Hello family and friends,

To all of my US readers, happy 4th of July week! This is one of my favourite holidays, it’s like Thanksgiving in the summer. Instead of roasting turkey and playing board games, we  barbecue chicken and play yard games, go camping, and set off fireworks. It’s time together with family and friends, and no pressure to buy the right present! 🙂 

In June we made a trip to the Capital, Warm Blankets Switzerland is now a member of “Swiss Business-NGO-SDC Swiss Partnership in Cambodia” (yes, that’s a very long name). It is a networking platform organized by the Swiss Government (DEZA), Swiss companies and Swiss aid organizations operating in Cambodia. Their aim is to promote development in Cambodia. The meetings are held every few months, and it was interesting to meet and exchange ideas with employees from DEZA, the Red Cross, Sika, HEKS and other small NGOs. Unfortunately “Mr. Bear” wasn’t very well behaved at the meeting 😉, so I had to take him back to the hotel part way through, but Lukas represented us well and made a lot of new connections. The capital city is chaotic and hot, so even though there are swimming pools and shopping malls, it’s always nice to come back to our little city, Kampot, when the work is finished. 

https://web.facebook.com/SwissPartnershipKH/about 

One small NGO that we connected with through this networking platform is currently working with extremely poor communities in rural Battambang. In August we are planning a trip to Battambang to get to know them better, and most likely to partner with them to install a water filtration system in a public school.

Setting up the laboratory is an ongoing process which we continue to work on. One problem that we were able to solve last month was finding a way to store chemicals and other supplies that are heat sensitive. Many of the materials should be stored in a “dry and cool location” and Cambodia is not a “dry and cool location!” We found a second hand wine cooler for sale in the capital and had it shipped to us. I captured a short video clip of the package pick up center (in the photo link). Apparently you can mail just about anything in Cambodia! Once we finally found our package and got it home, Lukas easily transformed it  into a cool storage box for the laboratory…. and we might keep a bottle of wine in there too, for special occasions 😉. 

On June 27th Lukas’ brother and his family came for a visit. Because they’re Filipinos, we didn’t see them very often when we lived in Switzerland, but now that we’re living in South East Asia it’s easier to spend time together. They are here for about a week, and maybe we can visit them in the Philippines sometime as well.

Well, that’s it for the June update. Here’s the photo link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/sgtZrTFuBz5FEY818

Have a wonderful summer!

Jenny, Lukas and Benjamin