Stories of Change

Top: program participant learning how to bake. Middle: program participants in cosmetology class, Bottom: program participants learning to cook

New Skills Bring New Opportunities

When refugees are forced to flee their countries, they have to leave behind both what used to be and what could have been. This is especially true for young refugees, who lose the opportunity to explore their interests, learn new skills and pursue their dreams. Young refugees, who often flee alone, instead have to focus on survival as they navigate their new and challenging reality. 

Through our program, “Protecting Urban Refugees through Empowerment”, also known as PURE, in Jakarta, Indonesia, we team up with these youth as they rebuild their lives.  We help these young program participants to build a sense of community, and we offer classes and vocational training that teach valuable skills and help them towards building a career. Program Officer PURE, Defi Satriyani, explains, “classes are important since they teach students life skills. The student could use this skill later in their lives, not only for their own use but also to earn income and support themselves. The opportunity for refugees to earn income has not been easy or equal compared to other groups. Therefore, creating access to vocational training becomes important.”

Recently, the residents at the home had the opportunity to attend cooking classes and cosmetology classes. These classes, which were the first in-person classes held since the start of the pandemic, were filled with excited and chatty teenagers and young adults. In the cooking class, young Abdul was particularly excited. He surprised himself with how quickly he was able to learn in the class and commented that perhaps he could become a chef in the future. Along with his peers, Abdul not only learned how to cook and bake, but he also was able to explore other cultures. 

Alia, who attended the cosmetology class, had a similar experience. She learned how to do various styles of make-up, from daily looks to wedding looks. Following the class, she surprised a social worker who told Alia she was amazed by how healthy and beautiful she looked. Alia’s young daughter beamed next to her and shared that her mother had been practicing her make-up skills daily and said, “It helps her relax and be happy.” For Alia, attending make-up classes gave her a new skill but also gave her a tool that made her feel happy and confident. 

These classes are an opportunity for young refugees, like Alia and Abdul, to grow and regain the experiences and lessons they may have missed out on. As they learn valuable and useful skills, students are able to become more confident and discover their potential.  Through these classes, we are helping young refugees become independent and hopeful as they work towards a brighter future. 

Note: Pseudonyms have been used in this story to protect the safety and identity of minors 

Stories of Change

Top: CWS and teachers analyzing school’s water access. Middle: CWS staff and builder checking the pumping station of the water system. Bottom: CWS staff teaches teacher how to use water filter system

Safe Access to Water Transforms School in Vietnam

The primary satellite boarding school in the Ban Mui village in Vietnam is a place of learning, laughter and growth for over 230 young children. Most of the boarding students are from Thai, Dao or H’Mong ethnic minority groups. The school is a path for children to grow and discover a brighter future.

While working to develop this path for its students, however, the school struggled with a major obstacle: water access. Since the boarding school was built on a large hill, anyone who wanted to access water had to walk down to a nearby stream. Teachers had to take time out of their day to walk the children to the stream where they could bathe.

Not only was this stream far away from the school, but it also didn’t have enough water for all the students to bathe frequently. This resulted in widespread scabies amongst the students and teachers. Scabies is a highly contagious skin disease that can result from poor hygiene and causes intense itching in affected areas. In 2021 the school reported that 30% of children at the school suffered from scabies.

This complication made it difficult for teachers to teach and for children to learn. To address this, CWS partnered with the Alstom Foundation, the school teachers and the Head of the District Education Department to perform a site analysis of the school’s water access. The information we gathered from this analysis was then used to develop a system to supply clean water to the school. Now, the school community has filtered water that they use for drinking, showering, bathing, cooking and flushing toilets.

This new development is a dream come true for the school community. Teachers can now educate students without distractions, and it’s a clean and hygienic place for boarding students to live. The school would like to express its most sincere gratitude to the Alstom Foundation. Their meaningful and timely support has allowed children to learn better while living healthier and happier lives.

