After successfully installing around 20 hand pumps in Lumphat district, a UK-based organisation, Vidya Jyoti, plans to install hand pumps in seven additional districts in Ratanakiri province and is exploring the possibility of launching nutrition programmes on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
Pamela Kaushal, founder and trustee of Vidya Jyoti, said the project in Ratanakiri was initiated due to the lack of access to clean water. The hand pumps aim to provide underprivileged communities with a reliable source of clean water.
Vidya Jyoti began the water project in 2024, installing nearly 20 hand pumps in various villages across Ratanakiri. The organisation now plans to work with the Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust to introduce a nutrition project in Cambodia, which will provide health supplements to children under six years old.
During her visit to Cambodia, Kaushal also visited a government school in Lumphat district, where more than 700 students attend the senior high school. She noted that the school lacked computers and that many students had never seen one before. In response, she decided to donate computers to help students develop basic computer skills. She also plans to install computers in local primary schools to improve digital literacy.
Kaushal founded Vidya Jyoti on February 9, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organisation is based in the United Kingdom and operates in India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cambodia.
Vidya Jyoti first implemented its water project in India in 2020. In 2021, the project expanded to Ghana, providing clean water to 110 villages over three years. In 2024, the project reached Kogi state in rural Nigeria and then extended to Ratanakiri province in rural northeastern Cambodia.
Kaushal remains committed to expanding Vidya Jyoti’s projects, aiming to address clean water shortages and improve nutrition and education in underserved communities in Cambodia.
