Market Stall Updates

Sponsored university students

We currently pay for two young men to attend university. Seng Somnang attends uni in the Capitol, Phnom Penh and Sok Mong is a student at Life University in Sihanoukville. Sok Mong is doing really well with his studies and passes all of his subjects except Christianity. Why do they study Christianity when they are Buddhists? When we asked Mong he said it was just part of his course but didnt know why. 

Somnang is having difficulty with English so we are investigating extra classes for him. He is very excited and grateful to be given the opportunity. We are hoping he'll benefit from the classes and improve his marks because if he fails the English component he fails the whole course. 

Seng Somnang

Market Stall

Stall setup at Nymboida Hall

Handmade button jewelry donation (Ann Maraldo)

The local market stall is really on a roll with all proceeds going to the organisations we support. However it is sometimes difficult to find time to have a stall at every market. If there are any Nymboida locals who would like to contribute by helping us by either manning a stall from time to time or even to donate excess home grown produce, home made baked goods, home made jams pickles etc that we can sell, we'd love to hear from you.

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

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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

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Cambodia trip - 2015

Getting closer...

Only two weeks until we leave for our yearly trip to Cambodia, on 1 March. This trip will be different for two reasons. Firstly Toni's Mum is coming with us and so we will visit Angkor. We don't travel there anymore as none of our organizations are based there but its a wonder of the world. Say no more. The other reason is that we will meet Seng Somnang our second uni student, for the first time.

A mountain of clothes

The donated clothes are nearly sorted. Thank you to everyone who gave.  It does take a while as we have been given around twenty bags. Some of the items aren't suitable like jumpers and jackets for colder climates and some are soiled, so we spend a few days sorting and boxing them up. We really look forward to the part of our trip where we donate the clothes. The smiles on the faces of the children say it all.

One of our very talented local artists, Pamela Denise, has donated some art supplies and is giving Toni a free workshop next week. She will be learning how to make dragon flies from coloured wire and beads and taking that knowledge to the Goodwill Center for the children there.

Donations

We've also been receiving one off donations from various local community members and these donations, along with all the regular donors go along way, especially now the exchange rate is bad and projects we've committed to are consequently significantly more expensive in Aus dollar terms.

Personal Expenses

100% of all money raised and donated goes to the projects we support. Toni and Trevor cover all of their own expenses.

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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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quick thank you

Garage Sale - 13 October (update)

We have had some awesome support for the Garage (Jumble) Sale coming up at the Nymboida Hall on 13 October but let the donations of bric-a-brac and no longer wanted items around the house flow in.  You can drop them down the hall on the Saturday 12 Oct in the afternoon where I will be setting up or contact me via the Contacts page on this site or phone on 6649 4263

Donations

Interesting this school holidays we had a random Dad and Son from Brisbane turn up at our place as they were looking for somewhere to ride their mountain bikes.  He had been camping with his Son at Nymboida NP. For those of you who are unaware we have a  reasonably extensive trail network on our property that you can read about here if you're interested.   After explaining the trails were on our private property he was crestfallen.  We said why not and allowed him and his Son to ride and invited him to come back this way again if he wanted to.  He was taken with our place and when Toni started talking to him about the big pile of items on our porch, explaining what they were for he kindly donated $10... Not a huge amount but for a  total stranger, amazing... so thank you Craig Humphrey from Brisbane !

The second one was a random email from a friend, Jaye Gilchrist who has donated several times in the past and did so again today... a huge thank you to Jaye and the Gilchrist Family


Our Donations page is here

Finances

With the complications of keeping track of finances via Spreadsheets getting the better of us, we have finally decided to move the finances to a bookkeeping program, we settled on a FOSS (Free and Open Source) program, called GnuCash.  We will publish accounts every 6 months online for viewing, along with bank statements which are received every six months .  If anyone does want more updated information we have no trouble providing that to them just contact us via the Contacts page

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A new donor and more

New Donor

A new regular donor has come on board to specifically sponsor a project we have identified with COLT. That is sponsoring the education of a student who wants to attend University. We will keep everyone updated on how this progresses. We have also recently organised another local who was keen to work directly with CHOICE in Cambodia, we helped facilitate his contacting them and was able to reassure him that CHOICE were reputable and did great work with those in need in Cambodia. This was one of the reasons we stayed for nearly a year in Cambodia, it allowed us to work with and identify great organisations and rather then reinventing the wheel, our goal is to find worthwhile organisations and help them with projects that fit with our goals. These donors have requested they remain anonymous but one is from Coutts Crossing and the other from Nymboida. Not to forget our two other regular (every fortnight) donors from Nymboida. 

Finances 

With our work expanding it was becoming more difficult to keep track of funding by using simple spreadsheets. We have "bitten the bullet" and have decided to move over to a more comprehensive Bookkeeping package for financial year 2013. We will publish quarterly financial information reports in the spirit of openness as this progresses. The Finances page is still there with all the information freely available. 

Donations 

We have many ongoing projects we are supporting, would love to start new projects as well as looking to build up funds for dispersal when next we visit next so we'd love to see donations continue to roll in. If you wish to set up a regular small donation, please go to the Donations pages and all the information on our bank account is there. Small regular donations make a major difference to their lives.

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