sponsorship and serendipity and COLT

Serendipity is  both a beach in Sihanoukville and a strange alignment of coincidences that saw me meet up with a couple from Canada that have been sponsoring families in Cambodia for a number of years.  They were staying at the same guest-house we were and I started chatting to them one night, Patsy and Johnny are a great couple that have been doing wonderful work in Cambodia for many years.

I had told her of the generous donations from our small community around Nymboida and what we were attempting to do.  She asked if we would consider helping a lady who was a friend of her's, with a small $100 donation. The donation will put her youngest child through school for a year, as well as buy her school uniform, books and a bag to carry them.  The lady worked as a small business person, six days a week, to support her three children and grandmother.   She did beach manicures and pedicures, that is she walked the tourist beaches of Sihanoukville, touting for business from tourists. This is the back-story behind being asked a dozen times a day if you want a manicure. You work, you rely on the generosity of family and friends or you starve... simple as that.

From L to R: mother, daughter, grandmother and two sons.

The grandmother also looked after the children while she was at work.  I loved the fact Tee worked hard to support her family but to support herself, three children and a grandmother on her small wage was a huge ask, so I decided to help out.

From L to R: Myself, Tee, and Patsy (from Canada)
on Serendipity Bach

So thank you to all the people of or local community, THIS is what you guys did.

Advertising

I have been busy networking (some may call it drinking at the Pub) and a few of the ex-pat business owners commented they would like a flyer to put up in their business to let people know about what we are doing.  We tried it initially on our American friends at the "Maybe Later" Bar and Restaurant.  Will wasn't offended by us purloining an American icon and having fun with it, so we have used it everywhere else as well.

Also a huge thanks to the Coolabah Hotel and how wonderfully helpful Douglas and William ( a different Will) have been there.

We are off to Phom Penh for a couple days to visit an amazingly well run Orphanage called COLT, that does an awesome job and I want to see if we can maybe help out with what they are doing.