Latest News on Dental Clinic Project (as at 26 February 2010)

Our dental clinic is surging ahead treating more than 360 children a month thanks to our full time dentist Mr Kim and the volunteers sent by Cecilia So from Sydney and some other countries, mainly Asian /Australian dentists, generous with their time. They do outreach at outlying schools thanks to our new “Dental Clinic in a suitcase” along with folding chair.

This makes extractions and fillings possible and adds even more to our basic numbers treated. plus classes for all schools on the importance of dental hygiene, and personal hygiene

A new full dentist chair has arrived so we need not revert to “lap dentistry” where our volunteers were treating the kids sitting on their laps on a cushion. This made the news in Sydney papers. Lap Dentistry.

Every month we open new classes for English, Khmer non formal and computer skills.

Recently we opened 2 classes for top students to give them extra help. Only 15 in a class instead of the usual 40. This will help them enter University with sound English ability.

We are now looking for Australian / New Zealand Dentists who would spend some of their holidays doing Dental work for these wonderful Khmer children @ the Kbal Romeas School. We expect to provide a dental nurse to assist. Please Email: paget@buddhistlibrary.org.au

For Donations: Please Click on the file Coupon.jpg

For $185 we can buy a bale containing 700 pieces of used clothing. As you see in the above photo, the monks distribute this clothing to very poor kids as an extra incentive to come to school and get some time away from the farmwork.

Affluent countries send high quality used and laundered clothes in big bales of several hundred pieces to developing countries. We buy these bales for around $US90 and deliver to the temple for distribution by the monks. That costs around ten cents per piece. The donors would be pleased, as we were to see the pleasure shown when the people and kids get their “new” clothes many with designer labels! A Library supporter paid for the bales.

Remember in the last issue of Dharma Vision we told of the very poor almost inaccessible village Phoum Speai the Library was helping with basics. We had to send in materials by bullock cart to build the water tanks, & to supply good second hand clothing for 400 kids and parents along with soap, medical supplies, shampoo, tooth paste and condoms and educational items books.
They had built the frame of a meditation centre but had no roof. The Library funded the roof, $US780. Photo in last DV and now, as a result the village has a resident monk and 2 novices! Not only that, but full of new found confidence, they approached the authorities who agreed to make the access road drivable by car! Now complete. Wonderful for the entire village.
As you can see by the photo on the back page, only 20% of the meditation hall has a wood floor, the rest is dirt. We plan on raising a $1000 to increase this flooring. In the short term the walls will have to be palm leaf. Step by step, we hope the villagers will try and manage that themselves.
We came across another very poor school, Phoum Law, Treng Tro Yeoung in Kompong Speu Province, many orphans. They had almost no clothes, no books and as you see in the picture back page, not enough desks to accommodate 2 classes of 45 kids a day.

They did have a retired middle aged teacher who received no salary. Normally a teacher receives $50 to $80 per month. We were able to contribute a small sum per month and to build a set of tanks. They have dug the hole for a well. We will supply materials for the village people to complete it for $100, and we are building 2 tanks. So now they should have clean water all year. And tooth brushes, plus condoms as requested for parents. We have paid for desks for 25 extra kids and $20 per month for extra supplies. A good dictionary can be bought for $1.50. Dharma books only 50 cents. (All prices in $US unless otherwise stated)

Bearing Fruit… it seems every school we visit in Kampot province has heard about the K.B.Meas school 15 minutes from Kampot town on the road to Kep, and the free English classes sponsored by the Buddhist Library, or as they pronounce it “Buddee Library”.

From time to time, top students in each class receive a prize.
Classes are from 4 to 5, 5 to 6 and 6 to 7 pm. Around 350 kids. Some of the students from the sewing class and the computer class at the school are now enrolled in English class. Kids come on their bikes from miles around. They are all very keen to learn. We expect to have a retired Australian couple, teachers, volunteering at the school this year.

Because the school is now the top rated Education centre in Kampot province, the terrific head mistress Madam Rin, has been awarded a gold prize and a promotion by the Department of Education. We are installing a solar generator at the school for back up lighting and building 40 water tanks at 5 additional schools in Kampot Province.

