Christmas gift ideas

We will be holding a stall at the Nymboida Twilight markets on Friday 18th December and will be focusing on gift ideas for Christmas. We sell scarves, sarong bags and soaps made by ladies in the poorest villagers who use the sales as a way to provide food and education for their children. Selling these products at our market stalls ensures that the proceeds benefit these families.

Soap Ladies working hard

Soaps finished and awaiting packaging

The lovely Ruth, modelling a sarong bag and scarf

Ongoing projects

While we don't communicate everything that's happening all the time, all of our projects are ongoing, which is exactly what your generous donations are used for, similarly when you come and support  events. We would like to express our gratitude to all who assist us with our efforts.

While we have had new donors join our cause we have also had a few who, for changed personal reasons have withdrawn support. This level of uncertainty hasn't allowed us to take on any new projects as we want to make sure we have enough financial support to continue with all the on-going projects.  We also have the double whammy of the continually worsening exchange rate as Cambodia uses the U.S Dollar.  So while there may be a dearth of new and exciting news, the reality is, all our projects are funded and we can continue only because of the generosity of those who have helped out.

University scholarships - update 

Sok Mong is in his last year of university studying Tourism and English. He has been passing his subjects well and we are confident that he will achieve his goals and become the first member of his family to obtain a university degree. We are so proud to have enabled him via the donations from our events and supporters, you have made it possible. 

Seng Somnang is continuing with his Engineering studies.  We have funded extra one-on-one English classes  and I can already see the difference in his written English.  He needed extra tuition in English as many of the STEM courses at University are taught in English and he was struggling.

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Amazing donations

Donations

Each year the Grafton Mens Shed  choose a project or organisation they would like to support through donations of funds they have raised. This year they chose ours and donated $500... wow... a huge thank you to the guys and the wonderful work they do.

Thorn amongst the roses !

Another thank you to Bella and Steve.  The kids couldn't make it to the fundraising disco but they donated the entry fees anyway.  Thank you so much.

Jumble Sale

Just a small reminder ahead of the impending biannual Jumble Sale.  We rely on goods donated to sell at the sale, our biggest fundraising event.  You can drop goods off at our house or we can collect them from you.  Please contact Toni p: 6649 4263 or e: cookie1616@gmail.com if you want to help with donations.

We will be having the jumble sale in conjunction with the Nymboida Market on 21 June.

Donors

We have several wonderful people who have set up regular donations into the fund raising account. Regular donations allow us to commit to projects that are ongoing.  If we had more regular donations (a few dollars each week or fortnight from several people goes a long way) we would be able to fund more longer term projects in education and health,  our two main priorities.  If you are interested in donating, you can set up a regular funds transfer from your bank account to the fundraising account, details of which are here

Prefer reading this on the website instead ?

Click here to go to the website

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Everything was awesome !

Fundraising Disco

Everything was awesome for the Princess 'n Pirate disco at Coutts Crossing Hall.  A smaller turnout than we'd hoped but with some momentum we can make it a bigger event next year and the kids that did attend had an awesome time.  A huge thank you to SMILE productions for donating their time and coming all the way from Coffs Harbour.  If you are looking for a professional organisation to run  an event for children, Andrew and his crew do a wonderful job. Also, a thank you to the Nymboida Canoe Centre for allowing us to use their bus to take the kids from Nymboida to Coutts Crossing and to Bob Warner for volunteering his time to drive them all and of course to all the parents and kids that supported the event

Kids having fun at the dance

Nymboida Markets

Toni is back every second Nymboida Market, selling produce from our little farm and items we've brought back from organisations we support in Cambodia.  The money from the sales at the market goes to the Cambodian fund, so if you're looking for a hand made sarong bag from the ladies at COLT or soaps from the Goodwill Centre, see Toni at the market stall.

Barb modelling scarves

The lovely Ruth, modelling a sarong bag and scarf

Don't forget to attend the huge Nymboida Mothers Day Market on 10 May, starting at 8am.

