Microfinance Description

Exploration Name: Social Business

Exploration Dates: Nov 20 – Dec 17

Number of Students: 12

Essential Questions: How does social business alleviate poverty? What is the role of women in microcredit systems?

In Social Business class we learned about microfinance, Tong Tin and saving money. Microfinance is the bank that is for the poor people to loan the money. We learned about microfinance in Cambodia. We went on a trip to interview community people about microfinance. They microfinance is good for them because they can loan the money to make the business. We learned about Tong Tin. Tong Tin is very common at Cambodia. At Cambodia people like to play Tong Tin because they can win money on it but it might take a long time like maybe one year or more. Tong Tin can be bad and can be good. The bad thing about that game is we need to pay a lot of interest. The good thing is we can win the money. One day we learned how to play Tong Tin. We also learned about saving money. We went to Phnom Penh to visit the Kok Tha. Kok Tha is the manager of a savings group. We had a lot of trips and it was very helpful for our team.

Here is our blog that our group make to share to other people in the world.

http://savingsandmicrofinance.ligercambodiablog.org/

Renewable Energy Description

Exploration Name: Renewable Energy in Cambodia (Poo)

Exploration Dates: Oct 7 to Nov 19

Number of students: 13 students

Essential Questions:

1. Are biogas and solar energy sources practical and cost effective in Cambodia?

2. What are the benefits and drawbacks to using biogas and solar energy in Cambodia?

Description:

In our Exploration class we had three things to work on. The first area was the solar system. The solar system is a resource that can create the energy from the sun. Solar has four types: solar panel, solar cooker, solar water heater and solar lamp. A solar panel is the solar thing that creates the energy to run the electricity. A solar cooker is the solar thing that creates the energy for cooking. A solar water heater is the solar thing the creates the energy to turn the normal water to the hot water. A solar lamp is the solar thing that creates the energy to light the house if that house doesn’t have the electricity. The next thing that we learned about was the biodigester. A biodigester is a natural system that can create biogas by using poo from the animals. Cow poo is the best. It has a lot of benefits. Example: (1) saving the money, (2) healthier than using firewood, (3) save a tree. The last thing that we learned was about hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity is a thing that creates the energy by using water. It usually is built over the river. The biggest dam in the world is in China. Our goal was to make Cambodians know that all of these things can create energy. Also we wanted them to use these three things because they are good and can save a lot of money. We also had a trip too. The trip was to go to Kampong Speu. Our target was to install two biodigesters. We install them in Camkids and the orphanage called HAP because we wanted to make them easy instead of using the firewood. Both of the biodigesters cost $1100. When we went to to Kampong Speu we also taught some students too. We also slept at Kampong Speu too. We had good days when we were in Kampong Speu province.