Building trust the beginning of an amazing relationship 2007 - 2010
The building of trust between ourselves and the community has been a wonderful journey for all those involved and the journey still continues as you read this. We first visited the island of Koh Rung Samleom in 2007 with no prior knowledge of its history or the people who lived there. We would pass by on daily and occasionally on overnight scuba diving trips. It was home to a community of around 50 families who made a living principally from fishing. Most of the families in the village lived on a hand to mouth basis if the catch was good they ate, if it was not then they made do with what they had. Everybody was always welcoming and even if they had only a little there would always be an offer to join in and eat, often accompanied by a little home brewed rice whiskey.
The Old School
One of the first things we noticed was that the only school on the island was not operating, firstly because there was no teacher on the island and secondly because the building was in such disrepair that it was open to the elements of sun, wind and rain making it uncomfortable and at times unsafe for the children. None of the many children on the island were able to receive even a basic school education. The school building at the time was a basic three sided wooden hut with a few desks. In the wet season the children had to wade through waist deep water to get there. However the children were eager to learn and would turn up whenever someone was willing to run classes.
We found out that there had at one time been an international funding project for the school, but that for some reason it had never been completed. We also discovered that there had been other promises to the village for the support of the school and that they had also never been fulfilled. The children were missing out on one of the most important aspects of childhood, education. In most western countries children often try to avoid going to school or take it for granted. The Children from Koh Rung Samloem desperately wanted to go to school, which showed when the first volunteers Kerry and Steve started to give small English lessons.
The New School
Whilst working for one of the Sihanoukville dive centers some of the Team from what is now Marine Conservation Cambodia became directly involved in bringing attention to this need for a new school through fund raising and publicity. The funds raised contributed towards the salary of a Khmer teacher and basic repairs to the existing building. It also brought attention to a wider community and attracted a locally based Italian ngo (ccs) to provide more resources and help with the full rebuilding and constant staffing of a fully operational school for the children of Koh Rung Samloem.
Being involved in the schooling and education of the children on Koh Rung Samloem has allowed us to help raise awareness of the marine environment at the most important levels whilst opening the doors of opportunity to a group of very talented children.
Raising Environmental Awareness
Our support of the school and the children helped with raising the awareness on issues of protecting the environment, it also allowed us to organize beach and village clean ups bringing attention to the problems rubbish has on health and the environment. Even now the children still get involved with our volunteers, cleaning up the beaches and the village and continue to use the bins that we provided whilst we were working at the dive center. This awareness has helped to keep local reefs clean of rubbish as we stop it before it reaches the ocean.
Village Charm
As we became more involved we all started to be affected by the village's special charm it seduced the now Team of MCC and very few failed to fall in love with the people and the place. Many of the team which is now MCC wanted to help but as we started to get ideas together and approach the villagers, we realized very quickly that their trust of "Barang" (foreigners) had been badly damaged in the past. The most important part of our initial relationship was keeping our promises no matter how small. If we said we would or could do something, then we did what had to be done to honor our words. Even the small things make a big difference, during a period of very heavy winds at the beginning of building our project site we helped to move all of the villager's longtail boats in to the main street of the village, it was a real team building experience as it takes a lot of people to move a longtail 100m across the sand.
An important Discovery
One other issue that seemed to be a hot topic within the village was the fear of eviction or relocation, many rumours of development and change that would directly affect the lives of everybody within the village. We came up with an idea that would kill to birds with one stone so to speak. The idea of a community fishing area which he had read about whilst studying the Cambodian Fisheries Laws.
The Beginning of the Relationship Between Marine Conservation Cambodia and The community of Koh Rung Samloem
Paul Ferber had been told originally after making enquiries about protected areas that Marine protected areas would take up to two years of research to create and even then would take a lot of time and work to set up. Paul found out that a community fishing order could be set up a lot quicker in a time scale between six months and one year, and that every community area must have conservation areas directly managed by the community. Knowing that with the illegal fishing and the constant destructive fishing techniques many of the surrounding ecosystems would destroyed if something was not done urgently. Paul Ferber discussed the idea with the village chief and then contacted Mr Ouk Vibol head of the conservation division within the fisheries administration to get the documents needed. With the full support of the fisheries administration The community on Koh Rung Samleom was granted status as an official Fisheries Community with their own designated area, this was made official by the visit from H.E. Nao Thouk Under-Secretary of State to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Director of the fisheries administration. This led to the empowerment of the community to create and protect its own conservation areas and start to sustainably manage its marine resources with the support of the FIA. Since the registration of the fisheries community the villagers no longer worry about the possibility of eviction and the community spirit within the village has benefited greatly from this.
Continuing The Work
We are currently continuing to support the community in many ways. Our team has been involved in the renovation of the pathway and Land around the school rerouting and repairing damaged areas. Our volunteers often visit the school to help out with lessons. The CCS has continued to provide funding for school and our team has been involved in clearing the land and providing safe surroundings to the new buildings. We are constantly working together with the village on sustainable fishing projects, conservation and education programs and supporting the community in its own efforts to protect the newly created community conservation areas. In the beginning our team would always bring attention to destructive and illegal fishing practices. At the time it was scary for those involved but without that passion and determination the damage to the areas would have been much greater. We have now paved the way for many more conservation organisations to come and continue the work. Now with the continued support of the local authorities (Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samleom Sangkat, Police ,RCAF and FIA) the village has been empowered to stop any illegal and destructive fishing activities that they witness within their community boundries. Thanks to the level of trust shown to us, not only from the community but also from the local authorities, the acceptance of these protected areas is being witnessed by fishing vessels from the wider fishing communities mooring outside of the marked areas and respecting the newly created no fishing Zones.
Trust
As the level of trust from the village and the children has increased we have been called upon to provide basic first aid to many of the children from the school for all minor scrapes and bruises. Previously there was little to no first aid facilities on the island. The trust has since grown again and now even the older villagers are coming to us with anything from minor cuts and bruises to Snake bites. We have been able to provide first response courses for the community teaching them about basic first aid and CPR. This has lead to MCC starting a clinic on the Island.
The village itself has become more secure both in its rights and its financial stability. One of the most important lessons we all learned was that if you take away the worry for survival, then you allow time for education and give time for other activities such as creating the new community conservation zones.
Note:
This article was written at the end of 2009 and now another year has gone by and the journey is still just as wonderful, the positive changes are mind blowing, and the journey continues....
The Trust of the community is our biggest achievement and allows us their perspective on their needs.
