Villager Construction Taining

Last week I attended one of Narith's construction training sessions. Narith has been providing construction training to members of all of the Balang commune villages interested in working on the Trau Kod project since the beginning of the rainy season. The session was held in a small building next to the Balang Police Station where we met with the Commune Chief and the Prom Kod Chief, the man that hosted us when we stayed over night in village on our last trip.


The villagers in attendance that day were "group leaders" or foremen that will be in charge of small groups. Narith's sessions have reviewed the project scope, the project location, construction safety, construction techniques, etc. Most have had experience working as carpenters and masons in Siem Reap and seemed rather bored with Narith's lesson but the benefits of these sessions will probably be very valuable for the group and for the project when we start construction tomorrow.

they came, they saw, ....they supported

picassa photos
thanks to Maria and Linda for their tremendous efforts in organizing the bar night fundraiser event. friends and colleagues came and supported, helping raise over $1100! with a match from the PB Foundation, that brings us to over $2200! linda and maria

thank you all for your support!

Back to Trau Kod

After traveling for what felt like a week, I finally was able to go back to the site Thursday morning with Chai and Narith. We spent almost every day at Trau Kod on our last trip but seeing the size of the embankment and future reservoir basin again still amazed me. I also saw my first leach in the O Ta Bet river which was kind of terrifying.

The plan is start moving the heavy equipment back to the site next week, begin the embankment repair the following week then the water gate in about a month. There is a lot of work to be done but I think everyone is excited to begin.

bar night: the return

Last year, around this time, we held our first bar night fundraising event. The event was both fun and successful, as many of our friends and colleagues helped us raise about $1600, and with a generous match from the PB Foundation, that totaled $3200! It was a great kickoff event for the project! Join us, nearly 1-1/2 years later, to celebrate and learn of the progress we've made.

Location:
Underground, 613 2nd Ave (btw 33rd & 34th)

When:
Thursday, Oct-25-2007

Suggested Donation:
$10 Students/$15 Everyone Else
(INCLUDES 1 FREE DRINK)

Spread the word!

Heading Back

Today is my last day in New York! I'm heading back to Siem Reap for a few months to help start up construction. In the past couple of weeks I've been spending a lot of time with friends, eating a lot of pizza and trying to enjoy the city before leaving. It's certainly exciting to be going back and it's really excited that we are getting so close to construction but I'm going to miss New York.

topo

Every little information helps. One can quickly see how impossible it is to survey every square inch of a 160 acre open field (not to mention, the danger of potential landmines). But after compiling all of the any little surveying that has been done, the hydro team was able to produce a projected topography map using AutoCadd. Ryan spent the weekend shading in the proposed embankment location (solid orange), the estimated water elevation (light blue shade), and the elevation during a 100 year storm (blue hatch).