CWS Participates in Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction


June 2, 2022

Every two years, disaster management leaders and high-level political representatives from around the world gather at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. At the conference, participants share their knowledge on disaster management, disaster risks, and strategies to reduce the impact of disasters. This year CWS was represented by Dino Satria, our country representative for Indonesia, and Takeshi Komino, our …

Stories of Change

Top: outside of Kwai River Hospital, Middle: Adam Michael Royston and Marvin Pannel on stage at inauguration, Bottom: New patient rooms

“A Place of Comfort and Healing”

For over 60 years, the Kwai River Christian Hospital has been a place of hope and healing for many in the town of Sangklaburi, Thailand near the border with Myanmar. Throughout the years, people from all walks of life have come through the doors of the hospital, including refugees from Myanmar who live in nearby camps. Here, they could always trust that regardless of cost or who they were, they would be welcomed and given high-quality care. 

In late February of this year, the hospital reached a new milestone: it completed its latest project to remodel and expand. Along with its partner, USAID, CWS was a proud supporter of this recent project. 

Marvin Pannell, CWS’ Myanmar Country Representative, attended the event to express gratitude and congratulations for the hospital’s inauguration. 

As he stood in front of the excited crowd that had come to celebrate, Marvin stated “wow, congratulations and amazing are the words that come to mind upon seeing this impressive hospital completed and officially open to serve a community of 150,000.” The hospital will now be able to serve more people and provide an even higher quality of care with the addition of modern medical equipment. 

In his speech, Marvin discussed three of the project’s most remarkable achievements:

“1. Women comprise about 75% of the staff, in a facility that can now provide even higher quality care to a patient base including pregnant women and new mothers. The design of the hospital fully considers the needs of women, girls, men, and boys.

2. The hospital is accessible to an estimated 150,000 people. 25% are Thai citizens and 75% are people from Myanmar, including a mix of asylum seekers, refugees, and people without refugee status. The hospital continues to treat marginalized people under the noble ideal of quality health care as a right, and that all people are equal.

3. The hospital is welcoming and inspiring – a place of comfort and healing. Upon walking around the grounds and throughout the building, it is apparent that the architectural design approach takes advantage of the geographic setting. More importantly, the hospital models an environmentally friendly design approach. From cooling to heating to drainage, landscape, lighting, materials, and more!”

Our whole team joins Marvin in cheering on these achievements and expressing thanks “to all hospital partners and donors for this miraculous gift of accessible, quality health care.” We are also thankful for the American people, whose support through USAID has helped build an inclusive health care center.

With the new expansion and remodeling, the Kwai River Christian Hospital will continue its legacy as a sanctuary and welcoming space for all in need of medical assistance. Marvin said it best: “with this hospital, we have yet another blessing, a cause for daily celebration, and yet another reason to hope and dream.”

Stories of Change

Ms. Ly Thi Dau stands in front of the latrine she built

Mrs. Dau’s Commitment Towards a Safer and Healthier Home

High up in the Vietnamese mountains is a village called Noong Ma, which is home to 43 hardworking families. These families are all part of the Kho Mu and H’Mong ethnic minority groups. Like many other minorities in rural communities, the people in Noong Ma face a number of challenges. Heads of households often travel far distances to find work, and community members face severe health risks due to a lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities. These issues are worsened as many families do not have their own latrines, which means people have to relive themselves in the forests and or streams.

CWS knew that the first step needed was open conversations with the members of the community. Through a series of community awareness sessions, community members learned about the risks of open defecation and the diseases that arise when latrines are not used. These sessions were taught in the native language of the community and helped the members understand the benefits of using and owning a latrine.

One of the eager participants at these community awareness sessions was Mrs. Ly Thi Dau, a 47-year-old H’Mong woman. Mrs. Dau lives with her husband, their two sons, her daughter-in-law and her grandson. After attending the sessions she shared, “now I understand the need to build a sanitary latrine and why my grandson has had stunted growth. It’s because he is infected with worms and couldn’t grow well.” After learning that open defecation likely caused her grandson’s health problems, Mrs. Dau told CWS she talked to her husband about building a latrine. While her husband was on board, neither of them knew how to build a latrine. They were also afraid that if they hired someone to build it for them, it would be very expensive. Many other people in the village shared this same concern.

