Summary

This project will provide daily nutrition to stop the cycle of malnutrition, maternal health classes to reduce rates of mortality, and community education training and support for 253 families in the villages of Sre Robong and Arak Svay, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

A detailed Ministry of Health study in 2008 shows almost half of the children below 5 years old in Cambodia suffer from malnutrition. 20% of childbearing-age women are underweight and 8% are so short they risk complications during pregnancy and delivery. Most children do not go to school because of their poor background, having to help their parents, taking care of siblings, or guarding the buffaloes or cows in the fields. Parents have a general disinterest to educate their children

How will this project solve this problem?

This project will improve the educational and health of the two villages by providing daily nutrition programs for the malnourished children alongside adult literacy and life skill training for poor communities, teachers and children. The various integrated development activities, as well as agricultural production, health education, and nutrition and education improvement are priorities.

Potential Long Term Impact

By the end of the 4 years, over 300 pre and school children and over 1000 community members at both communities in Arak svay and Sre Robong will benefit directly and 1000 community members of neighbouring villages will benefit indirectly from the projects. This will be achieved through school enrolments, and participation in integrated community health improvement and education activities.

Project Message

After the Pol Pot Regime destroyed Cambodian society and my family, I only wanted to help build a new community and to improve the quality of life for my fellow Cambodians. Thanks to GlobeMed at UVA.
- Sedtha Long, Project Leader

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Vote for GlobeMed’s entry to the be vital challenge. 1st place will receive $10,000 and 2nd place will receive $5,000. Both of which will greatly help our efforts in expanding the Safe Child and Mother Care project in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

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“What should I have for lunch today?” It’s a pretty simple question. If you are like most Americans, you will have no trouble accessing food. The biggest problem that this question poses for us is in terms logistics: When should I eat? What type of food do I want? Should I eat healthy, or should I order Wings over Charlottesville?

GlobeMed at UVa, organized a thought provoking banquet where the truth behind food disparity was brought up as a global issue. Here are some facts:

• In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called “absolute poverty”
• Every year 15 million children die of hunger
• For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years
• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion – a majority of humanity – live on less than $1 per day, while the world’s 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world’s people.

How can we accept these facts when most of us have never had suffered from hunger and/or malnutrition? The answer is easy, we eat like most of the world does!

The price of the hunger banquet was $3, participants did not know what they would be eating until they entered the room to be seated. By this time, the participants were assigned one of three labels: upper class, middle class, and low class.

• The upper class represents around 5-10% of the world. They usually eat palatable three course meals in tables with silverware and refined drinks.

Upper Class Meal

• The middle class represents around 25-35% of the world. Their usual meal is represented by rice, beans and water.

Middle Class Meal

• The lower class represents around 55-60% of the world. Their usual caloric intake is scarce and is represented by bread and water. They also have no tables and/or silverware.

Lower Class Meal

GlobeMed members and students discussing the disparity between the different classes.

Upper Class (right), Middle Class (left), Lower Class (center)

While everyone ate their food, Parth Shah and Denise Bakar gave a short presentation on hunger and malnutrition.

Parth Shah giving part of the presentation

“You guys have deepened your awareness of world hunger and poverty.The key is how you put this knowledge to use. Our Hunger Banquet ends here, but this is just the beginning for each of you. As I look around the room today, I can see that this experience has had an impact on many of you. If what you’ve learned or experienced has stirred something in you, take action now. Today. Before you leave.”

-Post by: David Vaamonde

Mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend, aunt, teacher, politician, babysitter, actress, chef, nurse – the list can go on and on of all the roles a woman plays in our society today. Within a few years of gaining equal rights as men in society, women have shown their exceptional talents politically, economically, and socially. So much so, that March 8^this designated as International Women’s Day to honor the accomplishments of women all around the world.

In the United States, for instance, women were 9% of total US medical school enrollment in 1969; this had increased to 20% in 1976. By 1985, women comprised 14% of practicing US physicians.

Since it’s first event held in 1911, International Women’s Day has grown in various countries to not only become an important holiday, but a national holiday. Events held worldwide use this day and the month of March to honor women’s achievements in the political, economical and cultural fields, as well as to advocate for gender equality. From the overall theme of “Empower Rural Women- End hunger and poverty” to the various 464 events held in over 70 countries, this year, this day was used to commemorate the kindness, thoughtfulness, and intelligence of women all around the world. This day has been established to remind all of us the importance women have on society and to acknowledge them not just this one day, but everyday. Despite the rising popularity of this day and its importance, in many countries women are still seen as inferiors and do not have the same rights as their male counterparts. Therefore this day is also used to encourage these women to fight for their rights and to surpass the sexual barriers some men have created on society. Although not everyone can make a huge difference or even have an impact on the workings of society in other countries, there are still many ways one can celebrate International Women’s Day.  From giving flowers to women you know, to standing on a bridge to support the “Join me on the Bridge” campaign, to tweeting about a woman who has inspired or encouraged you, to simply just looking back and acknowledging how far women have come since a 100 years ago when they did not even have the right to vote – everyone can participate in International Women’s Day. How will you celebrate it and the women in your life?

-Post by: Roshani Patel

A Warm and Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at GlobeMed at the University of Virginia!  Enjoy your time with family and friends. There will be a lot of food at every household, and there is no better time to take 5 minutes to think about those who are not as grateful.  Attempt to reduce your waste in leftovers, or even better find a creative use of the all that food! I am sure that there are programs in every community that can connect you with families who would love nothing more than to have a full meal on thanksgiving.  With just a little initiative, you can make a big impact on thanksgiving.

Be excited and expect regular updates on both our partner and efforts on campus as we get going on grounds!  The week after thanksgiving is the official launch of our first branding week, which will include multiple events promoting our organization on grounds.  With the beginning of thanksgiving and holiday season, we also launch our first ever individual giving campaign.  As we shop for family and friends, this is a great opportunity to give back with only a small amount donated.  A small 20-dollar donation at http://www.razoo.com/story/Globemedatuva will help feed four children in the village of Arak Syvak for one whole month.  We thank everyone who will be supporting us this holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving from our partner:

Our Partner, BFT in Siem Reap, Cambodia, has projects in community education development, an orphanage center, community health development, and community peace development.  You can find our more about our partner at http://www.center-bft.org/.  Our partner’s story is a perfect story in the theme of being thankful for what we have.  During the years of 1975 through 1979 there was genocide in Cambodia that led to almost 20 percent of the population losing their lives.  Sedtha Long, founder of BFT, lost 10 members of his family of 14 and was forced to flee.  On his way to a border town, he found a group of 20 orphans whose parents had been killed.  To my amazement, a man who had already lost so much and had so little took on this group of children without hesitation.  He worked and struggled to keep the orphans fed, and he was eventually able to find a home for them in a United Nations camp.  From that moment he found a calling to help the orphans and underprivileged children of Cambodia.  He gained the support and trust of overseas partners that led to a multifold increase in the impact of the organization.  Over time he noticed that there was a need to target the parents of these children as well, so he grew the project.  There was and still is a cycle of malnutrition and low levels of education that Sedtha and his team fight to break everyday.  We hope to be a small part of his mission as the year progresses!

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