Aoral, Kampong Speu province (January 14, 2015) – His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia today paid a social visit to Prey Thom village in Reaksmei Sameakki commune of Aoral district in Kampong Speu province and donated food to 515 poor families.
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Of the total, 400 families were the former landless and land-poor families who came to settle in Prey Thom since mid-2012, while the rest from Puos Vek village of the same commune.
Each family got a package of 50kg of milled rice, 12 cans of canned fish, 24 packs of instant noodles, a mosquito net, a mat, a blanket, a sarong, a scarf and a T-shirt. In addition, each family received 100,000 riels ($25) in cash from the King.
Speaking at the ceremony in Prey Thom, the King said that he and the Queen missed their people all the times and were always worried about the happiness and sufferings of their citizens throughout the country.
“The donation today is for easing the difficulties of all the families who are present here,” the King said.
According to H.E Pen Sambo, Deputy Governor for Kampong Speu, the King also donated a new school building of six classrooms in addition to the existing five-classroom building of Prey Thom Primary School which is currently run out of space to accommodate the increasing number of students. The construction of the new building will start soon and after the completion, Prey Thom Primary School will be upgraded to the lower secondary level.
Prey Thom is a new village established in mid-2012 under the government’s Social Land Concession Project, funded by the Japan Social Development Fund through World Bank and implemented by LWD.
Under the project each family received a plot of land sized 30m by 40m for residence and 1.5 hectares of agricultural land. The emerging challenge the villagers of Prey Thom faced is the lack of water for household consumption and irrigation system for farming activities.