In response, in October 2021, CWS organized a training session to teach the members of the community how to build their own latrines. Along with many of her neighbors, Mrs. Dau enthusiastically participated in the training. This training was led by CWS and their partners from the District Health Center and Commune Health Station. Together, the group built a sample sanitary latrine to learn how to build one of their own. “The training is easy to understand. I joined in digging the septic tank, and installing the mold to make the tank and the squat pan. Now I can do it myself,” said Mrs. Dau with excitement. She told us that immediately after the training, she and her husband agreed to build their own latrine. To Mrs. Dau and her family’s relief, the calculated cost was much lower than expected.

In order to build latrines in the most efficient manner, Mrs. Dau had the clever idea to reach out to five more families who had attended the training. The families included the Ly A Daos, Ly A Khays, Ly A Giangs, Vang A Phuas, and Sung Thi Tras. Together, the group collaborated by saving money, splitting the shipping cost of the materials and sharing the laborers they hired to assist them.

With their knowledge and commitment to improving the health and safety of their village, the group became a powerhouse. Officials of the People’s Committee and Commune Health Station provided the group supervision to ensure the latrines were built properly. Through hard work and dedication, the six families completed building their latrines by November 2021.

Mrs. Dau shared that before, “most of the village did not have latrines, so it was very difficult when there was a need for defecation. When it rained, the road was slippery, and it smelled bad.” She explained that “it was easy to run into others which made me feel very shy. Now that I have a latrine, my life is much better.” Mrs. Dau’s desire and commitment to a better life for her and her family is recognizable in her commitment to building her own latrine.

In its commitment to helping other families with this same goal, CWS reached out to the families in the other residential areas in the village. In these areas, training and the building of latrines were done in groups to ensure efficiency and collaboration, as Mrs. Dau’s team had. Little by little, each family has started building their own latrines and working toward an open-defecation-free village. Together, the people in Noong Ma are building a safer and cleaner village for generations to come.

Stories of Change

Sok cares for her pigs.

Chan Sok’s Pig Business Brings her Hope and a New Life

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many Cambodians who relied on wage labor to earn an income were left with few options. Chan Sok and her family were one of the families who faced this challenge. Since the family did not own any farmland, Sok’s children worked as wage laborers in Thailand while her husband worked hard to sell his labor in the village, earning about $7 a day. The pandemic and border closures prevented Sok’s children from earning an income and made it increasingly difficult for her family to get by on her husband’s income.

Sok and her family’s hardships were significant, but the solution was a clear one. After speaking with Sok and learning about her economic challenges, CWS and local partner RDA helped Sok enroll in our pig program.

Along with her neighbors, Sok was taught how to best raise, feed and care for pigs. When she was ready, she was given a pig of her own to raise and care for.

Sok’s pig and newfound knowledge have allowed her to establish a stable income and make a reasonable profit. “I am so very grateful for the piglet, if CWS had not provided it, I would have never been able to buy one. I raised the piglet with the knowledge I was given, and I took good care of it. Within 10 months the pig gave me 7 piglets. I gave one piglet to my widowed daughter so that she could raise it and sold the other 6 piglets, earning $325. I used the money to buy rice and other necessities for my family. I also put some of the money into my family’s savings,” Sok shared.

In addition to establishing a stable income, Sok’s new pig farm has allowed her to dream and work towards a better future. Sok told CWS “I kept my pig so that I could keep breeding more piglets. I plan to use the money from selling the next piglets to expand my pig business and to aquaculture business (fish and eel raising). My hope is that in the future my husband who is getting older and my children will no longer need to work as a wage laborer. I can’t thank you enough for this support”.

Sok is one of the many women and villagers in Cambodia who have become foundational in helping their families maintain stability throughout the pandemic. Her pig business and motivation to support her family, have given her a new life.

Stories of Change

Nhy in one of her fields.

Growing and Adapting: Nhy Expands Her Vegetable Production

In the Ta Taok village of Western Cambodia, Hak Nhy and her husband Kim Dorn devote their time to their farm where they harvest corn and rice. The couple is in their late sixties and lives off of the crops they yield from their farm. Unfortunately, due to challenges ranging from climate change to the pandemic, the couple has struggled to get by and rarely has enough to eat.  

