Well as always there is much to report from the Tiger Foundation. On May 23rd the first Tiger Foundation project took place at the Aknuwat Primary School in Kampong Thom.
It was a blast, hundreds of people turned up from all quarters. There was a bunch of volunteers from Singapore, China, Australia and Cambodia. Hundreds of school children, their parents as well as many village folk. Our friends from DHL in Phnom Penh all arrived as scheduled to assist. The school is now looking much cleaner.
Over the coming months many more activities will take place at the school in Cambodia. We are now working on various construction related projects, the new library, the flood prevention system, the gardens, the development of the pond at the school as well as the painting of the school.
My good friend Kenny will relocate from Australia to live in Kampong Thom in August. Kenny will be our man on the ground. He will be responsible for managing all of the Tiger Foundations projects as they happen as well as to welcome volunteers who are coming for various events.
The Tiger Foundations website will be launched in July. Our web lady Katherine is working hard in putting some great ideas together so that we have a user friendly web environment.
Over the coming months you to can help out either by coming to Cambodia or supporting one of our country organizations.
To be put in touch with your local Tiger Foundation team simply send an email to philpott.mark@gmail.com and I will make sure you get looked after.
Bye for now,
Mark
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A Special Kind of Mum
I cant exactly remember when was the last time I spent Mothers Day with my Mother. So it was indeed a special day last Sunday, May 11th when I finally got to do this once again.
Down in Australia on business I was able to manage getting some much anticipated time with my family.
There was to be more to this Mothers Day than I had expected. My Mum being the Mum she is, surprised me by organising an impromptu meeting with her fitness class companions.
You see most days my mother gets up before 6am and joins a bunch of fabulous folks to participate in what I would simply express as a fantastic way to start the day.
Under the crisp clear blue autumn skies of the Gold Coast in Australia here I was about to go walking as well as doing exercises around a sports field with a bunch of complete strangers at 6am in the morning.
Each day this small but exclusive group descend on the Robina Common to participate in what is best described as a cross between an Australian version of the Golden Girls and House.
My Mother had proposed that this particular session would conclude in an opportunity for me to promote the Tiger Foundation.I didn't want to miss the chance.
We started the fitness session with self appointed, self titled Staff Sergent Keith filling in the role of usual team leader Jonathan who was absent. Keith impressed with his desire to try to bring some kind of order to the group.
It quickly became obvious to me that Keith despite his efforts to tire the group quickly with repetitive push up orders was not going to win this battle.
It wasn't long into the session (maybe 2 Min's) that any signs of the evenings sleep and drowsiness was replaced by witty comments directed at any unlikely suspect among the group.
I thought it was impossible to be so alert and witty at this time of the day. I was very quickly proved wrong, again I heard another wise crack resulting in a direct hit on its intended victim.
I was now breathing awkwardly, half my breath was dispelling air through laughter the other half busy to get oxygen into my lungs to do the next command thrown out by Keith.
As the sun started to rise on the horizon the beauty of this moment finally hit me. Here I was on this crisp and beautiful morning sharing with my wonderful mum one of her hobbies. It was tremendous.
As we all moved around the sports ground, twisting, bending, lunging I suddenly realized that some of the groups lips were getting a fearsome workout compared to the reest of their bodies.
Initially I wasn't sure that this witfeast was just put on for me, but I soon discounted that thought, this goes on everyday no matter who is around.
After an hour of what one could only describe as an hilarous gyrating circumnavigation of the park it was time for refreshments. Yes the order was now to proceed to the local coffee shop for phase two of the workout.
It then came as no great surprise that upon arrival at the cafe the banter continued, in fact now that everybodies breathing was some what stable (all but mine that was) the banter moved to another level.
Yes I got to speak about the Tiger Foundation, as expected these wonderful folk all put up their hands to help us out in some way. On the spot donations have already generated enough funds to purchase a Well cover for the Aknuwat School, a fantastic contribution.
I knew after I left that day that this wouldnt be the last I hear from this bunch. You see, when great people get involved, great things happen. It's a fact of life.
