About.
Project Bottrong is a health expedition project run by HealthEx International in partnership with the Cambodian NGO BFT (Build Your Future Today). The goal of the project is to provide knowledge, skill sets and manpower in the areas of healthcare and health education.
The team carried this out by visiting the rural areas, some as far as 80 km away from the main city of Siem Reap. Additionally, the team also recently expanded their services to Bot Trong, a nearby village that required assistance. There, the team set up a mobile clinic that saw 80 people in the span of one day. This year, the project will be in its 8th year running and the long term goal is to add value and provide assistance to the community in a sustainable manner.
Project Bottrong started in 2009 as Project TaOm, as an educational initiative and eventually expanded to include healthcare services in collaboration with HealthEx in 2013. Since then, 6 more projects were organized in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Each of these projects look to build upon the previous year’s work and to provide continuity and sustainability, with the overall aim of developing Ta Om village’s healthcare.
The team carried this out by visiting the rural areas, some as far as 80 km away from the main city of Siem Reap. Additionally, the team also recently expanded their services to Bot Trong, a nearby village that required assistance. There, the team set up a mobile clinic that saw 80 people in the span of one day. This year, the project will be in its 8th year running and the long term goal is to add value and provide assistance to the community in a sustainable manner.
Project Bottrong started in 2009 as Project TaOm, as an educational initiative and eventually expanded to include healthcare services in collaboration with HealthEx in 2013. Since then, 6 more projects were organized in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Each of these projects look to build upon the previous year’s work and to provide continuity and sustainability, with the overall aim of developing Ta Om village’s healthcare.
The Project.
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what we do (pre-covid)
Acute medical care
Physiotherapy
Dental Care
Childhood education
SIV Generosity School
Bottrong and TaOm
Delivery of public health and feminine hygiene
Education has the potential to provide the longest-lasting impact. As such, Project Ta Om is placing more emphasis on public health education for both villages, focusing on the different outcomes according to their needs.
Focus is on providing medical advice, chronic medical conditions and family planning.
- Provision of acute medical care was done by setting up mobile clinics, conducting house-to-house health screening, and giving personalized health education to villagers.
- In previous years, the mobile clinic managed to reach out to over 1300 villagers over a span of 6 days. We were also able to provide some chronic medications specifically for high blood pressure and diabetes.
- We have also expanded our reach to two new villages this year in Kromnom and Tapor. We will continue to screen the villagers for any new illnesses that may have arisen over the pandemic.
- The clinic also aims to provide lifestyle advice for chronic illnesses or public health-related diseases. This is achieved via dedicated Health Education stations where our team members tailor health advice per diagnosis made at consultation.
Physiotherapy
- A large number of the villagers work as farmers and hence have many musculoskeletal related disorders.
- In previous years we had a physiotherapist student to run her own segment of the mobile clinic prescribing various stretches and rehab techniques for the patients experiencing MSK pain.
Dental Care
- Pearlie white has kindly sponsored us with toothbrushes and toothpastes over the past few years and with the help of our dental students we are able to bring across the importance of dental hygiene and good brushing techniques to the villagers.
Childhood education
- We also have classroom based education sessions in both the villages and in Siem Reap itself
SIV Generosity School
- We worked together with Siv’s Generosity School who provides free English lessons for the children in Siem Reap and gave 2 nights of English lessons for the children there
Bottrong and TaOm
- We provided health education focusing on dental care, nutrition and health hygiene for the children in a classroom based setting
- We also played games with them which showed them the importance of hygiene
- Our sponsors Singapore university of social sciences SUSS and Progress Gold provided us with gifts for the children this year.
Delivery of public health and feminine hygiene
Education has the potential to provide the longest-lasting impact. As such, Project Ta Om is placing more emphasis on public health education for both villages, focusing on the different outcomes according to their needs.
Focus is on providing medical advice, chronic medical conditions and family planning.
- To achieve these outcomes, we will be giving health education booklets to each household, as well as providing personalized health advice after every consultation.
About the team
The 2019 team consisted of 17 students and 3 doctors who kindly took time out of their busy schedule to join us
- Dr Christopher Chong
- Dr Yew Woon Si
- Dr Gong Cheng Sean
Programme details
Estimated Programme Dates
Project Bottrong runs usually between the end of June to the start of August. There are no tentative dates yet, pending numbers of participant sign-ups.
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.
Project Bottrong runs usually between the end of June to the start of August. There are no tentative dates yet, pending numbers of participant sign-ups.
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.
Project Location
The project will be carried out in the villages of Ta Om and Bot Trong, both about 1.5 - 2 hours out from Siem Reap.
Accommodations
TBC
The project will be carried out in the villages of Ta Om and Bot Trong, both about 1.5 - 2 hours out from Siem Reap.
Accommodations
TBC
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.