The Kingdom of Wonder. Engineers Without Borders took a group of 15 Australian engineers and students to Cambodia to learn about the role engineering and technology play in development. The trip was a mix of workshops, visiting EWB's partner organisations and learning about the culture and people of Cambodia and how this influences development. Cambodia is full of so much character, friendly people, a rich and devastating history and complex development challenges. We looked at successes and we looked at failures and we tried to draw some conclusions about what engineers can do to help.

1. The Dialogues on Development group visited a family who had received a rain water harvesting
system (i.e. water tank) from EWB's partner RainWater Cambodia. Households categorised as
'extremely poor' are the first to receive these.
EWB’s Inca Dunphy with Dialogues participants, guides and villagers in Kampot, Cambodia. Photo:
Katie Shozi, 2014

2. Building a concrete water storage tank with community members. The concrete was mixed from
local Mekong River sand.
Dialogues participants and villagers in Koh Padao, Cambodia. Photo: Katie Shozi, 2014

3. These women live near the former Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh, where 4000 families were
recently evicted to make way for foreign investment. The lake was filled with sand. These women
now protest full time for land rights and compensation.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Elspeth Moroni, 2014

4. An example of what happens when development is not a two-way conversation. Displaced families
from Boeung Kak Lake were relocated to this field, an hour outside of Phnom Penh. An aid agency
donated a toilet for each plot of land, but the plots have no houses or running water to hook up to
the toilets.
Near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Elspeth Moroni, 2014

5. What type of toilet do
you use if you live on a
floating house in a
lake? Piped toilets
aren't possible, pit
toilets won't work,
going into the lake
creates health
problems. Here is a
new type of toilet that
EWB and Live & Learn
are designing and
testing with the
community. It floats
and waste can be
processed onsite.
Tonle Sap Lake,
Cambodia. Photo:
Elspeth Moroni, 2014

6. Back in Phnom Penh, tuk tuk drivers relax during a quiet moment.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Elspeth Moroni, 2014

7. Back in Phnom Penh, the Dialogues group visited the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and
Orthotics (CSPO), an organisation EWB has worked with in the past to develop their curriculum.
Patients, students and staff at CSPO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Elspeth Moroni, 2014

8. Students come from all over Asia to learn how to make, fit and prescribe prosthetic and orthotic
limbs at CSPO. They also employ and train many people who have these limbs.
Students and staff at CSPO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Elspeth Moroni, 2014

9. Physics students at Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) presented research to the group about
local renewable energy sources. EWB and RUPP have worked together to develop Cambodia’s first
renewable energy curriculum.
RUPP student in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: Katie Shozi, 2014

10. This 91 years old
community elder sat
with the group and
told his story (through
our translating guide)
about his life, the war
and life under the
Khmer Rouge. What a
privilege and unique
opportunity it was.
Community elder in
Koh Padao, Cambodia.
Photo: Elspeth
Moroni, 2014