Lip Sync Night done and dusted

Lip Sync Night Fundraiser Done and Dusted

The evening commenced with an informative talk about the plight of the Cambodian people and how the donations are being of help to the communities we support. While the attendance was lower than in previous years, the night was a great success with a wonderful meal donated by the generous Nymboida locals,

Awesome Food

superb entertainment by our talented neighbours,

Annie, Laena and Toni (Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible)

Phil as Kid Rock (Peter Sellers - I Am So Ashamed)

Rick (Jon Ewing - A Little More Mascara)

plus a sample of the musical skills of local lad JJ Porelli and an intimate crowd.

Enjoying a meal in good company at the Nymboida Hall

Thank you so much to the wonderful people from Nymboida and Andrew who came all the way from Grafton.

A huge thank you to you all but a special thank you to all those who donated meals and to all the entertainers !

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Stueng Hav

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Steung Hav

We hit the ground running. The first day after our arrival we visited Steung Hau, a smaller coastal town outside of Sihanoukville. Sabine, our wonderful friend from Germany who is one of the main drivers behind an educational initiative in Steung Hav, arranged the visit. Long time readers may remember we gave a donation to fund the construction of  the main schools all-weather shelter, this could only happen due to your generous donations. It's long been finished but this was our first opportunity to view it.

The shelter allows the children to play outside during the long monsoon season where the center's yard turns to mud.

All weather shelter

The center is deigned to supplement the Khmer State School curriculum, with access to computers for computer classes

Computer Room

and more english lessons as well as a facility the community can use (library etc).

Village 

We also managed to take a tour around the school and village itself to see how the locals live, the photo slideshow below is probably better at telling that story.

English Classes

While there, we had the opportunity to visit the night English classes. Thi is an initiative where they have taken the schools to the children. They have several of these classrooms scattered through the outer areas of Steung Hav. The German charitable organisation running the project, led by Sabine is doing an incredible job, as are the local Khmer staff.

Typical under house village English class

and another

English lesson

You can read more about the great work being done at Steung Hav by Sabine and friends here

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Nearly time to go

Leavin'........ on a jet plane

The flights are booked for 16th March , back over to Cambodia.  We occasionally get questioned about wether we pay for the flights with donation money.  All flights, accommodation, meals, transport etc are paid for from our own pocket, the donation money goes straight to the peoples of Cambodia.

We have a very generous friend who has offered his time to look after our place. We will only ask him to feed the animals and water the veggies and fruit trees. The rest of the time he can chill out, ride mountain bikes and enjoy the serenity. Thanks Pav

We have a hectic schedule catching up with organisations we support, liaising about on going support and how we can help with future projects.  We will be in Sihanoukville and  then back in Phnom Penh before heading back home via Kuala Lumpur.

Clothing Donations

Clothing donations have been flowing in. The bags we have may not be enough so we'll need to buy a little extra baggage allowance as well as another bag !  We are donating these to children at the Goodwill Centre in Sihanoukville, and were inspired by our friends Ciaran and Audrey from Ireland who did something similar at Rom Dual. We have bought 18 pairs of mini crocs. These are the perfect shoes for Cambodia. Unlike thongs, which all Khmer wear, crocs are very sturdy and will last the children a lot longer.

Donated clothes piled up at home

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FInancials

Financials

Finally we're up to date with the financials for the period 1 July (were we changed to the new accounting software) to 31 December, for those interested, see below

Profit and Loss

For the tech heads amongst you, we now use the FOSS bookkeeping solution, GNUCASH.  Great for groups like us but a cloud based service would be better

Australian Bank Account

We have redacted the personal information of some of the donors.

Cambodian Bank Account

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Microfinance and donations

Microfinance

One of the interesting concepts to explore is micro-finance.  Access to loans is taken for granted in the developed world we have decided to undertake a small loan with a local to purchase a "scooter".  This is a small loan with an agreed repayment schedule each month. The idea is we help but the capital for the loan is repaid, allowing us to use that money again and again.

Sok Mong and his micro financed "scooter" (moto)

We have undertaken one such project several years ago with our own personal money and that has so far proven successful, we hope this continues into the future !

English classes at Goodwill Center

While in Cambodia during 2012 and working at the Goodwill Center we identified, with the help of the Khmer teachers, approximately sixty young children who wanted to learn English but did not have that opportunity. We hired a teacher and paid his wages for the first year and the English classes have been hugely successful. The UK charity who started the Center are having difficulty with fundraising this year so we have agreed to pay the teachers wages for the foreseeable future. 

Sambath 

Donors

Locally, the Lavery family have recently come on board with regular donations. Many thanks for your generosity. It is the committment from regular donors like the Lavery family who make it possible to continue with supporting the English classes and other projects which are ongoing. Also a thank you to Tony Broderick & Deb Repschlager and family for their recent spontaneous donation, as well as Trevor's mother, Ann Smith in Brisbane for her's.  We are always humbled and thankful for the generosity of all the donors.

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Childrens Clothing Donations

We will be travelling to Cambodia at the end of March and will be visiting the villages and organisations that your wonderful donations have helped support. We are seeking donations of childrens clothes to take to the poorer villages. These people are mostly undernourished so the older children are also very small and the weather is warm all year. This means that small items and no jackets etc are best.

Contact Toni on cookie1616@gmail.com to arrange collection if you live locally in the Clarence Valley.

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