Since 2024, Vidya Jyoti, a UK-registered charity, has installed 18 water pumps in Lumphat district of Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province to help improve access to clean water for local residents. Now, the charity is seeking to expand its water project to more districts across Ratanakiri, as well as to initiate a nutrition program for pre-school children.
In an interview with B2B Cambodia, Dr. Pamela Kaushal, Consultant Psychiatrist and Founder, Chair and Trustee of Vidya Jyoti, shared that her charity first began five years ago in the United Kingdom, fulfilling her dream of doing humanitarian work.
“Vidya means knowledge, and Jyoti means light, so the name originates from India because my parents are from India, but I was born in Great Britain. My mother's name is Jyoti as well, so I named the charity in her name,” said Kaushal.
Building Water Pumps to Serve Underprivileged Communities
The charity began its work in Ghana, installing motorised water pumps and poly tanks in rural villages, which after three years resulted in 115 villages across the country having access to clean water.
“We just don't install, we also maintain, so we do regular three-month checks, and if there is a fault in a hand pump, we pay for the parts, labour as well as the fuel, to our people on the ground… so people volunteer with us, but we cover their expenses,” Kaushal added.
“After Ghana, we decided to do some work in Nigeria, and it was last year (2024) that the gentleman who supplies the hand pumps to companies in West Africa… [connected me with his] client in Cambodia who'd been buying hand pumps for [him] for the last 10 years. He introduced me to Mr. Heng Phakdey, who lives here in Phnom Penh and has his own company, and that's how [Vidya Jyoti’s] work started in Cambodia last September,” explained Kaushal.
Through Heng Phakdey, Vidya Jyoti contacted the district administration of Lumphat district in Ratanakiri province and was able to establish the water project in late 2024, starting with one borehole and pump. Six months later, the project had already expanded to 18 new boreholes drilled and water pumps installed, with the intention to cover all villages across Lumphat district and eventually expand to all seven districts of Ratanakiri province. Out of the 18 boreholes drilled, three were at rural village schools.
“When I visited the village schools, I went to one senior high school where there are 700+ children, the Hun Manet Senior High School in Lumphat district, and I noticed that they don't have computers. They have electricity, they have a teacher who can teach ICT, but no computers,” shared Kaushal.
I looked and saw they had a very large room so I said, okay, I will give you 30 computers, secondhand desktops that we'll buy in Phnom Penh and deliver to you. You set them up, you have electricity, but the wiring costs we will pay. You have a teacher so start teaching because children in this AI age need to know the basics of computing.
She added that if providing access to ICT education at this school ends up being successful, her charity will look into doing the same at other schools in Lumphat and other districts in Ratanakiri. Vidya Jyoti is also considering building cubicle toilets in certain villages to improve sanitation and hygiene.
“At the moment, we just focus on Ratanakiri because it's a very poor province. We've come to know that, for example, the World Food Program (WFP), who have done work in Cambodia for 20+ years, even they have never worked in Ratanakiri Province for nutrition and for water,” she explained.
Launching a Pre-School Nutrition Program in Cambodia
Vidya Jyoti has also established a partnership with Annapoorna Trust in India, an organisation that primarily strives to provide well-balanced morning nutrition to young children. Through this partnership, Kaushal said she is seeking to launch a new nutrition program in Cambodia aimed at pre-school children, which she found is a fairly underserved population in the country.
“So we're in the process, during this current visit, of meeting with the Ministry of Industry, Education, Health, Commerce, and we've met with Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Hangchuon Naron, and also Samheng Boros, The Minister Attached to the Prime Minister [to discuss this project],” Kaushal shared.
We've had these discussions, and they're very happy for this [nutrition project] to happen… so there has been no project so far in Cambodia for children under the age of six years, which we call pre-school, no nutrition program, either from the World Food Program or any other governmental organisation. So we have suggested that, because this is an untouched population cohort, we will give ‘Saisure’ morning nutrition to the preschool children of Cambodia, starting from the suburbs around Phnom Penh.
She explained that ‘saisure’ is a millet and malt-based product made in India that is fortified with vitamins and essential minerals that children need for growth.
“If you feed a child with these important nutrients before the age of six, by the time they reach primary school, their body and brain are fully well developed, and then they will obviously achieve better. So that is what our focus will be, pending the approvals from the ministries,” she added.
Reflecting on her visit to Cambodia, Dr Kaushal shared that she is impressed to see the country’s rapid development in urban centres like Phnom Penh, but believes there is still more work that can be done in certain rural areas.
“Places like Phnom Penh are thriving, rapidly developing, and a lot of foreign investment is coming in, which is helping the economy thrive. However, I think the provinces on the outskirts are still quite neglected,” said Kaushal
“Basic necessities like water, sanitation, hygiene, level of quality of education, a lot of work has to be done… I think the scope for charities like me, which, I'm not a big charity, I don't get any CSR funding,… But I feel working in countries like Cambodia, where the population is only 17 million… the impact of the work can be great because it's a small population,” she added.
“Hopefully, I'm going to come to Cambodia every six months. I want to learn from existing NGOs who already have the knowledge and experience… I'm still learning about Cambodia, so you have to learn about the people, the culture, the political systems in place, the government agencies who you have to approach… and then we can do our work,” Kaushal concluded.