By Britain Miethe

Twenty-three students from Lee University joined an initiative with The People for Care and Learning (PCL) earlier this year to build a community in the heart of Cambodia, a nation ravaged by poverty.

Established in 2009, the Cambodia project aims to provide a sustainable model for economic development. The hope is to achieve this through the training of families in vocational initiatives, with the idea of replicating successful models in other villages.

According to PCL, extreme poverty has affected the people of Cambodia for years. When faced with this severe poverty, the affected families are at an increased risk of turning to loan sharks, selling their children into the sex trade, or seeing relatives die from the effects of starvation and malnutrition.

“Going into the trip, I was unsure of what to expect,” said Lee student Joseph Carrasquillo. “I was excited for a new adventure, but anxious for the ‘unknown’ factor. When we got to Cambodia, however, all nervousness dissipated. I was beyond ready to dive into serving in any way I could.”

Lee’s Department of Business, in partnership with PCL, started an array of initiatives to combat this extreme level of poverty.

Among the projects started by and maintained through Lee’s Department of Business is the integrated farm initiative, an effort to teach the townspeople the value of sustainability. The irrigation supplies the feed, which then goes toward feeding livestock, which contributes to the manure, and so on, until eventually irrigation is once again supplied, creating an entirely maintainable cycle for the villagers to upkeep.

From this farming production, 30 percent of the byproduct is redistributed among the families, widows, and commodity lending initiative. The remaining 70 percent is sold for profit to generate funding for the village.

Carrasquillo continued, “It was incredible to be able to help in the integrated farm. We spent a portion of the day on the farm in the hot Cambodian heat, but knowing that our work was helping an entire village in becoming self-sufficient made it all worth it.”

Other goals of the community include improving the lives of those involved through a children’s home, feeding ministry, and the Tonle Sap barge. Some practical ways they are accomplishing this are through the “Common Grounds” café and introduction of soy-based items to the community, which adds substance to regular meals and decreases malnutrition rates.

Another initiative that Lee University and PCL have started is the commodity lending program. PCL purchases livestock and lends them to a local villager. This villager will then raise the livestock until it is ready to be sold, and will repay the program director for the cost of the initial loan. This system allows for the development of business skills and personal responsibility while keeping an eye on the progress made.

“We work hard serving others and sharing the love of Christ,” said Dr. Guy DeLoach, associate professor of business and Cambodia trip director. “We also learn valuable leadership, management skill sets, and the application of microenterprise in breaking the chain of poverty in Southeast Asia.”

Students will have another opportunity to experience Cambodia with Lee’s Department of Business next summer as they embark on a three-week trip to Cambodia, Nepal, and Bali to serve with PCL at its children’s home, participate in local Vacation Bible School programs, work on a home-building project for widows, along with sightseeing from the Himalayas to the beautiful beaches and oceans of Bali. Students will earn eight academic credits and 20 hours of service credit in the process.

For more information about People for Care and Learning, visit http://www.pcl.is/. For more information about Lee’s Department of Business or the upcoming trip to Cambodia, contact (423) 614-8160.

PHOTOS: Pictured here are Lee students preparing the Integrated farm in the Takam village for rain season by painting the buildings and digging an irrigation system. (Top photo) Painters are (left to right) Lee students Katie Buuck, Betsi Feazel, Misti Stoika, Kay Whitehurst, Elizabeth Cregg and Madison Alexander. Diggers are Lee students Matthew Emery, Josh Murphy, Bogdan Beregovsky, Tyler Stridde, Andy Beck, Tyler Smith, Alex Ingram, Ruben Villa, Gregory Smith, Chad Lee, Matthew Diaz, Josh Crews and Joseph Carrasquillo with Lee alum Isaac Lutz (currently living in Cambodia), and DeLoach.