Making an impact: my volunteering experience with Just a Drop

In the Spring of 2025, our Travel Product Coordinator Marie had the pleasure to participate in a volunteer project organized by Just a Drop – one of the charities we’ve partnered with as part of our TravelLocal Fund For Good, whose mission it is to transform lives by introducing sustainable safe water, sanitation and hygiene projects to communities around the world. Here, Marie shares her incredible four-day experience volunteering with Just a Drop, during which she helped install water filters, taught local school children about good hygiene practices, and much more.

Day 1: meeting the Water for Cambodia team

Ben (the Just a Drop team member who was on this trip with me) and I visited the head office of Water for Cambodia (WFC), the NGO that Just a Drop supports with the money from their donors. We met the WFC team, and it was great to see how proud they all are of working there and of making a true impact on the local communities in Siem Reap.

We took a tour of their laboratory and learned how biosand filters work. The team also explained how it can sometimes be very difficult to make people use these filters – especially older people and indigenous communities, who are often reluctant at first to use the filter, since for example they’ve gotten used to the taste of water that comes directly from a well and filtered water tastes strange to them.

The WFC team are doing a great job at educating the people about the benefits of the biosand filter. They also build latrines for schools and individual families; to ensure their usage and maintenance, they require the local people to help build the base structure as well as contribute some of their own materials.

We got our hands dirty today and built five biosand filters! Before we actually started making new filters, we had to first take out the filters that they had made the day before. One filter and its metal frame weigh around 150kg! To create the new filters, we had to oil the metal frames, reassemble them, and then mix concrete to fill the frames with. After 24 hours, they would be ready.

As I’m writing this now it sounds like a quick and easy process, but it was hard work in 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius)! It was very interesting to go through the entire process of creating the concrete filters from scratch.

Day 2: traditional soap-making with the Eco Soap Bank

Today we visited the Eco Soap Bank, an NGO that Water For Cambodia works with. This organization makes new soap out of leftover soap from hotels! The soap they produce might be given to local communities and schools, resold to hotels, or even shipped abroad to other developing countries.

We took a tour of the factory and learned about their traditional soak-making processes, which have since been replaced with machinery to help speed up production. It was a lot of fun to learn about these processes, and to have a go at helping make some soap by hand. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if our soap ended up in the machine along with the rest: we found out that true skills are required in order to traditionally produce soap, and our efforts probably didn’t quite hit the mark!

Day 3: installing filters in village homes

This was one of my favorite days, which we spent installing the biosand filters in the homes of local villagers. Ben and I split up with the WFC team and installed six filters on that day – three each.

At the first family’s home I learned more about the installation process: the concrete frame first needs to be cleaned inside, then filled with large gravel, followed by smaller gravel, and lastly a lot of sand. The WFC’s website explains how biosand filters work, if you’re interested in finding out more. Then, at the second and third homes, I was able to install the filters by myself!

I can’t describe everything I felt that day. I was so happy to have had an opportunity to help these families by providing them with direct access to clean water in their homes. At the same time, I was reminded once again of how lucky, even how spoiled we are back home.

The second family that I visited had a very humble home. They would fetch their water from a pond and boil it before drinking or using it to cook food. I’m honored that they now have a biosand filter to use at home – directly sponsored by Just a Drop, indirectly sponsored by TravelLocal, and which I was able to help install.

Afterwards, we visited some homes and schools where WFC has previously installed filters and latrines sponsored by Just a Drop. We learned about how these filters have impacted people’s lives. Yi Tei and some of the other local people told us about the many ways they can now save money: they don’t have to spend money on medical bills since they no longer get sick from dirty water; they don’t have to buy as much wood to constantly boil water; and they don’t need to buy bottled water, which is very expensive for them. They also save time by not having to boil water, and can instead use this time to earn money.

Of course, the latrines also have a positive impact: without them, the local people would have to walk far to find a spot that offers some privacy, or else they would have to use other people’s bathrooms. Before WFC built its four additional latrines, one of the schools we visited had only two toilets for nearly 200 children – as you can imagine, this would mean long queues and bathrooms that were in poor shape. We even spotted soap from the Eco Soap Bank in the school bathrooms!

Day 4: teaching good hygiene to school children

This truly was my favorite day! We visited a primary school and delivered a hygiene class to teach the children about handwashing and teeth cleaning. Ben and I explained both processes using posters and some props while a WFC team member translated for the children.

For the handwashing session, we also used glitter to demonstrate how easily viruses spread when you touch things and other people’s hands. Afterwards, we all went to the bathroom to wash off the glitter and gave the children some of our Eco Soap Bank soaps for them to take home. We then planted four trees at the school, so that in time, the kids would have more shade to read books and relax during their breaks.

All of the kids were so sweet and melted my heart! They greeted us with hugs, took funny pictures with us, and picked a whole bunch of flowers for me. They were all smiles – it’s awesome to see how kids from all around the world laugh at the same silly jokes.

What I learned from my volunteering experience with Just a Drop

Meeting all of these people – WFC team members, Eco Soap Bank staff, local families, the children and teachers in schools – enabled me to see with my own eyes the impact, even if indirect, that we at TravelLocal are having on these people’s lives and their futures, through our Fund For Good. I’m incredibly proud to work for a company that is dedicated to supporting local communities in so many different ways.

With the bookings that we bring in, we are not only changing the lives and supporting the businesses of our local experts, we’re also supporting their local suppliers, community projects, and the organizations that work with our Fund For Good partners at the end of the chain.

Read more: TravelLocal Fund For Good: interview with Just a Drop

Make it happen

Find out more about our Fund For Good partners and the amazing work they do around the world, and visit the Just a Drop website to learn about how you can directly support them as they provide safe water and hygiene education to communities in need.