Dankao Village, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (July 2024)

While I was in Korea, I made an unplanned trip to Cambodia for two purposes. One of them was to assess the excessive private debt situation of the Dankao Village people in the vicinity of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

Dankao Village consists of people who are making a living by digging the garbage collected from the City of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. There is a Christian ministry called Green Bethel that runs a school, a church, and a Tae-Kwon-do studio. The Green Bethel Compound is led by a couple who are dedicating their retirement years to serving these people. Also, MS Kim and his wife are serving through Tae Kwon Do studio and the church ministry. SfK has been serving the Dankao Village people through Green Bethel for a few years. 

Last year when SfK BAM Field Trip paid a visit, the Green Bethel compound was flooded and we had to walk around wearing rubber boots. This year, SfK financed the construction of a surrounding wall at the compound and the purchase of a water pump to be used when the site is flooded. 

When I met up with Rev. Dongho Kim in May, I asked him what we could do together to help his ministry's endeavor (Ezekiel Mission) to help the Dankao Village people in Cambodia, as I described in an earlier post. He explained about these people without any reserve cash to fall into debt when they run into emergencies, such as illness. Because of my experience in the microfinance industry, he asked me to assess the situation and come up with an appropriate approach to help them out. If an inappropriate approach is used, other goodwill ministry efforts could also be damaged. I agreed. I decided to make the trip when a Seoul National University team was conducting research on the village people in other areas. It would be easier to conduct interviews on private debt as part of the household research rather than an independent survey, not to create any expectations. 

The irrigation work was completed and it looked really nice. The church and school would not have to be closed because of the flooding anymore. We were happy to be of assistance to them.

I saw other improvements to the compound. The church was expanded. There were only two rows before. Now the church as three rows. 

I also saw a new building that is used as a nursery. Apparently, one nursery in Korea was closing down and all the furniture and equipment were donated to be used for this site. Many young babies were sleeping. The parents would be greatly appreciative of this service.

Thanks to Ezekiel Mission's help, one prominent hair salon business in Korea established a training center for teaching young people how to be hair stylists. This business provided a minibus to transport these young students to and from the training center. Upon graduation, the students would be able to get a high-paying job at other hair salons in Phnom Penh.

I interviewed a dozen people who are familiar with the high-interest private debt situation with the help of Kanika who is fluent in Korean and Khmer. She studied in Korea for several years. She is working for Hesed. 

I also interviewed some people who are familiar with the Dankao Village to gain different perspectives, including a doctor couple who used to serve with Green Bethel, but no longer. 

I also interviewed two microfinance specialists working for different Korean institutions. One of them participated in SfK BCT in 2017 and I was glad to see the couple.

I also met a microfinance institution CEO who has been watching the industry for the past ten years. 

Both of them said that the Dankao Village people would be unable to qualify for regulated microfinance loans and that the microfinance industry in Cambodia is struggling. I appreciated their input. I felt I could come up with a report that can be useful. - Jeffrey