Press Releases from HOPE

Lasting Impression made on team from Japan that visited
Cambodia in August

In August, a work team led by John Janzen and Eiko Shibata visiting Cambodia to see first hands the challenges facing the extreme poor.

 

The UNION team consisted of four members: John and Eiko from HOPE in Nagoya, Ayumi, a student from the Nagoya area, and Koji, an employee of Oak Lawn Marketing, a well-known Nagoya company. None of the four team members had been to Cambodia before, so it was a new experience for all involved.
 

The team spent the bulk of their time in the rural area of Pursat, involved in a week's worth of meeting villagers, and then joining in with them as they built wells, painted a school, and cleared land for a school playground. The team members also spent time visiting families that were scheduled to get wells, as well as getting a chance to visit families that had already been using their HOPE-built wells for some time. The difference between the two situations will likely be the most lasting impression for all the team members.

 

"What stood out to me personally" said John Janzen after he was back a couple of weeks, "was the general emotional difference between the families still caught in the poverty trap versus the ones who were in the process of climbing their way out. The familes without wells had an air of defeat, as though effort itself was just too hard to muster. But in the yards with a well one could find decorative plants, and walls adorned with color and art in the humble houses. Neighbors dropped by to share a snack and a laugh about the days events. It was just a completely different feeling."

 

Dates and locations are now being planned for 2010 Study tours.
For more information please write info@hope.or.jp

 

 

Composting Expert from Laos visits HOPE office

Masahiko Tsuji, a HOPE partner working in Laos, spent three days with HOPE staff and volunteers sharing his vision of training Laotion farmers in composting.