I would like to thank my Mum for taking me along and allowing me to participate in what was a very special moment......imagine whats going on in your neighborhood while your fast asleep early in the morning?
Get out and check it out, you never know how you could help the Tiger Foundation.
Thanks Mum.
Down in Australia on business I was able to manage getting some much anticipated time with my family.
There was to be more to this Mothers Day than I had expected. My Mum being the Mum she is, surprised me by organising an impromptu meeting with her fitness class companions.
You see most days my mother gets up before 6am and joins a bunch of fabulous folks to participate in what I would simply express as a fantastic way to start the day.
Under the crisp clear blue autumn skies of the Gold Coast in Australia here I was about to go walking as well as doing exercises around a sports field with a bunch of complete strangers at 6am in the morning.
Each day this small but exclusive group descend on the Robina Common to participate in what is best described as a cross between an Australian version of the Golden Girls and House.
My Mother had proposed that this particular session would conclude in an opportunity for me to promote the Tiger Foundation.I didn't want to miss the chance.
We started the fitness session with self appointed, self titled Staff Sergent Keith filling in the role of usual team leader Jonathan who was absent. Keith impressed with his desire to try to bring some kind of order to the group.
It quickly became obvious to me that Keith despite his efforts to tire the group quickly with repetitive push up orders was not going to win this battle.
It wasn't long into the session (maybe 2 Min's) that any signs of the evenings sleep and drowsiness was replaced by witty comments directed at any unlikely suspect among the group.
I thought it was impossible to be so alert and witty at this time of the day. I was very quickly proved wrong, again I heard another wise crack resulting in a direct hit on its intended victim.
I was now breathing awkwardly, half my breath was dispelling air through laughter the other half busy to get oxygen into my lungs to do the next command thrown out by Keith.
As the sun started to rise on the horizon the beauty of this moment finally hit me. Here I was on this crisp and beautiful morning sharing with my wonderful mum one of her hobbies. It was tremendous.
As we all moved around the sports ground, twisting, bending, lunging I suddenly realized that some of the groups lips were getting a fearsome workout compared to the reest of their bodies.
Initially I wasn't sure that this witfeast was just put on for me, but I soon discounted that thought, this goes on everyday no matter who is around.
After an hour of what one could only describe as an hilarous gyrating circumnavigation of the park it was time for refreshments. Yes the order was now to proceed to the local coffee shop for phase two of the workout.
It then came as no great surprise that upon arrival at the cafe the banter continued, in fact now that everybodies breathing was some what stable (all but mine that was) the banter moved to another level.
Yes I got to speak about the Tiger Foundation, as expected these wonderful folk all put up their hands to help us out in some way. On the spot donations have already generated enough funds to purchase a Well cover for the Aknuwat School, a fantastic contribution.
I knew after I left that day that this wouldnt be the last I hear from this bunch. You see, when great people get involved, great things happen. It's a fact of life.
I would like to thank my Mum for taking me along and allowing me to participate in what was a very special moment......imagine whats going on in your neighborhood while your fast asleep early in the morning?
Get out and check it out, you never know how you could help the Tiger Foundation.
Thanks Mum.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Food For Thought
The whole world is a global village.Imagine that the village is composed of 100 inhabitants, there will be:59 Asians, 14 Africans, 4 Americans, 13 Europeans.There will also be 51 women and 49 men.We will count 50 young people under the age of 25.20 persons (only men) will possess 80% of the village and of its wealth.Only 1 woman will possess her own land.Between 5 or 6 women would have been violated.42 persons will never have access to water.50 persons would live in the centre of the small village.50 others would be dispersed in the surroundings.33 inhabitants would live in a situation of armed conflicts, between which 23 would be women.5 men and 1 woman would be military or policemen.5 children would work in slavery conditions and 1 little girl would be working as household without being paid.60 persons would be able to read, write and count. 40 of them would be men.50 inhabitants would have access to health care.20 persons would have access to a computer, 15 of them with internet connection.1 person would be considered as rich, by possessing more than 50% of the village and of its wealth.80 persons would have a religion, 40 of them would be obliged to practice it.The library of the village would be only accessible to 24 persons.The cinema would be visited each week by a person, always the same.The electricity would be cut approximately 50% of the time, 30 persons would be wasting 90% of the natural and energy resources of the village.The figures can go on for pages and pages. This allows us to put again into perspective each of us on this planet, and to measure what we are, us, human beings. If you want to help the Tiger Foundation please contact Mark Philpott at philpott.mark@gmail.com
Friday, April 18, 2008
Clean Up Weekend Aknuwat School - Cambodia
Over the weekend of May 24th/25th a team of volunteers from the Tiger Foundation will travel to Kampong Thom in the heart of Cambodia to start the foundations first project. The project is aimed at cleaning up the school of all the rubbish and debris laying around causing an incredible mess as well as unhygenic conditions.
