Unfortunately the blog has been neglected lately due to other projects, such as working on our 6-month Interim Technical Report for the IDRC. It’s a huge undertaking, involving several people in Vancouver and Phnom Penh. Thankfully it’s coming together and should be a wealth of well-organized information on what FoF has accomplished in the past 6 months.
Yesterday we took a time-out from working on the report to go visit the National Institute of Public Health Laboratories (NIPHL) in Toul Kork, which is at the northern end of Phnom Penh. It was interesting to see where the blood collected in the field has gone to be processed, and what kind of machinery is being used. I took pictures that will appear on the blog later.
We also relaxed in the evening by watching a topically relevant film, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen“. The plot focused on a wealthy sheik in Yemen who wants to introduce the sport of fishing to his country, despite the geography of the region. While there were some obvious differences between a film set in the Middle East and what we’re accomplishing in Cambodia, the sheik makes an astute observation when he says that his project will address the growing need for sustainable food sources and that a river will provide not just fish, but water to the region that can be used to grow fruit as well. Our fishponds will be working in tandem with homestead food production to create a symbiotic relationship between aquaculture and farming to ensure year-round sustainable production of nutritious food. Pretty smart, don’t you think?