Being a Liger student, I always think of being a change agent in my country. Liger provides us a high quality education and many projects that have a really big impact in Cambodia. To be a change agent, it doesn’t matter on how big you had changed, many small changes can make a big change, but if you already make a big change that is great. I have joint many projects in Liger, but there are three projects that have a really big impact in Cambodia. Those three projects are Marine Research, Iron Deficiency, and Waste Management.
The ocean is the main sources of supporting life on Earth. Cambodian is lacking in knowledge about marine ecosystems and how they are important for our lives. Few knows that the ocean provides food, transportation, and tourism sites, which enhance the living condition of humans. We can see the forest is getting destroyed, but we can’t see the ocean is getting destroyed because it’s hidden from our eyes. With the lack of education, this ecosystem is diminishing due to illegal trawling and electrofishing. I am one of the members of the Liger Marine Research Team (LMRT). Our goal is to survey the coral, seagrass and mangrove area along the Cambodian coastline, of the Kep Archipelago. In order to accomplish our goals, we will work very closely with MCC (Marine Conservation Cambodia), an organization that is trying to conserve Cambodian ocean from all the threats, for instance, illegal fishing. By doing this project, we can then use the information from our survey and turn it into a report so we can share this information with other Cambodian. By sharing this information about Cambodia ocean ecosystem with other people, they can then understand how important our ocean are. When fishermen have a better understanding of the ocean, and why they need it, they will help to protect our ocean. Not only protect the ocean, but they will stop using illegal fishing method such as trawling and electrofishing because it destroys all the marine ecosystems that touch it. Furthermore, having our team doing research about the marine ecosystem in our country might convince other people to do it as well. In conclusion, Cambodia ocean is damaged and threatened by illegal fishing and an uneducated population. We passionately want to know more about our ocean ecosystems by conducting marine surveys. We can then share our knowledge with fishermen, citizens, governments and protect our ocean.
Anemia is a condition in which a person has fewer red blood cells than a normal person and usually happens to women and children. Red blood cells contain iron which our body need for transferring oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Generally, Cambodian is not well uneducated and is a poor country. Most of Cambodian don’t have enough money to buy all those healthy foods. Around 43% of women and 53% of children got iron deficiency anemia in Cambodia. We work closely with the Lucky Iron Fish company to do this project. Lucky Iron Fish produces an iron fish that use to cook with the food (must have water) to release a small amount of iron that store in the fish to your food and it releases a perfect amount of iron that your body need. With this fish, even though the family doesn’t have enough money to buy healthy food they can still use the fish to give the perfect amount of iron that their body need. This fish cost only 5$ but it can be used up to 5 years. Therefore, the family can save a lot of money. According to the Lucky Iron Fish, it states “After using the fish for one year the rate of iron deficiency in Cambodia decreased by 43%” This clearly shows that the fish is really helping to decrease the percentage of iron deficiency in Cambodia. We had done a workshop on three different places in Siem Reap about iron deficiency. In the workshop we had taught them about iron deficiency, healthy food, and the importance of Lucky Iron Fish including how to use it. Moreover, we don’t sell the fish to them, but we actually give the fish to them for free.By doing this workshop, I can help many people to be aware of iron deficiency and tell solution of the problem to them. But this is not the end, they will tell this to their family, friend, and the people that they care too. In conclusion, iron deficiency is one of the biggest health issues in Cambodia. Cambodia is a poor and uneducated country, people don’t have enough money to buy all those healthy food and some of them not even know what are the healthy for them.Our team had worked in the Lucky Iron Fish company to do a workshop in Siem Reap about iron deficiency and the solution to this health problem.
Our Environment is an essential part of our life. A clean environment is very necessary to live a peaceful and a healthy life. Now the world’s biggest problem is pollution. Pollution is caused from many things, but one of them come from trash. Now, most of the trash goes directly to the landfill and more than 97% of our food-waste ends up there. When organic waste dumped in landfill, it undergoes anaerobic decomposition (because of the lack of oxygen) and generates methane.When methane released into the atmosphere, it is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Instead, those 97% of organic waste should take to make compost. One of my project is to promote the compost business idea to the community of Chompus Kaek. As there is a lot of organic waste in this community, we don’t want them to throw away and affect our environment, but instead, we want them to make compost out of it and earn more money for their family. We think that this is a good business for them because they can easily access to the market where people throw a lot of organic waste away. Moreover, n this community there are a lot of farmers so that mean they’re going to have a market for this compost business. Our team had interviewed many people in this village, as the result people are willing to make compost in this community and many farmers also willing to buy it. We call this a Win Win Win business because the farmer can buy the compost which is cheaper than the fertilizer and also their crops will easily get the market because people willing to buy organic food than inorganic. Our environment will get better because there is less methane release from the landfill. Our compost maker also get extra money for their family as the waste from the market used to cost nothing. This clearly shows that this business is a good business to do. In conclusion, the world and Cambodia are facing with trash problem. All the trash is going directly to the landfill even though some of it shouldn’t go there. Organic waste is one of it, they release methane because it it undergoes anaerobic decomposition (because of the lack of oxygen). So our team comes up with a compost business. The farmer can buy with a cheaper price than chemical fertilizer. Our environment also gets less methane release, and the compost maker also can get extra money for their family. So, we call this as a Win Win Win business.
In conclusion, this year I have joined many projects that involve in changing Cambodia. There are three projects that have a really big impact in Cambodia. Those three projects are Marine Research, Iron Deficiency, and Waste Management. In marine research project our team will conduct marine surveys. With those surveys we can then share our knowledge with fishermen, citizens, and governments. In Iron Deficiency project our team went to do a workshop in Siem Reap to teach people about healthy food and the food that contained iron. We also give them a product which use to cook with the food so it can release iron to the food. This helps them to prevent iron deficiency as they don’t have enough money to buy all those healthy foods and food that contain iron. In Waste Management project we help to reduce waste in the community by telling them about the compost business so they can collect all the organic waste in this community and turn it to compost beside throw it away to the landfill and causes methane to release. They also can use the compost to sell and earn extra money for their family. Those three projects are my top projects that have a really big impact in Cambodia.