The Tiger Foundations 4 Pillar approach to activities at the school focus's on Environmental issues as well as Education, Exercise and Engagement.
Volunteers from Singapore, UK, China, Australia, India and Malaysia will descend on the school over the weekend in May to enjoy this activity along with the school children, teachers and community members.
If you are available and would like to join this event then please contact Mark Philpott at philpott.mark@gmail.com for further information.
The Tiger Foundations 4 Pillar approach to activities at the school focus's on Environmental issues as well as Education, Exercise and Engagement.
Volunteers from Singapore, UK, China, Australia, India and Malaysia will descend on the school over the weekend in May to enjoy this activity along with the school children, teachers and community members.
If you are available and would like to join this event then please contact Mark Philpott at philpott.mark@gmail.com for further information.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Tiger Foundation Launch Singapore - April 13th
A huge thank you to all of you who attended the launch of the Tiger Foundation in Singapore on Sunday. It was a great success, made possible only by your attendance and subsequent support. I have been busy the last few days with people contacting me on how they can help the Tiger Foundation. So the objective of this email is to communicate to you all on how you can take the next step in supporting the Tiger Foundation.
Those of you attending Sundays event would remember that we have designed the Tiger Foundation to focus on FOUR Pillars of Activity. These pillars are,
1) Education
2) Environment
3) Exercise
4) Engagement
We have a lead person now assigned to each Pillar. These people are currently creating a strategy of which we will then align projects within that Pillar. You will then be able to consider what project you can support along with ‘how’ you can support those projects.
But you can take action NOW , you can already reach out and advise me, as some of you have already done, on WHAT pillar of activity you would like to support, what interest you may have, particular skill set, passion or network that you can bring to help us out.
Additionally I am still looking for people to help on various elements of the Tiger Foundations core set up.. We have some research projects to complete as well as internet development to be done, so please, if you are interested in either of these, let me know.
Project No 1 – Clean Up Day – Akunwat School – Cambodia
So here is your first chance to help out on the ground in Cambodia as well as to get your first experience of what life is like at the school we are supporting. I will lead a team of volunteers on the weekend of May 24th, 25th to go to the school to clean up all of the rubbish. Yes rubber gloves on and away we go. While there, you will be given a first hand tour of all of the projects that the Tiger Foundation will under take. You will meet the children, the teachers as well as sample local food and hospitality. A trip you won’t want to miss. We need to plan fast, so please send me your commitment to support this event as soon as possible.
In closing I would like to thank you once again for your interest in the Tiger Foundation. We are an organization that thrives on participation and interaction from its members so please never hesitate to get in contact with me on how we can make our organization even better for people to support.
Always remember that “it’s better to light a solitary candle than to curse the darkness”
Thank you all,
Mark Philpott
Tiger Foundation
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Team Australia's first Meeting - Brisbane April 10th
On Thursday evening April 10th in Brisbane, Australia, the Tiger Foundations 'aussie' Chapter convened for the first time. The members discussed the way forward sharing ideas, experiences as well as structuring the strategy to develop the Tiger Foundation in Australia.
With all of the ideas discussed at the meeting I am sure it won't be long before Team Australia unleashes some awesome potential for the Foundations first project in Cambodia at the Aknuwat Primary School.
