On this very last day of our trip, the company that arranged it asked us to participate in a clean water project they underwrite.  They shipped us two water filters which we packed. That morning, we went to the bustling wholesale market where everything from jewelry to chickens was available for purchase and bought two plastic buckets.  We then drove about an hour to the Tonie Sap lake, a huge body of water in central Cambodia, to deliver and install the filters in two of the village homes.

During dry season the villages may be walkable, but during wet season the stilts on which the dwellings perch, often 12 – 15 feet high, are necessary as the water rises.  The villages were a huge tourist attraction before the pandemic, but that vital source of revenue has not yet snapped back, and there were scores of empty boats waiting for occupants.

We took a boat manned by a villager and his son;  Long, our guide knew who was most needy. He took us to a floating hut, helped us climb into it, and, under his direction, we installed the filters, one for the home of the younger woman who sat with us and one for the home of her neighbor, a woman of 73.  The filters will provide clean water for about 4 years, saving them the necessity of buying it.  The lake water is filthy and cannot be consumed.

Our guide never missed an opportunity to showcase local businesses aimed at tourists; after our village visit, he took us to a spot where locals have begun a kayaking operation and a young woman maneuvered us expertly through the swamp forests.