the village.

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The village of Senk Thbong has 308 families that are currently suffering from a water shortage. They are afraid of running out of water because the canal they are using cannot supply the whole village.

Chea Savorn is 60 years old and lives in the village with her daughter and husband who is 63 years old. Chea and her husband earn a few dollars a day planting rice and harvesting bamboo. Chea said, "a few months ago my family faced very big trouble with a shortage of water in my village". They had no water for 2 days because the canal had run out of water and become shallow and dirty.

Her family currently walks 1.5km every day to collect water from the canal. "However", she said, "We will run out of water if there is no more rain in the next 1 or 2 months". The water is dirty and smells bad and she worries about getting illness and diarrhoea.

Chea said, "I am very happy if my village can have a well, many poor families like mine can have access to clean water". She hopes that when her village has wells she will not be sad and have trouble getting water anymore. She also hopes that the other families wont have to worry about getting illness, diarrohea and water shortages. She's also excited she can grow vegetables for food. She would like to say that she is very grateful to the donors and Well Directed for helping her village have a chance to receive clean drinking water from pump wells.

For US $1,500 we can build two pump wells to provide clean water for the 308 families for Senk Thbong Village.

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Samsun lives with her two granddaughters, Suv and Pich who are 8 and 7 years old. The parents of the girls left them to go to Thailand to work when the girls were very young and the family has lost contact with them.

Every day Samsun and her granddaughters go to pick tamarind fruit to sell to support themselves. One day Suv fell down from the tamarind tree and broke her leg and now has permanent damage. She now walks with a stick and can no longer climb tamarind trees. Since then, the grandmother decided to climb the tamarind trees by herself but the younger girl, Pich, insists on also climbing the trees because they are so poor. When they have finished collecting the fruit, Pich walks 3 kilometres every day to sell it. Samsun and her two granddaughters need a water filter since the river water is dirty and unsafe but they don’t have the money to buy one.

They are very happy, hopeful and grateful to hear that we might be able to help them with obtaining a water filter.

Every day Samsun’s family and the residents of Soun Sla village are exposed to the risk of disease from contaminated water. Most of the households rely on polluted river water to use and drink. The village currently suffers from health problems due to lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene education.

For $1500 we can supply 50 Sawyer type water filters for the village at a cost of $30 each. The filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria and protozoa, such as salmonella, cholera, E.coli, giardia and cryptosporidium.

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Bo Out is 48 years old, she lives in Toul Village where she supports her family by growing rice. She has two daughters Sekit age 10 and Sekom aged 8. They have no father at home. Sekit walks more than 3 kilometers from home to school most days. She carries two empty five liter containers with her to school so that she can fill them with water on her walk back. She fills them at a canal with a plastic ladel because the water is shallow and not clean. When they are full, she uses a yoke across her shoulders to balance the weight and walks back home – a journey of more than 2 kilometers.

Sometimes, the whole family go to the canal at night instead because the water seeps into the canal at a slow pace and often it is too busy from morning until evening with so many people waiting to collect water. They find it very difficult to get water every day. Now water is their biggest concern every day – even more than having enough food.

When informed that we would be putting a project up to raise money for wells, Bo Out said that she was very thankful to the donors and hoped that it would mean they would have cleaner water than the canal to use for cooking and washing so that they would no longer have so many illnesses like diarrhea and that her daughters would not have to go every day so far to collect it every day.

For US $1,160 we can build two hand dug wells to provide clean water for Bo's family and the 250 families of Toul Village.

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Roun Village in Banteay Meanchey Province, Cambodia is home to approximately 270 families. They have access to a nearby muddy pond that a wealthy landowner built for his workers (50 of whom live in village) however this access is neither secure nor does it provide clean enough water for drinking.

Vong (pictured), his wife Doung and their 3 young children live in Roun village. They have half a hectare of land on which they farm rice, this only provides just enough to live on and they're not able to afford to send their children to school. It is currently impossible for them to get access to secure and safe drinking water.

For $1,480 we can build two hand dug wells to provide clean water for Vong's family and the rest of Roun Village.

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