Lets keep a look out for the Green and Gold of Team Australia.
With all of the ideas discussed at the meeting I am sure it won't be long before Team Australia unleashes some awesome potential for the Foundations first project in Cambodia at the Aknuwat Primary School.
Lets keep a look out for the Green and Gold of Team Australia.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The Easter Visit
The Tiger Foundation in Cambodia
My recent trip to Cambodia with my brother Mark over the Easter break was always going to be confronting and rushed, however I wanted to observe first hand what the conditions and challenges were for the “Tiger Foundation”. By visiting the area myself I could also better understand what support could be offered by the many people who said to me before my departure “tell me what I can do to help”.
We flew into Phomn Penh on Easter Friday – given it was already dark we could only see a little of the city and headed straight to our hotel for a much needed meal and shower. “Raffles Hotel” it was, so not much in the way of roughing it our first night!
Next morning was an early start as we climbed into our pre-booked car and headed off along the main (and pretty much only) road towards our destination in Kampong Province.
The road was as you would expect, similar to others in more remote areas of Thailand and Vietnam, quite chaotic - driving in amongst bullocks pulling carts packed to overflowing with all manner of things, entire families travelling perilously on small cc motorbikes – the best I saw was one mother breast feeding as they drove at about 60km an hour along the road with 2 other kids on the bike and Dad oblivious to everything happening behind him, focused on driving his family to their destination.
The journey took about 3 hrs and at around 10am we pulled into “our school” – Aknuwat School in Kampong Thom village. The school was much as I expected, in need of a paint, barren grounds with large patches of dust and some ramshackle side buildings - more ruins than useful buildings, a scattering of sad looking trees and a few small patches of colour with some potted plants that were clearly suffering under the pale blue/grey skies and scorching sun.
As we pulled up, we were greeted enthusiastically by a group of teachers – including headmistress Molly. We were taken inside to her office, which doubles up as a teachers’ room and I am sure all manner of other things. Surrounding us on the walls were old blackboards, so well used they had turned shiny and were almost impossible to write on (I know because I tried). The school roll was kept on one of these boards, specifying the number of kindergarten and also primary school children. Over 1,000 in all, listed in detail and with numbers next to each class – no computer records here!!
We sat with our interpreter (one of the teachers at the school) and began to “converse” with the teachers. My brother, Mark having been there a few times before was well known to them all and gave them an update on progress around planned projects and new ideas he’d had since his last visit. The teachers listened intently and were clearly engaged with plans to improve their situation.
Next, we walked around the perimeter of the school grounds. The temperature was in the mid 40’s and there was not a breath of wind – stifling hot. The grounds were pathetic, barely any shade, a terrible stench from the 3 toilets for over 1,000 kids and a pile of rubbish behind the school together with more dust. There was just no respite from the heat. The grounds offered no place for kids to congregate, play or just be – it was just too hot and too inhospitable. We checked out the storm water drains that run down the side of the grounds, and could clearly see they were completely inadequate for what must be a deluge of water during the wet season. This is the main reason the school grounds flood every year, rendering the grounds completely useless for play or school activities in that season also. There is a fairly major engineering project required to re-route and re-engineer the area to divert the flood water. Until that is completed nothing much can be done to improve the grounds usefulness. My brother has this as his top priority and is working with local and Singapore based people to get a plan together to do the work. Next a visit to the local well, the source of the school’s drinking water. I looked down the well and all I could see was what appeared to be an oil slick and some indescribable things floating on the top. The only filtering process this water goes through is into a terracotta flower pot (provided by UNICEF) and then straight into plastic water containers for drinking. I watched as Molly the headmistress took some water from this container and thought “my god what is she drinking in that concoction?” They of course think it’s clean and I guess comparatively speaking it is. Oh how they would love access to the waters of Warragamba Dam!!
