“Just last year, there were only about 20 families using sanitary latrines. As the head of the village, I wanted to encourage other families to do so as well, but it was hard, and I did not know how to do it efficiently. When I heard that CWS would work with villages in the commune, […]
Disaster struck the village of Balongga in Indonesia in September 2018. A massive earthquake–and the resulting tsunamis and land liquefaction–destroyed or badly damaged most houses here. Today, many families in Balongga still live in “temporary” shelters that organizations including CWS helped them build. They are meant to be an intermediate solution and have a couple […]
Cao Binh is a Tay ethnic minority village in Vietnam’s northwestern mountains. Its name likely comes from its location. “Cao” means “high” and “Binh” means “flat”. So, it’s the flat area on a high mountain. For drinking water, people here use a small stream about a mile from the center of their village. The stream’s […]
July 13, 2020 – A lack of reliable drinking water has been a chronic problem for many years in Myanmar’s Wai Dauk village. In this village five hours southeast of Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, 60 families source drinking water from two 60-square-foot ponds. The ponds are not reliable year-round, though. First, evaporation leads to shortages […]
By Indarwati Palembangan, our Senior Project Officer in Tana Toraja. State Primary School 177 is in Se’seng village in the Tana Toraja district of Sulawesi island in Indonesia. The village lies in a mountainous area prone to landslides. So, back in 2015, schools and community leaders joined teachers, students and parents to join a Safe […]
In the COVID-19 pandemic, Cambodia, like all countries, continues battling many social and economic problems. These are in addition to public health issues, including the ones now presented by the coronavirus. Of course, the new rules put in place to try to contain the virus are necessary. They will prevent further harmful health impacts. This […]
In Vietnam, as CWS and our partners build on the past 5 years’ successes from the Newly Integrated Development and Essential Action (New IDEA) initiative, women are leading more than ever to expand reach and results. A growing role for Women’s Union members, alongside newly energized Youth Union members, is for awareness-raising and community mobilization. […]
The women of Sikara Tobata village recently formed the Healthy Orchid Care group to raise awareness about community and family health issues. Recently, the women came together to learn about the five pillars of Community-Based Total Sanitation, a participatory process by which people come together assess the sanitation and hygiene in their community. The process […]
Ercy is a 33-year-old mother of three young children who, along with her husband, struggles with daily life. Sadly, in their West Timor, Indonesia village they are not unique in this regard. So, this is a key reason CWS is working with Ercy and many others in the Timor Zero Hunger initiative. Timor Zero Hunger […]