Ben Hawksworth and Connor Culleton recently had the opportunity to travel to Cambodia with Xylem to help build water towers with Planet Water Foundation.
Access to clean water is a major challenge in Cambodia, where 72% of households lack access to a safely managed water supply. Many families spend a huge portion of their income on bottled water, or must trek long distances to collect water which may not be safe to drink. 22% of schools have no water service and 37% lack access to sanitation of any kind.
Planet Water Foundation have been active in Cambodia since 2009, deploying over 400 clean water projects which have provided access to clean, safe water to over 580,000 people. They are currently supplying and installing AquaTower water filtration systems to schools in conjunction with their water health and hygiene education programme. The towers supply water to the whole community and are installed and commissioned with the help of volunteers.
Xylem are Planet Water’s largest partner and donor, and Ben and Connor had the privilege of accompanying them on a trip in October to help install water towers at two primary schools in the Siam Reap province. The towers will provide safe water to almost 11,000 people in two villages.
Connor said: “Being able to see first hand the poverty within Cambodia and just how much something we take for granted such as drinking water isn’t readily available was a eye opener, being able to help bring this to local primary schools and the communities around them was certainly a experience I’ll never forget.”
Crookes Walker were happy to support Ben and Connor with paid time off for the trip through our volunteering days scheme.
It was a honour and a privilege to help Planet Water install two water towers with filtration units to provide safe drinking water to thousands of children and their local communities. The Cambodian people are the most hospitable and grateful I have ever come across and they deserve so much more and yet despite all their adversity are still to most happiest people I have met.
