Marathon PRA

Sourneang with the men's group

Bouny and Arwen with the women's group

"Participitaory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a process which is used in development programs worldwide to help rural communities. PRA consists of a series of participatory exercises which help community members better assess their history, resources, and overall situation as concerns agriculture, health, education, and other important areas. Focused on the use of local resources, PRA can help provide a framework for a community's sustainable, long-term development." -PRA Handbook

Typhoon Season

The good news is the reservoir stood up to typhoon Ketsana well with no visible damage. The bad news is typhoon Parma is on now heading this way. Right now, the reports are saying this next storm is moving more north so the effects should be less here in Cambodia. But it sounds like Parma is big enough that there will be an impact to this region even if it does continue north.

Typhoon Ketsana- water, water, and more water

At this point, I think all of Cambodia is flooded. I've been wading through knee high water to get to town, which isn't even bad in comparison to other locations where the water is up to people's heads. My bike (the awesome new green bike that EWB now owns, we're putting the logo on it!) can't make it through the water, and the motos and tuks can't get through either. I will post pictures of town soon, the river is overflowing, so the water level of the river is equal to that in the streets. It wouldn't be so bad except for all the sewage...

Though the flooding has caused some damage to the culverts, nothing to the main embankment, more in depth information to come. Below are some pictures that Bunheng/Chai took last night. We'll be going to the field tomorrow, and we're preparing ourselves to swim through lots of mud.