My Mission:

My mission is not only to provide the tools necessary to help out the 1.1 billion people who lack safe drinking water but to raise awareness on the topic as well. 1 out of every 6 people worldwide still lack access to the earths most overlooked and precious resource, water. In the time it took you to read what was written above, a child died from a water-borne illness such as diarrhea(1 every 20 seconds or 5,000 children a day). It's easy to overlook the seriousness of this issue as we waste water like it's going out of style whether it be our pools, water parks, and even bottled water. Not only is this water needed to quench the thirst of those living in developing countries but it's needed for hygiene practices and most importantly, agriculture which dominates many of these countries economies. I'm dedicating my life(for now) to making sure I can do everything I can both domestically and internationally to help tackle this very important issue.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Fighting Corruption and Supporting Progress

Hello to All,

Sorry for such a long time without a post, I've been incredibly busy with my intern here in PP and also trying to launch Ordinary Celebrities. I have to admit to everyone that I guess I was a bit stubborn and naive with my approach when I first arrived here with where I was going to be funding and building wells. I originally wanted to have wells built in relocation sites like Domnak Troyeng but it's literally impossible for me to do so without A. Having the projects be demolished or B. Getting arrested by armed forces. Living in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, funding anything is hard especially when you're attempting to build in controversial/sensitive areas. It really bothers me to say this but I'm in no position to help these communities, simply put, if they want anything, they're going to need to get it from the UN(supposedly they have 23 agencies here although you never see them at the forefront of anything). The World Bank actually just admitted that their own mistakes have left thousands of families vulnerable for eviction here(woops!). If you want more to learn more about this whole issue or look at media related to it(this is my warning to you that you may feel sick while doing so) "Cambodia For Sale", forced eviction photos, LICADHO 2011 report. Pretty much what I'm trying to say is that I will not be funding wells in relocation sites but instead for communities in very poor rural areas a few hours outside of Phnom Penh. My dreams to build for the people of Dey Krahorm who have had things that they rightfully owned forcefully taken from them like their shelter, running water and electricity have been shattered by the same people who've evicted them. Building at relocation sites would be in a big slap in the face to Hun Sen and companies like 7NG simply because I'm doing the job they should be doing themselves, helping their citizens. Police officers who thrive off corruption here want compensation for anything done at relocation sites(even though they're not doing anything) and I refuse to support corruption. I've been in contact with 2 NGO's who work very rural near Kampot and I will be visiting them next weekend to see what we can work out. To those who've supported me and continue to do so, thank you and I will not let you down. If I can ask for you to do one more thing, it's to spread the word about the illegal forced evictions occurring in Cambodia(and worldwide=China, Brazil, Burma) because I think the reason the government continues to do so with such little regard is because the international public and media have shown little interest that it's a big deal to them. If people put pressure on the governments, they'll think twice about it or maybe even stop doing so. Play a part.

-Christian
Posted by christian_bowe at 9:22 AM

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