Floating Gardens for Health and Prosperity, Nutrition Initiative in Cambodia (Year 2016)

ICATCH Grant Cycle 2016-2019

Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia harbors a very special group of homes called “the floating villages.” These communities face unique challenges including poor access to health care and lack of adequate nutrition, as their diet consists mostly of fish and rice. To obtain diagnosis and treatment for common illnesses, families must travel for a full day away from the lake which is unaffordable for the majority of residents who call this lake home.

The Lake Clinic, a Cambodian NGO established in 2008, uses floating clinics to reach and provide basic healthcare to these villages. They have identified that a very large percentage of children on the lake suffer from significant malnutrition (up to 79% of children under age 5 have moderate to severe stunting from their restricted diet).

With the support of ICATCH funding, Savann Uk (Nurse) and Dr. Leila Srour (Pediatrician) have instituted Floating Gardens for Health and Prosperity, an innovative education program for local families. They teach adult villagers how to build floating gardens to grow vegetables to supplement the family diet. Any excess produce can be sold to help boost family income. Mr. Uk teaches the local villagers about the importance of adding micronutrients to their daily diet. The Lake Clinic staff and the community have formed agricultural networks to empower the local villagers to build and care for these floating gardens.

The floating gardens have helped to enhance and sustain the fishermen and their families and have significantly improved the lives of the children of the Lake.