Notice

We create our CDEP website.

http://www.cdepcambodia.org

Our blog also shift to this page. Please have a look!

Thank you

A Mother Died

On 8th December, early in the morning, a mother who gave birth in a public health center bled to death, in spite of the staff’s efforts to stop her bleeding. They couldn’t transport her to a better-equipped hospital because, even though they had a vehicle, there was no driver available… They contacted us and we rushed to the health center with our community ambulance. Sadly, it was too late to save her. It was her 3rd or 4th child and she left behind a grieving husband and other children.
This year, we had provided assistance in at least 5 maternity emergency cases, and this was the only case in which we couldn’t save a life.
High maternal mortality in Cambodia’s remote rural areas is a crucial issue that we are trying to tackle. We implemented our mobile maternity clinic in January, after hearing that many expectant women in Cambodia do not receive any antenatal care at all despite the urgings from health centers staff. When complications occur, they are rushed to the public center at the last minute. Often, it is too late to save their lives.
The reasons are varied, from financial barriers or difficult access to health care facilities, to lack of education or reluctance from their family to act promptly.
Once our Health Center is open, we plan to concentrate on this crucial issue, and we will do our utmost to locate expectant mothers in impoverished rural areas and provide the best possible delivery services to these vulnerable women.

Health Center’s Construction Update

The roof has dried properly and we are now working on water-proofing it.

[The roof top part, photo was taken from the back side]

Are you wondering why our roof is so thick? You would surely understand once you have experienced one of the heavy rains falling in our area. Once it starts raining, you can’t even hear what the person next to you is saying! We have planned our roof to be thick enough so as to minimize the huge noise from the rain.

[Even after putting roof, we still have enough sun light ]

We have also started to extend our road up to the mountain where there is a stream with flowing water year-round. We plan to install a pico hydropower turbine there, with the funds generously provided by Family Care Foundation. We already have a solar power generator and we will soon install some more. Our plan is to use all forms of renewable energy from natural resources, in order to provide enough power to meet the electricity needs of our Health Center. We are also planning to install windmills in the future.

[ The Health Center roof top. We will install more solar panel on it]

[Road construction up to the mountain]

Construction update: roofing is completed

Finally we have finished pouring cement on the roof. Right now we are waiting for the cement to dry. Next, we will work on waterproofing the roof and then, we will install the glass door.
Slowly but surely we are moving forward…

Stranded in the middle of Phnom Penh!!

Today, we needed to visit a government office in Phnom Penh. Just before we reached our destination, it started raining heavily. When our car arrived at the office, all the area was flooded! Our driver tried to park the car as close to the entrance as possible, but it was really difficult… Those among us wearing sandals decided to step out of the car, except Sally, our volunteer, who was hesitating as she was wearing sneakers… At the end, she went with us, crouch walking perilously on the narrow protruding edge of the wall…

When we talk in our blog about our Health Center’s construction delay due to heavy rains, it may not be easy to understand, but look at those photos! Even in the center of the capital, we are sometimes pretty much controlled by the weather.

Sally from Taiwan is Volunteering with Us

Sally is our new volunteer from Taiwan; she joined us on 4th October and is going to stay with us until 2nd November. She has a lot of experience in fund raising and is willing to share her know-how in this crucial field.
She is already planning to come back next year, to work with us in the long term.
She is very active and so helpful that we cannot believe she has been with us for only 3 weeks! What she needs to overcome is how to cope with the nature…. Mice, insects of all kinds, crawling and flying invaders… Sally, we believe you will get used to those things.

Health Center Construction Update

We have started working on the remaining part of the roof. As the yellow arrows indicate on the picture here below, the slope of the roof on the building front will be angled so as to let in as much natural light as possible, both sunlight and moonlight.

[Can you now visualize our roof design a little better?]

Meanwhile, it is with great gratitude that we received a donation from the Taipei Yunfu Rotary Club, to help cover the costs of the Health Center construction. Thank you from the bottom of our heart for your generosity!

[Rehabilitation Pool is also under construction]