FASE Agritech Volunteering- Week 1
Inspired by Green Shoots’ focus on economic empowerment and capability building to prevent and relieve poverty, we have arrived in Samrong town in North-west Cambodia to apply our experience in Architecture (Kate) and Human Resources (Cory) to assist with the development of a new Agri-Tech Training Centre.
Green Shoots has been partnering with CIDO on the development of a schools based program bringing sustainable farming skills to students across two local provinces since 2014. The Agri-Tech Training Centre will take this education program a step further and provide vocational training aimed at encouraging young people into viable careers in agriculture.
It is an exciting time for the project, with construction scheduled to commence in a couple of months and the CIDO team planning for enthusiastic students to start filing through the doors next year. To assist, we will be testing and prototyping materials prior to the build, assisting with contractor engagement and helping the CIDO team complete some initial planning for the transition into the new centre.
Since arriving in Samrong last Wednesday, we’ve been warmed by the enthusiasm and generosity of the CIDO team. Led by Ratana and Sarin, the team have been welcoming and patient as we learn about the project and Cambodian customs. No doubt making lots of mistakes along the way, such as failing to cheers before having each sip of beer over dinner! Actually that generosity has extended across the community in general. Most places we go, there are friendly people keen to chat or invite us along to a meal, a football game or another community event.
To crack in and get the hands dirty on day one, we picked up where Tom and Sakshi (volunteers who recently departed Samrong) left off with their brilliant work testing earth blocks. With direction and assistance from Sarin and Sokphea, we added to the Great Wall of Samrong, by building a second test wall using the earth blocks consisting of 6% and 11% concrete stabiliser. Sokphea proved to be the powerhouse of the team, for what she lacks in size she made up for in strength.
The new wall was quickly put to the test with some strong winds and heavy rain over the last few days. By monitoring for weathering and mortar/brick damage, we will gain an understanding of how the different compositions of the earth bricks perform. You will be relieved to read that so far so good!
Kate has since been busy gathering information about material availability and pricing while Cory has helped workshop key responsibilities for the CIDO team in the Centre. We have started to feel settled into our Samraong routine. It feels like our time here is flying and we are looking forward to working hard over the next few weeks to maximise our contribution to what will be a fantastic project.
Any contribution to help fund the centre and would be warmly welcomed here: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/greenshoots10nov
