Donations to fire victims in Nymboida

As everyone is probably aware, on November 8th a fire storm destroyed 85 homes in  our community.
We have asked our regular donors, as many as possible, if it was OK to donate any money currently in the bank account and not yet transferred to Cambodia, to be used to help the Nymboida community,

This is some of the devastation to us, our friends and our neighbors.

Sheds and houses destroyed

Infrastructure damaged

We don't want to show too many photo's as it's too distressful for many locals but here is a link to photos and video of the event (be aware and respectful)

Link to Nymboida Fire Photos

Once the decision was made to assist the Nymboida community. We began by asking the community what was needed most. Getting access to water was the number one priority. With so much of the water supply infrastructure damaged, many people had no access to running water. So we purchased as many fittings as we could. Not that it was much with the $600 that was in the account and available.  The hardest part was sourcing the parts, we had to go as far away as Lismore for these.

All the bits purchased

Thanks to everyone who has donated and attended events in the past and we hope everyone is ok with our decision.

If anyone wants to donate extra, you can donate to us and we'll spend it on essentials for the community.

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2019 Lips 'N Sync all done

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AWESOME !

Well, wasn't that a doozy! This annual event just keeps getting better thanks to the awesome support of the local community with their donations of meals and incredible acts.
It was great to see so many new faces attend and the response was incredibly positive!  Bigger 'n better next year? Absolutely but only with your help!

Toni and Jenny !

The crowd staring to form !

Plenty more photos of the evening here

The fantastic acts!

You can follow the links through to the original film clips and see how the local acts do a WAY better job than the originals!

Up first were Trevor and Toni delivering a captivating performance of  Paul Simon's Call me Al

a whole bunch of locals involved in a montage of a mega version of Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite from The Rock Horror Picture Show.

I am not sure who was impersonating who here,  Bob doing the reprobate Sir Les Patterson or Sir Les Patterson doing Bob, while singing Lilly the Pink... I will let more astute audience members decide.

The effervescent Fiona doing her take on a parody of the Ed Sheran - Smell of You, Smell of Poo

and a wonderful finale from Amerotta covering Amy Winehouse's - Rehab  with her back up dancers, Jackson and Rachael.

Financially

The Nymboida Hall Committee convened a quick meeting and decided not to charge us the fee for hall usage ,which was wonderful of them. After paying other incidentals etc we ended up raising $1106.90. We also recieved $90 extra in donations before the event from generous locals, which was unexpected but very much appreciated.

A big, big thanks to everyone who donated meals, performed on the night and everyone who attended.

Also, just a note, we are not a charity. We are raising these funds to donate to registered charities (Good Will and  C.H.O.I.C.E) in Cambodia.  Why those ? because we spent a lot of time when we lived in Cambodia making sure these guys were the real deal and they are !

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2019 Lips 'n Sync

'Lips N Sync'

Remember our awesome fund raising night is on 14 September 6PM, so put the date aside for an awesome evening on Saturday.  The last four  years events were fantastic ..... heaps of fun and will live on in the annals of Nymboida's musical history.

It's your chance to be a star! It's karaoke without the bad vocals!  

Still time to donate a meal, if you'd like to donate a meal, make sure you let Toni know e:cookie1616@gmail.com or m: 0481 395 119

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Support from friends and family

We would like to thank one of our long time donors who has, for financial reasons made the difficult decision to cease regular donations. He will remain unnamed but has been assisting our efforts regularly for seven years. Thank you for all you have done.

A huge thank you also to family, friends and locals who continue to give in so many ways.

Trev's mum never misses the chance to donate to us directly every time we visit her in Brisbane. Thanks Ann for your continued support.

Toni's Mum, Ann has been holding market stalls where she lives in Victoria and donates all of the profit to 'Help Cambodia'. She goes by the name of 'Anni Buttons' and often travels long distances and spends many hours of her personal time making and selling beautiful hand crafted items.

Anni Buttons

Our Cambodian journey has been ongoing for seven years and will continue with the support of you all. Thank you so much everyone.

Keep watching for more details of this years Lips'n'Sync fundraiser.

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Friends in far places

Our latest trip to see the teachers and children at the Goodwill Center was tinged with a little sadness and left us a little melancholy. The sleepy little seaside town of Sihanoukville has gone the way of many small tourist towns and become a concrete jungle of highrises and casinos for wealthy holiday makers.

View across the city

It's controversially part of China's 'One Belt One Road' initiative and the scale of development is staggering by any standard, anywhere.  More here for those interested in that aspect.

The demand for land has pushed Sihanoukville beachfront prices higher than those in Australia’s Byron Bay. 

Many of our friends have already moved on because of this and the latest will be Henrik, who started the Goodwill Center and was the first manager.

(L to R): Sabine, Henrik and Toni

However, most of the trip was awesome. We went along on a beach trip with all of the staff and forty of the kids.

Toni with some of the kids in a Tuk Tuk

Some of them had never seen the ocean before, so it was a real treat. These outings always start with a clean up of the beach to teach the kids about looking after their environment and as with most beaches on the planet these days they didn't have to look too far for the rubbish.

Gloves on at the beach, collecting rubbish

Dinner
As usual, we had a lovely dinner with Sok Mong and his family, he was one of the first young Khmer we'd sponsored through University with the help of all the donors. This time we were joined by Sabine, who was the second manager of the center.

Sabines Blog (in German)
https://kambodschaimpressionen.wordpress.com/

We could tell that she really enjoyed catching up with everyone.
Mong had some big news to share with us. He has found a beautiful young lady Mey, to share his life with but first he must save a dowry for her family.

Mey (with her birthday cake) and Sok Mong

Food Drops
We were again lucky enough to time our visit with the monthly food drops. We started these many years ago as a way to encourage village parents to bring their children to the Goodwill Centre where they would benefit from free education. These families could not afford to send their children to the government schools so this alternative works well and benefits so many local families.

I always like to do some craft with the students and we need two sessions as some of the children only attend in the mornings and some only in the afternoon. Its sometimes difficult to find a craft that's suitable for most age groups but after researching I found some spinners made from cardboard
and string. The kids had never made them before and they seemed to enjoy it.

Making spinners with the students

Phnom Penh
We headed to the Capitol city, Phnom Penh next to see Somnang. He is in his third year of university studying engineering and doing really well, so well in fact that he has been offered a job. He now works full time and continues his studies. We are really proud of him and the dedicated young man he has become.
We shouted him to a special meal at an exclusive buffet restaurant where he ate his fill of crab and giant prawns.  He's hopeful he'll finish his Civil Engineering studies at University within 18 months

Nom Nom Somnang

With all of the changes going on in Sihanoukville and the fact that we hadn't been back there for two years, this was one of the most interesting trips to Cambodia that we can remember.

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