Round up for 2008

Haven't had any personal contact with the Orphanage lately but have got a brief indication from Mission Outreach that the children are well & everything is operating as normal. A little over $3000 was donated to MO for the Orphanage, to go toward the children's educational needs. This has now ended as a project for them.
As mentioned previously (see Supporting families & education) one other project run by EFC in Cambodia is to assist families to keep their children to stay at home, attend school daily & get good nutrition. So they have support workers that have 20 families each to visit & provide assistance in the way of finances for education & rice as well as advice & social support. I am interested in finding out more about this & how we can help from NZ so watch this space.... have a wonderful Christmas & enjoy your family at this time. We are so very blessed to be where we are.

Kiwi gifts for the Orphanage

In May this year another group of 8 ladies went over to do some voluntary work in Cambodia, 5 of them having never been before so it was a real eye opener for them. They assisted at a children's hospital, worked at a rubbish dump & visited a school as part of their stay. Also they were able to deliver some new things for us to Help for the Poor orphanage including some toys & school items but very special were some personalised t.shirts hand-painted by senior students at Omokoroa No1 School plus letters written to the children fromt the rest of the school - very cool. Feedback is that they loved them and the photo shows it! They were also kind enough to reply to our letters & sent them back with the ladies.

Help for the Poor Children

Supporting Families & Education

Alongside the orphanage EFC runs a community support programme that enables children of poor families to stay at home and gain an education. Up to half of the children in orphanages in Cambodia are there because their families are unable to care for them, and if they did remain home they would be put to work instead of going to school. This is particularly the case for girls. EFC supplies rice to families who in turn agree to send their children to school. Also finance is given for school expenses and a support worker visits the family to give budgeting advice etc and ensure that the children are progressing well. They still need help for many more families.

$25 NZ per month will support a family
to feed and educate their child

Reassurance

Well it's back into a new term and i hope all is going well for the children in Phnom Penh. I haven't heard any more news as yet via e-mail but we will get some firm idea of how things are going this month as my friend Helen is going up to Cambodia. She plans to talk face to face with the orphanage owners and then we will know what further practical help is required alongside the financial help. For anyone interesting in helping sponsor Hope for the Poor whether it be by one-off donation or a monthly a-p the bank account number and details are listed on this page under my photo. Just to reassure everyone about their money getting to where it is supposed to, the money gets deposited with NZ organisation Mission Outreach who run many projects throughout Indochina, it gets transferred in lump sums ( to save bank fees) to Ethnos Asia in Bangkok, who are then able to distribute it directly to EFC in Cambodia. May sound a bit round about but this route ensures that corruption is avoided (yes this happens in banks in Asia) and Ethnos Asia also acts as a supervisor with the project ensuring the money goes to and is used for its intended purpose.

Sara