About.
Project Bottrong is an annual short-term mission trip in partnership with BFT (Build Your Future Today). Since 2009, we have expanded from providing health & language education to running clinics and health screening. Every project builds upon the work done in previous years. By working with BFT, we value-add to their long term goal of developing communities in a sustainable manner.
We base our work in Bottrong located in Prasat Commune, Preah Netr Preah District and Banteay Meanchey. Additionally, we travel to neighbouring villages to carry out clinics. These villages are supported by the Cambodian NGO BFT, as they are working to facilitate community development. The closest hospital is around 200km away. Initially known as Project Ta Om, we have happily shifted our efforts to the Bot Trong region due to positive community development in Ta Om.
The villages we currently work with include:
- Bottrong village - located in Prasat Commune, Preah Netr Preah District and Banteay Meanchey
- Kromom Bo village - located in Kon Toutt Commune, Svay Lue District, Siem Reap Province
- Taprour village - located in Svay Lue District, Ta Siem Commune
We reassess our beneficiary villages on a yearly basis. You will find that these villages are not easily found on google maps.
This is a 100% voluntary project. Funds are acquired through grants, fundraising activities, donations, and personal contributions.
We base our work in Bottrong located in Prasat Commune, Preah Netr Preah District and Banteay Meanchey. Additionally, we travel to neighbouring villages to carry out clinics. These villages are supported by the Cambodian NGO BFT, as they are working to facilitate community development. The closest hospital is around 200km away. Initially known as Project Ta Om, we have happily shifted our efforts to the Bot Trong region due to positive community development in Ta Om.
The villages we currently work with include:
- Bottrong village - located in Prasat Commune, Preah Netr Preah District and Banteay Meanchey
- Kromom Bo village - located in Kon Toutt Commune, Svay Lue District, Siem Reap Province
- Taprour village - located in Svay Lue District, Ta Siem Commune
We reassess our beneficiary villages on a yearly basis. You will find that these villages are not easily found on google maps.
This is a 100% voluntary project. Funds are acquired through grants, fundraising activities, donations, and personal contributions.
The Project.
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what we do
Clinics
Home Visitations
Health Education
- Mobile clinics are held in several villages over the span of around 6 days. Last trip we saw 1300 villagers in total.
- We have capacity to dispense acute medications and treat common conditions. The feasibility and cost of time and resource in visiting the closest hospital is a significant barrier in seeking treatment for many villagers,
- We have dedicated health education stations providing patient-centered lifestyle advice.
- We refer patients to secondary or tertiary services when needed. Our detailed referral ensures that patients are seen to and alleviates the burden on the heavily strained government healthcare facilities.
- When available, our physiotherapists run a station prescribing various stretches and rehab techniques for the patients experiencing MSK pain. This is extremely relevant to the big population of villagers working in farming.
Home Visitations
- We attend to house-bound villagers to provide medical checkups and deliver acute medications when appropriate. These are patients who are too unwell or cannot be supported to attend the hospital in the city.
Health Education
- Dental hygiene
- Pearlie White has kindly sponsored us with toothbrushes and toothpaste over the past few years, to be distributed
- Balanced nutrition
- Personal hygiene
- Gender-specific hygiene
- English classes
About the team
Project Bottrong is organised by student volunteers, who are rigorously screened to possess the appropriate competencies, motivations and values in line with HealthEx. They are supported and trained by the HealthEx International team.
Projects applying for the YEP grant are also trained through YEP-endorsed leadership training camps.
Volunteers of all healthcare backgrounds are welcome to sign up, and are screened to ensure that the team is well equipped to run the project.
Projects applying for the YEP grant are also trained through YEP-endorsed leadership training camps.
Volunteers of all healthcare backgrounds are welcome to sign up, and are screened to ensure that the team is well equipped to run the project.
Programme details
Project Bottrong 2024
[Planning ongoing]
Funded by: [Ongoing application for YEP grant], self
Programme Outline
This was the programme for Project Ta-Om in 2019. Activities can be subjected to change to suit the needs of the locals.
[Planning ongoing]
Funded by: [Ongoing application for YEP grant], self
Programme Outline
This was the programme for Project Ta-Om in 2019. Activities can be subjected to change to suit the needs of the locals.
Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous donation and support for our 2019 project:
- SUSS
- Progress Gold
- Wyeth Nutrition
- Mead Johnson Nutrition
- R K Pharma
OUR Partner NGO.
build your future today (BFT)
Overview
Build Your Future Today (BFT) is a local non-governmental organization (NGO) recognized by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities in Siem Reap, unaffiliated with any religious or political party. BFT works with villages in the Siem Reap region to provide education for the children and a future for them and their families.
BFT's Vision
BFT's main aim is to empower the Cambodian people with the right intellectual and economic tools to attain self-sufficiency. BFT believes that education is key to developing economic stability and personal well-being along with peace for the individual family, and hence the whole of Cambodian society. BFT is highly committed to providing the opportunity for people, especially children who have been living through hardship and poverty, with effective solutions to improve their lives.
BFT's activities
BFT has completed the following works among many more:
For more information click below:
Build Your Future Today (BFT) is a local non-governmental organization (NGO) recognized by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities in Siem Reap, unaffiliated with any religious or political party. BFT works with villages in the Siem Reap region to provide education for the children and a future for them and their families.
