(SEARDF)

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
(Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher, 570 - 490 BC)

Projects

Cambodia’s very poor and landmine amputees desperately need our help. Without it they face a live in dire poverty. SEARDF, Inc. is dedicated to again give meaning to the lives of these destitute and handicapped people.

However, SEARDF, Inc. does not hand out donations to the handicapped or poor without commitments on their part. Experience has shown that free handouts only temporarily raise the recipients’ standard of living, and often encourage idleness and laziness. Your donations will be used to provide housing, education, job training, and pay salaries to those who want to work.

After the demise of Training and Occupation for Disabled Association (TODA)  SEARDF, Inc. has identified an organization near Taok Vean Village, Batambang Province, called CRESARD Eco-Farm (Cambodia Renewable Energy and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Co. Ltd.). The vision and goals of CRESARD Eco-Farm's management are very similar to those of the former TODA and SEARDF, Inc.: a great concern for helping the people in this community suffering from a prolonged period of economic depression. By providing housing, garden plots, farm tools, and employment to more than the ten original families (37 people, including landmine victims), and giving work to people from the near-by villages, CRESARD Eco-Farm is making an impressive impact for the better in that area. The construction of several ponds on the farm gives the families and, eventually the villagers, access to water during the dry season.

CRESARD Eco-Farm was established in 2005, has made excellent progress and is expanding its program for additional poor people to live there. It is in the process of erecting a building to house orphans, educate and train them in agriculture and husbandry. Current facilities at the farm include a very large plant nursery, cattle and pig houses, also ploughed land for corn, various types of fruit trees and oil palms, an elevated water tank, hammer mill, stone mill to crush stones for road construction, mine detector to protect the families, diesel generator, power supply via UPS (AC) battery system and a second hand water pump. Livestock projects were launched in early 2006 with an initial 20 cattle, ten breeding sows and two boars, showing excellent results.

Mr. Kep Pheng Ly, Governor of the Municipality of Ratanak Mundo, is very supportive of CRESARD Eco-Farm's effort to stop overexploitation of the forests. He also participates in the tree planting campaign, as well as rural community development.

It might seem insignificant to many reading about the accomplishments our limited resources were able to support. However, it has made a world of difference to the poor families, handicapped and orphans benefiting from it. Fortunately, the management at CRESARD Eco-Farm continues to support the people, whether SEARDF, Inc. is able to provide grant money or not.

Of course, with more public support, so much more could be done:

1. Greening the school compound;

2. Providing books and school supplies for the students, even bicycles for them and the teachers to make it easier for them to come to school;

3. Dig additional ponds and canals to make water available during the dry season to the people living in nearby villages now forced to scavenge the nearby forest, including the Protected Forest adjacent to CRESARD Eco-Farm.

4. Improve the roads to facilitate transport of goods to nearby markets, and the many possibilities to assist worthy projects.