Introduction to Trailblazer Foundation
- 1. Trailblazer Foundation is developing ripples of sustainability through community water projects.
- 2. Our community development work takes place in Cambodia’s Siem Reap Province.
- 3. We work with poor, rural communities in the shadow of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.
- 4. During the past eleven years, Trailblazer Foundation has supported more than fifty villages in the province..
- 5. The great irony about life in Siem Reap Province is that, while almost two million tourists visit Angkor Wat each year, very little of that economic influx makes its way to the nearby villages.
- 6. In fact, Trailblazer Foundation got its name because it was blazing a trail as the first non-government organization to work with these villages.
- 7. Our first project, at the start of 2005, was building a primary school in the village of Sras.
- 8. However, as co-founder Chris Coats has explained... “We began with a school project, but quickly learned that water was the first priority. A person must have access to clean, potable water to improve health and sanitation. People must also have a water resource for growing their crops, livestock, and fish—the source of their food and commerce.”
- 9. Eleven years later, Trailblazer remains focused on improving health, food security, education, and economic development in rural Cambodia, in ways that are self-sustaining by the individuals and communities we serve.
- 10. The Buddha once said that “Without health, life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering.” This truth explains why Trailblazer Foundation’s first priority is the health of our partner communities. Health Program
- 11. In Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, water-borne diseases are the greatest threat to health. Trailblazer’s Health program initially focuses on providing clean water to families and villages.
- 12. This includes digging wells to access water, and constructing bio-sand filters to purify it.
- 13. We also work with our partner villages to build latrines, as part of our commitment to a worldwide health strategy known as WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene).
- 14. Finally, as part of our Health program, we reduce diseases associated with insect bites and hook worms, by distributing mosquito netting for a family’s beds, and flip flops for their feet.
- 15. Along with having clean water and reducing diseases, food security is one of the highest priorities for any human. Trailblazer Foundation works with our villages to provide access to abundant water, as well as trainings in growing abundant and healthy crops. Food Security Program
- 16. First, we build wells that villagers can use for their agricultural pursuits. Without a nearby well, most villagers need to transport water long distances for their crops.
- 17. Our goal is to establish a well for every three to five families in these rural villages. A well gives villagers the ability to irrigate gardens or create fish ponds, thereby improving their own food supply.
- 18. Next, Trailblazer trains villagers on best agricultural and aquaculture practices, knowledge we gain from our own test plots, where we research how to grow which crops for the best yield.
- 19. One way to break the cycle of poverty is to give children the opportunity to go to school. Building new schools is one of Trailblazer Foundation’s top priorities. Education Program
- 20. Once completed, Trailblazer signs the deed over to the appropriate government agency, which is then responsible for providing the staff, salaries, and curriculum. This process is critical to ensuring the school is sustained over time.
- 21. Trailblazer Foundation reduces another barrier to education: transportation. We provide hundreds of bicycles to our partner villages, so students can travel to school.
- 22. Since our inception in 2004, we have built six schools and two libraries. Even before 2016 starts, we have secured most of the funding for a new school next year.
- 23. The last piece of Trailblazer’s rural community development strategy is economic development. Here, one of the greatest challenges is access to capital, where even small amounts of funding can help start a new business, or turn a craft into an income.
- 24. Trailblazer has helped create a Village Fund process, which enables villagers to get the capital they need to start or grow a business, through a village-owned and managed microfinance program.
- 25. And we require villagers to make a small contribution to the Fund whenever they receive our assistance in other program areas. This ensures that our program work helps provide capital for their Village Fund.
- 26. Finally, Trailblazer provides technical training to the Village Finance Committees, and to villagers who want to establish farmer cooperatives for selling their excess crops.
- 27. Trailblazer Foundation chooses our community projects based on an annual local government assessment of village needs. We are honored to be one of only a handful of NGOs invited to this annual meeting.
- 28. Our four program areas—health, food security, education, and economic development—represent a well-rounded strategy for not just giving our partner communities a proverbial fish, but helping them learn how to live in ways that are self-sustaining.
- 29. Through this bottom-up process, the villages themselves identify their needs. Their requests, in turn, direct our annual activities -- which are “developing ripples of sustainability through community water projects.”
- 30. Please consider supporting our efforts. The more than fifty villages we work with will be far better off because of your generosity. http://thetrailblazerfoundation.org/donate Trailblazer Foundation is committed to the sustainable success of all our projects and programs. With your support, we will help hundreds of additional families overcome the effects of poverty, starvation and disease.