The school children came out of class en-mass post our walk around. Seemingly a never ending flow of them, holding hands, walking around, forming small groups and congregating as children tend to do. There was nowhere to sit in the shade, little in the way of play equipment and what there was – was rusted and dangerous. In summary, school grounds bereft of anything that resembled a playground or a place where children would want to engage in games, chatter or anything similar. The grounds are so inhospitable and the sun so hot, that children are sent home over the lunch break. Since they come from between 1km and 7km away, parents (and in a lot of cases grandparents) have to come and collect them on pushbikes and motorbikes. They go home and come back again at 2pm. While the kids were away, I took an impromptu English lesson with the teachers and Molly, trying to make them laugh by writing on the board and telling a few stories with it. I was so hot, I was nearly dying but they live in these conditions every day so I just kept drinking from my water bottle and enduring.
Next, we went over the road to see Polly – a local woman whom with her husband’s support has built a teacher training school. There we met about a dozen young men and about the same number of women, who had come in from regional and rural areas to undertake teacher training in an effort to boost teacher numbers. They train under the watchful eye of teachers at “our” school across the road. Their living conditions are absolutely terrible. The dormitory they live in is literally falling down, I had to watch my step as I went up the rickety steps and then edged along the deck as it had rotted floorboards and was full of holes. There were 8 or so to a room, no ventilation and a tin shack which doubled up as a toilet and laundry, its roof was blowing precariously in the wind when we were there, would be great in the monsoonal rains having to perform your ablutions in those conditions!!
The kitchen facilities looked like hell, with birds nests in the rafters and the walls filthy with dust. A relatively clean plastic table cloth sticky-taped to the communal dining table was all the colour and only attempt at brightening up this abysmal scene that I could find.
These trainees are paid US$3 per day – they are the future of this country and not surprisingly the “drop out” rate is high as they miss their families and often head back home to help out or go off to the city to work as a factory worker as the pay is better.
When the children returned from the lunch break, I started to hand out the Easter eggs (not the best treat I could have come up with as they were melting in the heat) and some small koala bears I bought at duty free. They loved these and the 60 or so I bought soon went, I wish I had a suitcase of them, it felt so inconsequential but just seeing their little faces when they got a small gift was priceless. During this, we noticed a small girl crying while holding the hand of another and we asked the translator to ask her what was wrong. She told the interpreter “I am hungry”. That just about did it for me. I looked around and wondered how many other little bellies (just back from lunch) were empty because there was just no food. We managed to get her some dry bread to help in the short term. The diet here is largely rice as Cambodia has to import 80% of its vegetables from Vietnam and as such children get little or no protein and no vitamins and minerals. Vegetables are not cheap and rice makes you feel full so that’s what they eat. Dental decay is rife and general health very poor. Average life expectancy early 50’s……60% of Cambodia’s population is under 15 years – and what of their future? It’s not great from what I saw.
It was clear to me that focusing on the schools and influencing the younger generation through education in the areas of nutrition, hygiene, play etc is key.
I am even more convinced of this now and I am keen to do my part. I am working with a WA company to build some sun shades which we can get shipped to the school thereby providing some much needed shade for the children. I am also liaising with one of the inventors from the ABC’s ‘New Inventors” program who has devised a below ground waste management system for use in third world countries. My brother is working with “Room to Read” – an ex VP of Microsoft who is now running this program full time. He is also working with engineers and architects in Singapore who are volunteering their time to come up with solutions for the other issues in these categories. Mark thinks he has also found 2 teachers (experienced in developing countries) who are prepared to go to the school for some months to spent time supervising some of our early initiatives and to provide English tutorage to the local teachers amongst other things.
What do we need? Well yes – donations will help as we have plans for a number of initiatives in the areas of engineering, clean water, sanitation and waste management. We are looking to be as environmentally friendly as we can in our endeavours and already have some great people working with us out of Singapore on some of these projects. But we also need volunteers, including people who are well connected and have people they know who might be able to help in the areas I have outlined.
My next communication will be to provide more detail around some of the initiatives we have planned and also of our plans for the Australian chapter of ‘The Tiger Foundation” – which I will head up.
Let me know if you would like to be involved and I will invite you to our first meeting and/or just keep you in the loop re our progress via email. If I don’t hear back from you that’s fine too, I just hope that by reading this – the least I will have done is to make each and every one of you be a little more grateful for the life we have here in Australia and to make you more aware that we can make a difference if we choose to do so.