In 2020, CWS met the couple and learned of their day-to-day struggles. In response, CWS invited Nhy to vegetable classes where she was given the opportunity to learn the best methods to grow vegetables, compost fertilizer and adapt to the changes in the environment caused by climate change. Nhy also received seeds and other materials needed to build her own garden and help it flourish. 

Since enrolling in CWS’ classes, Nhy has been able to establish a better diet and earn a stable income by selling the surplus vegetables she grows from her garden. “My family’s situation is getting better. I have [gained] skills and knowledge on vegetable gardening, adapting to the changing weather conditions and compost making,” Nhy tells CWS. 

The couple has transitioned from struggling to thriving. They now earn a decent salary of about $70/month which is enough to buy necessities and have enough left over to put into savings. Through this new income, Nhy says they “have enough to eat and “are now no longer worried about food shortages.” Nhy has continued to use her new knowledge to help her garden grow by using the money she earns to buy more seeds and materials and grow her livelihood.  

Through education, Nhy has been empowered to give herself and her husband a new and better life. She tells CWS “I am so grateful and thank you for such great support.” Nhy’s story shows her admirable resiliency and capacity to adapt and thrive when given new knowledge and skills.  

To empower other individuals like Nhy, and help them improve their livelihood opportunities, donate here. 

Stories of Change

Top: Oy works on a motorbike repair job. Bottom: Oy and Kong in the shop.

A motorbike repair business means new hope for Oy

“Living in poverty was already hopeless, but life got harder when I lost my leg in a landmine accident,” Ouk Oy says. The 64-year-old father of four adult children lives with his wife, Sreng Kong, in western Cambodia. 

Oy and Kong rely on Kong’s income as a seasonal wage laborer in order to make ends meet. She could earn about $5 a day at a nearby corn farm. Oy told us, “before participating in a CWS program, my family didn’t have enough to eat. I borrowed rice or money to buy rice, and I worked as a wage laborer to repay the debt.” 

Oy had dreams and plans for a more stable income for his family. He and Kong live on the grounds of a Trauma Care Foundation property. The couple doesn’t own land, so the TCF allowed him to build a small home on their land. Oy also took a class on repairing motors through the TCF, but he could never afford the costs of starting a business. 

CWS works with the Khmer Community Development Association to reach families like Oy’s in this part of Cambodia. The goal of our Promoting Better Lives program is to help people with the information or resources to meet their basic needs, whether it’s a sanitary bathroom, a business start-up grant or something else. The KCDA team met with Oy and Kong to talk about their priorities and find out what the best way to support them was. Oy talked about his motor repair skills and his desire to start a business repairing motorbikes. CWS provided a $350 start-up grant so that he could buy tools and spare parts to get his shop going. 

Today, not only do Oy and Kong have a much more stable income, but Oy has a renewed confidence and sense of purpose. “I am so happy and proud of myself; I never ever thought that I could afford to have my own business. I never expected this opportunity in my life, to run a service shop with a better and stable income,” he says. Oy now makes $250-300 per month through the shop. 

“I can’t thank you enough for the support, as I now have a certain job to support my family. My wife doesn’t need to go out and sell her labor, we have enough to eat, and we can allocate some savings to expand my repair shop,” he added. 

Stories of Change

So and her children with the family's new sanitary latrine.

Building Latrines in Nam Vai Village Vietnam

In the village of Nam Vai, high in the mountains of Phuc Than commune in Vietnam, 80 families from the Mong ethnic minority group live with minimal access to water and sanitation. As of June 2021 only 10 families in the village had latrines, with most villagers relieving themselves daily along streams and forest edges.

Trang Thi So, 27, and her family never had a latrine. She and her husband Van A Lu often used the stream bank as a bathroom. Their three children, ages 10, 9 and 5, went to the bushes near their house.

In July, CWS hosted a community-led total sanitation start-up in the village. So attended the activation session and realized the importance of building sanitary latrines. 

“In the past, not many families in the village had latrines. Most of us defecated freely, so we felt normal. Through attending the session, I realized that we were doing it badly, not only unhygienic for the community but also for my own family. So, I signed up to build a sanitary latrine for my family right in the event,” said So.