In Cambodia, Our energy has to be directed to development rather than welfare, but we could not pass on the girl pictured in the red dress. She was the only one in the school without a uniform and her clothes were literally only rags and the wrong size at that. Horrible for her… What a transformation you can see in the picture after we gave her shampoo and some clothes . We were able to give her a new feeling about her life…. not just decent clothes.

In any season rain or dry, the drinking water is bad. Think about ponds that are used by animals as well as people, ugh! Now there is water aplenty for the kids thru the rainy season and beyond. Even well water in Kampot province is terrible, due in part to the fact that much of the province is at near sea level resulting in water that is not only dirty but brackish as well. This must mean better health for the people. Cost per school $US950 construction cost. Administration paid separately.The kids know that they have not been forgotten by Australian Buddhists even in this small way....Each tank $A200 if you want to fund one. We need to build a lot more!

We adopted the very poor village of PHOUM SPEAI. They needed 230 sheets of galvanized iron to put a roof on the old people's meditation centre which can now be also used as an education facility.
Under the heading of Health and Hygiene we bought big economical containers of detergent, antiseptic and shampoo, plus toothbrushes and toothpaste, medicines, books pens, and ABC educational charts, for the monks to distribute to the villagers. Condoms cost $US1 per 100, we handed out 2000. We include education about AIDS. Smaller family, happier families.

Eleven monks attended the hand over of the Buddhist Library Dana and to inaugurate the new centre. The Monks were happy to have the support from Australian Buddhists. The cost to date for this village has amounted to around $US2000 privately donated. There is an ongoing commitment. We have adopted this village and promised them a diesel generator.

We need to support Cambodians and especially to help Cambodian Buddhists in their day to day lives so that the Dhamma might support and grow with them and their children.

Thanks to those generous folks who contributed to the tank building scheme. At Aust $150 each a great investment in children's health. We are going to keep this project going. Administration costs which are very small, are paid for by a separate donor. This means that 100% of the donations are used on the project. All of your donations are used for tank building and are matched on a dollar for dollar basis by the Library and are tax deductible.

In February 2005, I first visited Kompot province, two hours south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was saddened to see the Pagodas padlocked and falling into disrepair. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia, with probably the sweetest people who despite their hardships, seem to be always laughing.

To a large extent, as a result of the Pol Pot horror when many monks were killed, a sad number of Wats, or Pagodas as they are called, have become neglected. In an effort to bring people back to the Pagodas, the Buddhist Library has been entrusted with the happy task of channeling support to the Wat Kbal R Meas Pagoda School that we have adopted in Kompot province for an educational project.

Thanks to the donations for specific use in Cambodia the school has been supplied with a diesel generator, three computers, 12 volt lighting for night classes for parents, funding for a permanent English teacher and a computer teacher, books, fuel and other necessities. The young monks have access to the classes (they sit up the back!).

To help parents augment their income, the school now has 62 sewing machines set up, with fabrics and funding for 2 sewing teachers. The school has retail outlets for the tourist oriented items they are producing (shoulder bags, simple clothes, wedding dresses for local brides, etc).

To prevent the kids drinking from the same pond as the buffaloes, we funded a 13,000 litre water tank to gather rain water. The very clever head mistress Ms Meas Rin organized construction in four days! Guttering is a novel concept in Cambodia as to a large extent are rain water tanks, hence the health problems. We equipped the school with a decent first aid kit for minor injuries and supplied a 1000 litre plastic water tank to another hospital Pagoda so at least the sick there could have clean water.

A bank account for the regular guaranteed funding was organized for Ms Rin. She was dubious about the concept of banking versus under the mattress so we had to guarantee that if the bank went broke or if she was robbed on the way, we would reimburse her. Hilarious!

We take care of the monks' toiletry needs. We started to supply the monks with rice but then stopped since we saw that would damage their relationship with villagers who need to express Dana to their monks.

Other Pagodas lining up for assistance (no room for hubris), they will receive the basic package of a solar generator, one or more computers, funding for the project and 16,000 litre rain water tanks.