Thanks for “listening”.
Sandra
My recent trip to Cambodia with my brother Mark over the Easter break was always going to be confronting and rushed, however I wanted to observe first hand what the conditions and challenges were for the “Tiger Foundation”. By visiting the area myself I could also better understand what support could be offered by the many people who said to me before my departure “tell me what I can do to help”.
We flew into Phomn Penh on Easter Friday – given it was already dark we could only see a little of the city and headed straight to our hotel for a much needed meal and shower. “Raffles Hotel” it was, so not much in the way of roughing it our first night!
Next morning was an early start as we climbed into our pre-booked car and headed off along the main (and pretty much only) road towards our destination in Kampong Province.
The road was as you would expect, similar to others in more remote areas of Thailand and Vietnam, quite chaotic - driving in amongst bullocks pulling carts packed to overflowing with all manner of things, entire families travelling perilously on small cc motorbikes – the best I saw was one mother breast feeding as they drove at about 60km an hour along the road with 2 other kids on the bike and Dad oblivious to everything happening behind him, focused on driving his family to their destination.
The journey took about 3 hrs and at around 10am we pulled into “our school” – Aknuwat School in Kampong Thom village. The school was much as I expected, in need of a paint, barren grounds with large patches of dust and some ramshackle side buildings - more ruins than useful buildings, a scattering of sad looking trees and a few small patches of colour with some potted plants that were clearly suffering under the pale blue/grey skies and scorching sun.
As we pulled up, we were greeted enthusiastically by a group of teachers – including headmistress Molly. We were taken inside to her office, which doubles up as a teachers’ room and I am sure all manner of other things. Surrounding us on the walls were old blackboards, so well used they had turned shiny and were almost impossible to write on (I know because I tried). The school roll was kept on one of these boards, specifying the number of kindergarten and also primary school children. Over 1,000 in all, listed in detail and with numbers next to each class – no computer records here!!
We sat with our interpreter (one of the teachers at the school) and began to “converse” with the teachers. My brother, Mark having been there a few times before was well known to them all and gave them an update on progress around planned projects and new ideas he’d had since his last visit. The teachers listened intently and were clearly engaged with plans to improve their situation.
Next, we walked around the perimeter of the school grounds. The temperature was in the mid 40’s and there was not a breath of wind – stifling hot. The grounds were pathetic, barely any shade, a terrible stench from the 3 toilets for over 1,000 kids and a pile of rubbish behind the school together with more dust. There was just no respite from the heat. The grounds offered no place for kids to congregate, play or just be – it was just too hot and too inhospitable. We checked out the storm water drains that run down the side of the grounds, and could clearly see they were completely inadequate for what must be a deluge of water during the wet season. This is the main reason the school grounds flood every year, rendering the grounds completely useless for play or school activities in that season also. There is a fairly major engineering project required to re-route and re-engineer the area to divert the flood water. Until that is completed nothing much can be done to improve the grounds usefulness. My brother has this as his top priority and is working with local and Singapore based people to get a plan together to do the work. Next a visit to the local well, the source of the school’s drinking water. I looked down the well and all I could see was what appeared to be an oil slick and some indescribable things floating on the top. The only filtering process this water goes through is into a terracotta flower pot (provided by UNICEF) and then straight into plastic water containers for drinking. I watched as Molly the headmistress took some water from this container and thought “my god what is she drinking in that concoction?” They of course think it’s clean and I guess comparatively speaking it is. Oh how they would love access to the waters of Warragamba Dam!!
The school children came out of class en-mass post our walk around. Seemingly a never ending flow of them, holding hands, walking around, forming small groups and congregating as children tend to do. There was nowhere to sit in the shade, little in the way of play equipment and what there was – was rusted and dangerous. In summary, school grounds bereft of anything that resembled a playground or a place where children would want to engage in games, chatter or anything similar. The grounds are so inhospitable and the sun so hot, that children are sent home over the lunch break. Since they come from between 1km and 7km away, parents (and in a lot of cases grandparents) have to come and collect them on pushbikes and motorbikes. They go home and come back again at 2pm. While the kids were away, I took an impromptu English lesson with the teachers and Molly, trying to make them laugh by writing on the board and telling a few stories with it. I was so hot, I was nearly dying but they live in these conditions every day so I just kept drinking from my water bottle and enduring.