BFT's Vision
BFT's main aim is to empower the Cambodian people with the right intellectual and economic tools to attain self-sufficiency. BFT believes that education is key to developing economic stability and personal well-being along with peace for the individual family, and hence the whole of Cambodian society. BFT is highly committed to providing the opportunity for people, especially children who have been living through hardship and poverty, with effective solutions to improve their lives.
BFT's activities
BFT has completed the following works among many more:
- 22 houses have been renovated and the families now live in better conditions.
- 8 schools have been built or refurbished offering education to the children of Cambodia.
- 14 Community Training Centers have been built or refurbished teaching skills to young adults.
- 26 Villages are regularly visited by our Mobile Library offering the chance to read to children.
- 119 Wells have been dug providing clean water all year round
For more information click below:
Testimonials.
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It has definitely been an eye-opening experience for me to witness the difficulties that people face in accessing healthcare when I have been so accustomed to the healthcare system in both Singapore and the UK. Even with rapid advancement in medicine in recent years, the equipment and facilities that the health centre in Ta Om had were very basic and it made me think about how they still have such a long way to go in overcoming the consequences of poverty. It will not be an easy process, but I believe with the continuous work of BFT and other volunteer groups such as ours, small steps can be made to fulfill the larger goal of overcoming poverty and improving the healthcare system in Cambodia." |
This experience has only inspired in me a desire to want to go back for future mission trips and serve the community beyond myself more. I could tell that the villagers welcomed us deeply and were willing to commute miles to visit us. The children had an insatiable thirst for knowledge despite their limited access to education. I distinctly remember engaging a young eleven-year-old girl by setting Maths problem sums for her for fun (also as a means of communication, since Maths is a universal language as well). I scribbled down on a paper 54+7, and she ended up (oddly) with an answer in the hundreds. I remember my heart sinking a little, knowing that back in Singapore, any eleven-year-old would have had the right answer in seconds. It was then that I felt the disenabling nature of poverty, but at the same time witnessed the indomitability of the human spirit – following that problem sum I continued to set her more sums which she doggedly worked at, without boredom and without defeat." |
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Gallery.
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pROJECT VIDEO
Project Bottrong (2020)
Even though the trip to Cambodia was cancelled, I was glad that all of us could do our part and help with COVID-19 efforts in both Singapore and Cambodia. We were able to make use of our summer to improve the well being of the migrant workers and also raise funds remotely for the villagers in Cambodia.
Through this project, I also learnt a lot more about the plight of the migrant workers in Singapore, the difficultiesCambodian villagers were facing and the importance of mental health. I was very thankful that so many people from all walks of life were willing to donate their time, effort and money, learning and sharing our causes."
- Joey, Team Leader 2020
Despite not being able to go to Cambodia this summer due to COVID , Project Bottrong still wanted to serve others. We decided to help two groups that were disproportionately affected by COVID - the migrant workers in Singapore (outbreak due to overcrowded living conditions) and the Cambodian villagers (hygiene supplies and food shortage during the pandemic).
We collaborated with SDI Academy to come up with physical and mental heath education resources for an app (Linger.AI). This was to rolled out to 50 000 migrant workers in collaboration with Singhealth. Linger.AI is an app that provides online modules including a wide range of skillsets and topics for migrant workers to learn and master in their free time in the midst of COVID-19. In total, we created 34 modules including topics such asstress, mindfulness, exercises, nutrition and hygiene to improve the health literacy of migrant workers.
We fundraised through IG live concerts, IG workouts, bake sale, lecture series and collaborations with other online shops. We raised SGD $10 147 for the app’s development and welfare food packages for migrant workers in self isolation.
With the SGD $4003 fundraised for the Cambodians, hundreds of families from 6 different villages in Siem Reap and Banteaymeanchey received emergency food supplies, liquid and bars of soap, hand washing gels, face masks and household water filters, amongst other things. We also fundraised SGD $1200 for Siv, a beneficiary who runs free English classes for students in his community.
In total, we raised a total of SGD $15 350 for our migrant worker and Cambodians friends.
We collaborated with SDI Academy to come up with physical and mental heath education resources for an app (Linger.AI). This was to rolled out to 50 000 migrant workers in collaboration with Singhealth. Linger.AI is an app that provides online modules including a wide range of skillsets and topics for migrant workers to learn and master in their free time in the midst of COVID-19. In total, we created 34 modules including topics such asstress, mindfulness, exercises, nutrition and hygiene to improve the health literacy of migrant workers.
We fundraised through IG live concerts, IG workouts, bake sale, lecture series and collaborations with other online shops. We raised SGD $10 147 for the app’s development and welfare food packages for migrant workers in self isolation.
With the SGD $4003 fundraised for the Cambodians, hundreds of families from 6 different villages in Siem Reap and Banteaymeanchey received emergency food supplies, liquid and bars of soap, hand washing gels, face masks and household water filters, amongst other things. We also fundraised SGD $1200 for Siv, a beneficiary who runs free English classes for students in his community.
In total, we raised a total of SGD $15 350 for our migrant worker and Cambodians friends.
Support Us.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectbottrong
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectbottrong
Crowdfunding: https://give.asia/user/projectbottrong#/fundraised
Donation: Please refer to our Donate page for more information.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectbottrong
Crowdfunding: https://give.asia/user/projectbottrong#/fundraised
Donation: Please refer to our Donate page for more information.