It’s hard to believe that it’s March already! The hot season is just around the corner. Benjamin turned four last month, the gift that’s getting the most use is the new wading pool. He’s in it every single day, I can’t believe we didn’t have one before now! It’s going to be a real lifesaver in the next few months as we come into the hot season.
He’s started telling us that when he grows up he wants to be a construction worker, a pizza maker or an astronaut. Living in Cambodia I am reminded almost daily that Benjamin is a very lucky little boy. Most children here won’t have the same educational opportunities that he will. Many Cambodian families struggle to find the resources to educate their children, and the public school system is pretty bad. The government is trying to improve it, but they’re way behind other countries. In the past, some poor families went so fare as to place their children in institutions, simply because they couldn’t afford to give them nutritions meals, clean water, education and basic medical care. The government doesn’t provide social services, and in the last few years they’ve closed down many of the orphanages in Cambodia. I think that this is the right thing to do, but they should be providing some social services to compensate the poor families. NGO’s, churches and other organizations fill the gap, as they have for many years. Many of these organizations are now providing before and after school childcare, free lunch, tutoring and English classes. In the past we focused primarily on putting water filters in children’s homes, but since moving to Cambodia in 2023 we’ve expanded our vision to include locations that offer social services for children and families.
In the last three months the Warm Blankets Switzerland website had a complete makeover! It’s been six years since we launched the “new” website, so it definitely needed some major updates. Since Lukas and I aren’t professionals it took some time. I did a large portion of the text, but I have to give Lukas all of the credit for the beautiful layout and the graphics. He has a good eye for design! Here’s a fun fact that you might not have known; he also built the animations that are on the website. He’s started doing freelance work for a company in Switzerland as well. He can even build 3D animations! At the moment it’s only a few hours a month, but it’s a very cool hobby and it gives us a little pocket money.
In February Cambodia observed Chines New Year. This country has so many holidays, but most employers don’t give vacation days to their staff, so the only time people get some time off is when it’s a national holiday. Benjamin and I made a paper dragon craft in observation of the day, but that’s about as much celebration as we could muster. 😉
We received our first bulk shipment of made-in-Cambodia filter parts. I’ve written about this a little bit in the past. Before we moved here, the University of Bern worked with us to design a special piece for the filter housing. They also gifted us the patten for the piece. Last fall we started conversations with the Institute of Technology in Phnom Penh to see if they could produce the piece for us. They weren’t sure, but were motivated to try. Lukas met with them a few times, and they made us a couple of different models until they got it just right. In January we made our first bulk order, and in February the pieces were complete and shipped to us. These specially made pieces create a tight seal inside of the filter housing, ensuring that dirty water and clean water never mix together. This is a huge step forward, and we’re proud that we can say that it is made locally by students in Cambodia!
Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read our update, have a great month, and here’s the photo link.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pt2hfY7FV6MXvv2G7
Love,
Jenny, Lukas and Benjamin
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