Next, we went over the road to see Polly – a local woman whom with her husband’s support has built a teacher training school. There we met about a dozen young men and about the same number of women, who had come in from regional and rural areas to undertake teacher training in an effort to boost teacher numbers. They train under the watchful eye of teachers at “our” school across the road. Their living conditions are absolutely terrible. The dormitory they live in is literally falling down, I had to watch my step as I went up the rickety steps and then edged along the deck as it had rotted floorboards and was full of holes. There were 8 or so to a room, no ventilation and a tin shack which doubled up as a toilet and laundry, its roof was blowing precariously in the wind when we were there, would be great in the monsoonal rains having to perform your ablutions in those conditions!!
The kitchen facilities looked like hell, with birds nests in the rafters and the walls filthy with dust. A relatively clean plastic table cloth sticky-taped to the communal dining table was all the colour and only attempt at brightening up this abysmal scene that I could find.
These trainees are paid US$3 per day – they are the future of this country and not surprisingly the “drop out” rate is high as they miss their families and often head back home to help out or go off to the city to work as a factory worker as the pay is better.
When the children returned from the lunch break, I started to hand out the Easter eggs (not the best treat I could have come up with as they were melting in the heat) and some small koala bears I bought at duty free. They loved these and the 60 or so I bought soon went, I wish I had a suitcase of them, it felt so inconsequential but just seeing their little faces when they got a small gift was priceless. During this, we noticed a small girl crying while holding the hand of another and we asked the translator to ask her what was wrong. She told the interpreter “I am hungry”. That just about did it for me. I looked around and wondered how many other little bellies (just back from lunch) were empty because there was just no food. We managed to get her some dry bread to help in the short term. The diet here is largely rice as Cambodia has to import 80% of its vegetables from Vietnam and as such children get little or no protein and no vitamins and minerals. Vegetables are not cheap and rice makes you feel full so that’s what they eat. Dental decay is rife and general health very poor. Average life expectancy early 50’s……60% of Cambodia’s population is under 15 years – and what of their future? It’s not great from what I saw.
It was clear to me that focusing on the schools and influencing the younger generation through education in the areas of nutrition, hygiene, play etc is key.
I am even more convinced of this now and I am keen to do my part. I am working with a WA company to build some sun shades which we can get shipped to the school thereby providing some much needed shade for the children. I am also liaising with one of the inventors from the ABC’s ‘New Inventors” program who has devised a below ground waste management system for use in third world countries. My brother is working with “Room to Read” – an ex VP of Microsoft who is now running this program full time. He is also working with engineers and architects in Singapore who are volunteering their time to come up with solutions for the other issues in these categories. Mark thinks he has also found 2 teachers (experienced in developing countries) who are prepared to go to the school for some months to spent time supervising some of our early initiatives and to provide English tutorage to the local teachers amongst other things.
What do we need? Well yes – donations will help as we have plans for a number of initiatives in the areas of engineering, clean water, sanitation and waste management. We are looking to be as environmentally friendly as we can in our endeavours and already have some great people working with us out of Singapore on some of these projects. But we also need volunteers, including people who are well connected and have people they know who might be able to help in the areas I have outlined.
My next communication will be to provide more detail around some of the initiatives we have planned and also of our plans for the Australian chapter of ‘The Tiger Foundation” – which I will head up.
Let me know if you would like to be involved and I will invite you to our first meeting and/or just keep you in the loop re our progress via email. If I don’t hear back from you that’s fine too, I just hope that by reading this – the least I will have done is to make each and every one of you be a little more grateful for the life we have here in Australia and to make you more aware that we can make a difference if we choose to do so.
Thanks for “listening”.
Sandra
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
