1-front-page.jpg

VANDY RATTANA

A young Cham girl rides her bike at a ceremony in Takeo province Monday.

It was a watershed day in Takeo province's Traing district on Monday when 30 newly created water wells were handed over to a commune of 600 families. Ten months in the making and with a price tag of some US$28,000, the wells are to provide three villages in the Smorng commune with clean drinking water. Sos Mousine, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Rural Development, said the wells were a small but life-changing gift. "Over 85 percent of rural people in Cambodia still don't have access to safe drinking water," he said. The construction was funded by the Australian government and implemented by UK-based NGO Muslim Aid.