Introduction
The Bunla Foundation seeks to create and support projects that reduce poverty and suffering of People Living with HIV/AIDS and their affected Children or Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) through physical and psychosocial, educational and economic support in the specific target area. Our projects provide training and assistance in the areas of health, education and clean water. As we see new problems arise, we focus resources and attention to solve those problems.
The Bunla Foundation is a Non-political, Non-religious endeavor established by Bunla Hear (who is holding a Master Degree of Public Health, MPH). The Bunla Foundation is founded in 2007 with initiated and supports from the friends in Houston, Texas of USA. And registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior since then. The Bunla Foundation has developed a policy of sustainable development for all its projects. Among its social programs, the Foundation proposes to spread the basic program for taking care of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their children affected by HIV/AIDS called Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) to several locations in Kok Chork Commune, Siem Reap District, Siem Reap Province. This wholistic program (Education, Health, Psychosocial and Clean Water) is particularly adapted to the Cambodian context, where lacks of education for OVC and lack of clean water and medical care for AIDS patients are the main problems in Cambodia.
The Bunla Foundation is dedicated to expressing the love and compassion to all people (suffer and affected by HIV/AIDS) regardless of their race, religion, or political status.
Problem Analysis
The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and S.T.D (NCHADS) estimates that there are about 160,000 persons in Cambodia living with HIV in 2005, over 20,000 of whom have AIDS. Since the epidemic peaked only a decade ago, the number of AIDS cases is not expected to decrease until the end of the decade no matter how successful HIV prevention efforts are. The impact of AIDS extends far beyond the immediate patient: extended families go into debt, and family assets are often depleted; one of their partner is living with nothing to eat, their children become suffer and then Orphans. 70% of Cambodian AIDS deaths in 2007 were in the 20-44 year old age group, the time of peak productivity, parenthood and support for ageing parents.
Children's education is disrupted as they are prematurely pushed into a caretaker role and then orphaned. Ageing parents lose the adult, children who are the sole source of old age security in Cambodian society. AIDS is not only a source of personal suffering and premature death but a major social problem with profound psychosocial and economic consequences for communities. Family members must often choose between caring for a People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and they need to leave the home to earn a livelihood. Even where there are full-time caregivers available within the extended family, they need periodic respite. An additional and unnecessary factor in depleting family assets is the purchase of costly "quack" cures for AIDS, which, despite Ministry of Health (MOH) efforts, are widely promoted but remain undone.
Cambodia has just recently begun to introduce the full Continuum of Care (CoC) for PLHA. Nationwide, less than a third of PLHA currently have access to CoC, but the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) aims to extend it to at least 2/3 by 2010. Meeting this challenge will require extensive assistance from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in upgrading the capacities of health providers and facilities, forging linkages across vertical programs, and linkages between the health system and communities.
There are many children in Cambodia who live in the poorest rural villages such as Kok Chork Commune and do not attend school due to poverty and HIV/AIDS. The Bunla Foundation is providing services and opportunities to develop the students’ capacities and their family’s economic situations in order to improve their living conditions and future prospects. School in Cambodia is “free” during primary school, in hopes that children will at least learn basic reading and writing and the literacy rate will be improved. The problem is that most impoverished children do not have the approximately $20 a year it costs to procure uniforms, shoes and their school supplies.
Main cause of Poverty
In reality, most families are seeking out a living as day living, working as construction worker in Siem Reap town or doing small business with the tourists. Most of adolescents leaving their villages go to Thailand for various jobs, leaving children behind with relatives. They live in rural areas that suffer from a lack of basic infrastructure, including roads, electricity and clean water as well as health and education services. There are lots of school-age children do not go to school because their living income is low and some other is taking care of or look after their parents due to having chronically ill, especially HIV/AIDS. In Cambodia, the illiteracy rate around 36% of population, according to Ministry of Education.
Most of the health problems faced by people in these areas are linked to lack of basic knowledge in health, hygiene and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. For instance, there is not enough understanding of what causes of transmitted diseases, how it can be prevented. The HIV prevalence rate is very high among the sexually active population and is a Main cause of Poverty, social and economic impact of this tragedy has yet to be fulfilling in these areas.