Due to time commitments Toni can only attend every second market (once a month) if anyone wants to volunteer their time to attend the alternate market to sell items, just speak to Toni and we'd love to have you help out ! That way we'd have the stall at every market (once a fortnight)

Jumble Sale

Just a small reminder ahead of the impending biannual Jumble Sale.  We rely on goods donated to sell at the sale, our biggest fundraising event.  You can drop goods off at our house or we can collect them from you.  Please contact Toni p: 6649 4263 or e: cookie1616@gmail.com if you want to help with donations.

We will be having the jumble sale in conjunction with the Nymboida Market on 21 June.

Donors

We have several wonderful people who have set up regular donations into the fund raising account. Regular donations allow us to commit to projects that are ongoing.  If we had more regular donations (a few dollars each week or fortnight from several people goes a long way) we would be able to fund more longer term projects in education and health,  our two main priorities.  If you are interested in donating, you can set up a regular funds transfer from your bank account to the fundraising account, details of which are here

Prefer reading this on the website instead ?

Click here to go to the website

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Buddha and new donors

New Donors

Two lovely local ladies have recently become regular donors. Thank you so much to Pat and Ruth for your generous support. All donations are used for projects where families live together and need help to further their education and employment opportunities. We now have enough regular donors to consider what our next project will be. We are investigating that now and will be researching those projects that embrace the same objectives that are of importance to us and our supporters, education, increasing skills etc

Working together

Frank Cervetto, a friend of ours from a nearby town has become a regular donor to Choice in Phnom Penh. Frank has been making Buddhas in different colours, styles and mediums which I sell at the Nymboida Markets. I then forward the money back to Frank to be paid to Choice, a lovely synergy. Below, is one of the first Buddhas which I bought for our garden. The colour has softened and now has an aged appearance which is perfect amongst ferns and shady trees. 

Buddha at rest in our garden

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Design and Donations

Donors

We have had several donations recently that have been very welcome. Our mystery donor, who is a local Nymboidian (is that a word ?) who asked to remain anonymous, is sponsoring a student through University in Phnom Penh via COLT. This s a huge commitment and we were stunned by the level of generosity.  We have had a donation of $100 from Trevor's mother, Ann and $50 from Phil & Chantel Wilson.

L to R: Toni, Sok Mong, Sok Mong's mother

Speaking of sponsoring education initiatives, Sok Mong is one of the local youth,  from near the Goodwill Center. We are sponsoring him through uni, with your donations and from fund raising, finished his first year and did well. Second year coming up and we wish him the best of luck.

Of course Jenny D and Richard are keeping their donations flowing to support the teacher being employed at Romdual School. A new teacher starts in the new school term at the end of the "wet season". You can keep up with the happenings at Romdual School on their blog which we maintain for them.

Garage Sale Fund Raiser

Don't forget the fundraiser garage sale is on Sunday 13th October at the Nymboida community Hall and will be combined with the Farmers Market and will be a great day.  The idea is that it's an opportunity for you to get rid of the "stuff" that's cluttering your life and give it to a great cause for us to sell and raise funds.  You can contact me via the contacts page or phone on 6649 4263 if you have "stuff" you want to donate.

Donations

Donations can be made by going to the Donations page at anytime and following the instructions there.  All the money raised goes directly to helping out, airfares accommodation etc on our behalf are all paid for by us and all time is given freely.

New Website Design

Never being happy with the layout and design of the site, I have played once again to try and clean it up and make the site easier to navigate.  We will also role out some social media links when we can get to them. Toni is not as enamoured of the minimalist design as I am.

Those of you that receive this update via email might like to take a look around and tell us what you think. 

Click the link below to go to the new look site
help-cambodia.blogspot.com

Helping

Recently reading the somber tale of Christopher Hitchens death from cancer.  Iin that book, "Mortality",  he made mention of a quote by an esteemed early American educator, Horace Mann that resonated with both of us

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity - Horace Mann

We took that to mean,  do something good for humanity before you pass, so thank you to all the donors who have done exactly that.

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