In 2019, at the suggestion of our activity partner, Sida, we jointly purchased a piece of land about an hour's drive from Siem Reap city.
In this area near the Thai border, there are many peaple go to Thailand to work and their children are not be able to receive proper parental care, and some children cannot keep up with their classes because they do not go to school.
Ms. Shida wanted to build a library as a place for these children, and over the past several years, she has gradually built a place for them to spend time for studying and enjoying.
She read to the children, helped them with their homework, and sometimes prepared snacks and food for them.
It seemed to have become a place where 20 to 30 children gathered.
Currently, most of these activities are funded by Mr. Shida's pocket money and donations from her acquaintances, and it is impossible to continue in this state for a long time. In order to sustain the operation of the playground, it was necessary to create a system that would generate some kind of income to support the operations, and at the same time, there was a desire to make this place useful not only for children but also for local residents, which led to the development of the playground concept.
The general concept is to provide a playground for children with bicycles and athletic facilities in addition to the library, as well as barbecue and camping facilities for the enjoyment of both parents and children. In addition, the library will be a place where parents and children can enjoy themselves by providing snacks, drinks, and souvenirs made from local crafts and specialties with the cooperation of local residents, thereby generating income and creating jobs. In the future, we hope to attract tourists, including foreigners, and offer eco-tours and study tours.
For a start, the idea was to sell unique foods that could not be found anywhere else, such as noodles with a Japanese flavor.
The idea was to first research the ingredients available locally and hold a tasting to determine cost-effectiveness and whether they would be palatable to the Cambodian people.
Even though it was a tasting party, we had to cook not only for Ms. Sida's family, but also for the children who would be coming to visit. The children were curious about the arrival of a Japanese person, so how many would show up? We had to prepare as much food as possible, so we stocked up on ingredients, and it turned out to be a big luncheon.
We brought out a big pot to make soup and cooked rice in a cauldron, moreover to make more noodles, it become to a big lunch party.
As we expected, the noodles were not enough to satisfy their appetite, so we made onigiri (rice balls) out of the rice we had cooked. The bottom of the pot ran out in no time.
After dinner, we walked around the property with Ms. Sida and discussed various ideas. There are several small ponds as well as bamboo and coconut trees that Sida planted little by little. She had many dreams, such as to build a waterway around the property, to build a cottage for homestay, etc., but this would require a huge amount of money. There is a long narrow piece of land between Fern's land and the neighboring land that is owned by someone else, so it is necessary to purchase this land in order to accommodate many people.
We discussed the details of the Japanese-style noodle shop, including the cost of materials, salaries of employees, and signage, but finally concluded that it was too early to start at this time when there are few tourists, so we decided to start with a low-risk bicycle repair business. There were no stores in the area that could repair bicycles and motorcycles, and since there was a man nearby who had the skills to do so, we asked him to come and do repairs, and she would purchase materials, parts, tools, etc., and make a profit from the sales of the parts.
A few days later, the roof was quickly put up on the side of the mother's house and preparations were made.
Ms. Shida would like to expand the project little by little to make it sustainable and to give back to the local people, while maintaining the library and taking care of the children. We would like to cooperate with them and do what we can while keeping an eye on the situation.
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