The availability of potable water is decreasing as the world’s population increases. In Cambodia, 1 in 7 children die before the age of five from preventable diseases such as typhoid, malnutrition, malaria, dengue. The common denominator in many of these is waterborne illness.

The educational infrastructure in Cambodia is still recovering from the devastation of the Khmer Rouge Regime, especially in rural areas. In 2004, prior to Trailblazer Foundation’s involvement with the region, the literacy rate in Sras village was 27% for males and 21% for females.

Cambodia suffers a drought situation for four to five months of the year and alternative water resources are limited due to poor conditions of irrigation systems. The result is low agricultural production leaving villagers with little or nothing to eat, or sell, when their rice reserves are exhausted, which could be four to six months each year.

In 2006, World Vision and Society for Orphan Support in Phnom Penh donated sewing machines for the Sras Village tailoring shop project. The village selected individuals to receive these machines, and a woman named Chanry was placed in charge of teaching sewing to future seamstresses.