This location, which has a total estimated population of over 28,000 have been selected based on:
(People Living with HIV/AIDS more than 200 and Children affected by HIV/AIDS more than 500)
a. Need: prevalence of HIV/AIDS, poverty, low health indicators;
b. Gaps: either no other organization providing health services, or services provided are limited in scope;
c. No access to clean water at all.
The poverty of Angkor purebred builders
The people in Kok Chork Commune are very poor, suffering from HIV/AIDS, not access to clean water. At the rainy season they collect the rain water for use and at dry season they collect the water from ponds which are not clean at all. The ponds usually take about 20 to 30 minutes walks from their homes. The People Living with HIV/AIDS are easy to become sick four to five times if their living condition is poor of hygiene, sanitation, use unsafe water, not enough foods and or rich of protein and vitamin, compare to the healthy people.
The poverty of Angkor purebred builders:
The Khmer (Cambodian) artists and the sages had sent a verbal message to the next generations if someone comes to see the Angkor Wat; they should study in detail about the archaeology and its demography and if you “see the stone, don’t forget to ask stone” or if you see the hill, don’t forget the low ground. Anywise, if you had visited Angkor Wat, the world wonder, you should not forget to see the environment around this archaeological park. To search and study the living environments of the villagers around this Angkor temple. Because among the 100 families living here, at least 2-3 of them are related to purebred of this Angkor builders. Until today, how is the living standard of the purebred of Angkor builders? Especially in Kok Chork Commune.
Donation
We rely solely on private donors and support together with the tireless work of local volunteers; these gifts are significantly improving living condition of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the futures of their children affected by HIV/AIDS as well as block cycle of HIV infection in Cambodia.
These funds are used to buy
- School supplies (bag, pen, board, chalk, uniform etc.) for children;
- Bicycles are awarded to kids who are top in the class;
- Foods for PLHA;
- Install pump wells for PLHA and OVC families.
Your funds could be used to help with medical care for AIDS patients, or help with any number of special projects that come up from time to time.
Providing the things necessary for children to attend school is the heart and soul of our Foundation. For every $20 collected, we can sponsor a child into primary or secondary school for one year. The $20 “bundle” includes the following:
- One uniform and one pair of shoes, given at the start of school;
- A second uniform and shoes 2-3 months later;
- A backpack;
- All the school supplies for the year.
On the opening day of school in early October, teachers and parents help us distribute these essentials to each student.
The Budget Needed
|
Programs
|
# of direct beneficiaries
|
# of pack
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Unit cost
|
|
Pump wells
|
8000
|
30 wells
|
USD450
|
|
School award (bike)
|
30
|
30
|
USD50
|
|
Food (PLHA+OVC)
|
300
|
300
|
USD20
|
|
School Supply
|
200
|
200
|
USD20
|
Bike to school Program
It costs $50 to buy a reconditioned used bicycle and transport it to the countryside. Bicycles awarded by the Foundation are often the only transportation available to not only the child, but often to the whole family other than walking.
The children in the countryside especially in Kok Chork commune often walk several kilometers to get to primary school and when they decide to continue to secondary school, that school is often even further away.
Children wanting to continue to the 7th grade often face a 10-15 km hike (6-9 miles), making it impossible. The Foundation awards bicycles to all graduating OVC children at 6th graders at all schools in Kok Chork commune to encourage them to continue on to school.
Competition for the bikes is fierce and the goal of creating incentives for excellence is achieved. Donations for the bike program are collected all year for one big awards ceremony at the close of school in July.
Goal and Purposes
Purposes:
To improve the living conditions of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their Children affected by HIV/AIDS through the tourists, community participation, love and compassion.
Strategic Objectives:
The Bunla Foundation’s approach to Philanthropic support is to encourage personal involvement and volunteering over financial donations.
Our strategic objective is working and supporting through tourism to achieve in below programmatic areas:
1. Home Base Care program: targeting people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronically ill. To support them by home visits, food, materials, medical assistance and clean water.
2. Child In Distress program: targeting most Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and Children Affected by HIV/AIDS. To support and encourage them to study till at least grade 9 through biking program.
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