Supporting HUSK CambodiaAnthony and Fiona Jaensch have been working away for years through HUSK to help very poor families in and around the village of Kompheim. We came across them on our first visit when we were looking for a way to get out of town and see life here up close. Beyond Unique share an office with HUSK at the corner of Pub Street and Sivutha Boulevard in central Siem Reap and offer a wide range of experiences in the locale including small group tours. We decided to sign up for the Day in the Life day trip and were very glad we did. We decided to organise a tour and took a party of twelve there the following year.
The content of the day varies according to season. Basically it involves meeting local people who typically live on about $2 a day. Mostly, rice farming is a staple but they need to grow anything they can for their own use and hope to have some for market. So, we found ourselves reaping rice and planting mango trees. Then we visited the developing school in Kompheim village consisting of two small classrooms and a "softies room" where local women were learning sewing skills and producing good quality objects appealing to the tourist market such as reusable shopping bags and mobile phone covers as well as cuddly toys and novelty items. |
We were so taken with the project and charmed by the smiling children who were keen to share their rudimentary English with us, that we decided to use our annual London Do 2014 to raise as much money as we could for the project. With the help of fantastic support from attendees and a number of hotels and other organisations who donated prizes, we eventually raised over $3,000 which was enough to fund the building of two houses as well as a number of water filters, wells and sundries. We were also able to send a huge box of assorted toothbrushes, soaps, t-shirts and supplies for school. Our thanks to all those who took the trouble to bring items for the collection. So, this year we returned to Kompheim to meet up with HUSK's Bunny and help finish off one of those two houses. I must stress, we played a very small part in the actual building works and learned a lot about traditional building methods. We were hugely moved by the plight of the family whose home we helped build. They are a typical young Cambodian couple struggling with next to nothing to raise a family. They had lost their first child a year before when he fell into a pond and drowned whilst in Grandma's care. |
Happily, we met the new addition to their family. A beautiful little boy fast asleep in his hammock while we banged away with hammer and saw. Their gratitude and huge smiles were very humbling. The new house is built on a tiny plot of land gifted to them by their parents who live on the adjacent plot. The new house has been erected on slightly higher ground and taller stilts, so hopefully will stay dry in rainy season.
Other contributions to the construction work for HUSK come in groups from schools as far away as Australia and Europe and it is possible to donate to HUSK in a variety of ways including directly via their website. There is also Go Philanthropic in the USA but another way would be to attend our 2015 London Do when we plan to repeat last year's exercise in fundraising. HUSK's current priority is to build a bigger workshop for the "softies" sewing ladies on a separate site from the school so they can reclaim the current room as a resource for teachers. This is likely to cost in the region of $25,000 so all donations are gratefully received.
We are very grateful to Fiona & Anthony (who also donate a share of the profits from their own business - Sojourn Luxury Boutique Villas) for the work they do and for enriching our experience of this warm welcoming country and its amazing, resilient people.
Other contributions to the construction work for HUSK come in groups from schools as far away as Australia and Europe and it is possible to donate to HUSK in a variety of ways including directly via their website. There is also Go Philanthropic in the USA but another way would be to attend our 2015 London Do when we plan to repeat last year's exercise in fundraising. HUSK's current priority is to build a bigger workshop for the "softies" sewing ladies on a separate site from the school so they can reclaim the current room as a resource for teachers. This is likely to cost in the region of $25,000 so all donations are gratefully received.
We are very grateful to Fiona & Anthony (who also donate a share of the profits from their own business - Sojourn Luxury Boutique Villas) for the work they do and for enriching our experience of this warm welcoming country and its amazing, resilient people.