In August CWS hosted a technical training to guide the villagers on how to build a low-cost sanitary latrine that suits well with family economic conditions, customs and habits of the people in Nam Vai village. Lu actively participated and was nominated by the people to build latrines for the village.

Thanks to Lu’s work, in partnership with CWS, So’s family now has a sanitary latrine. When asked why he didn’t build latrine before, Lu said that he didn’t realize why he had to build latrine, didn’t have technical skills and thought it would cost a lot of money. Now with technical instructions and a mold provided by the project, it is quick and simple to do. He told us that the latrine materials cost him only 2 million Vietnamese Dong, or about $88 USD, to buy bricks, sand, stone, a squat toilet and water pipe. He and he villagers provided the labor to dig holes, make concrete rings, and build the walls themselves.

So confided: “We had not built a latrine because almost no one in the village did it, and I just wandered around. It was very difficult in rainy days because of slippery paths and bad smell. In dry season, it was very embarrassing because there is no vegetation to cover, it is easy to see each other and shy when doing open defecation. Now I have a latrine, my life is much better.”

According to Lu, about a month after the CWS project, the village’s six-person team built 60 underground tanks, and 10 families made the upper part themselves to complete the latrines. During this time people in the village are busy harvesting rice, but after the harvesting they will focus on finishing the latrines.

Nam Vai village now has a plan to have 100% families build latrines to achieve open-defecation free status by December 2021.

Collected by Tran Van Thang, CWS Field Officer; Written by Nguyen Van Ty, WASH Program Officer

Stories of Change

Maria Magdalena Hoar Fahik is from another of the families who received supplies from CWS to recover following Cyclone Seroja. She is pictured here with supplies from CWS.

Helpful supplies when they were needed most

When Cyclone Seroja slammed into Timor-Leste and Indonesia in April 2021, it caused devastating flash flooding and landslides. Nearly half a million people were affected, including a death toll of 179 and 11,406 people who were displaced due to damaged or destroyed homes. Elisabeth Hoar and her 7-year-old granddaughter, Agnes, were among those who were forced from their homes. Agnes’s parents are migrant workers on another island in Indonesia, so it’s just Agnes and Elisabeth at home. 

Elisabeth and Agnes live in Forekmodok village in Indonesia, near the Benenain River. When Cyclone Seroja hit, the river overflowed its banks. The resulting flash flooding swept through Forekmodok, badly damaging it and then spreading to neighboring villages. 

When the flooding hit, Elisabeth took Agnes and fled to a neighbor’s home on higher ground. In their haste, they left all of their belongings at home. For a week, they lived off the generosity of their neighbors for food and water while their own home was submerged in mud. Unfortunately, their garden–which had been ready for harvest–was also badly damaged. 

Elisabeth says that on the third day after the flooding, a lot of help arrived. The district government, churches, community groups and organizations like CWS came to help families as they recovered. First, Elisabeth received emergency food help from a Catholic church: 11 pounds of rice and some kitchen utensils. The second group that brought relief, she says, was CWS. Our team provided her with a package of household supplies. Elisabeth and Agnes made up one of the 680 families who received these packages–nearly 3,000 people in total. 

The kit that Elisabeth received had lots of supplies to help her bridge the gap until she and Agnes could return home. It included blankets, mats, bath soap, laundry soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, a tarpaulin, buckets, masks, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, a comb, brooms and dish clothes. “I feel happy because this assistance can help me and my grandchild fulfill the needs of items that we want to buy,” Elisabeth said. “I no longer need to buy blankets, bath soap and other supplies, so we can save money to use to meet other necessities of life such as food. So, we get double help: useful supplies and saving our money.” 

Having lived through the devastation of the flash flooding, Elisabeth says she has learned a lot in case it happens again. “The assistance I received from CWS seemed to give me advice that if next year there is another flood, I will try to save my household items before evacuating. That way, when the flooding comes, not everything will be washed away and there are things that can be saved. Hopefully flash floods like this don’t happen again,” she said.

When Elisabeth, Agnes and their neighbors had a need, the CWS family was there with practical, useful supplies. We are grateful for all of our donors who supported this response.