Mango Autumn 2025

“OKOON, OKOON  [thank you, thank you]!”

10 days….. £4911 …….150 families.. Support Cambodia’s wonderful SUPPORTERS have done it again, raising a phenomenal amount of money in a very short time for the “Food for Families” Appeal. In late July, the long-running border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand erupted in violent clashes causing huge numbers of Khmer citizens to evacuate the border region.
In addition, many thousands working in Thailand returned home suddenly –
all of them having to leave their homes, farms and livelihoods and disrupt their children’s education.

Establishing the exact number of displaced persons is almost impossible but it is certainly well over 250,000, many of whom arrived in the rural villages within 100 miles of Battambang, the third city of Cambodia. These villages are themselves extremely poor and don’t possess the resources to support a big influx of refugees. A huge relief effort was mounted by many agencies including our main partner in Cambodia, the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang and its social outreach arm, Karuna Battambang Organisation [KBO]. As a very small part of this, Support Cambodia was asked to provide Emergency Food Packs, at a cost of £30 each, specifically for displaced families in the  villages of Tampoung and Knach Romeas, later extended to also include not just food but also essential medication for the sick sheltering in huge evacuee camps nearer the border.

Food pack (rice, noodles, groceries)

Fathers Glenn Diaz and Damo Chour and our good friend Dr Nhor Chamrom have been central to the Prefecture’s relief effort and we are enormously grateful to them all for the trouble they’ve taken to ensure Support Cambodia donations have been spent accountably. Amazingly, they’ve also somehow found the time to send us pictures for which we are so grateful. The pictures tell the story:

(Image 1: Dr Chamrom  Image 2: Emergency food distribution  Image 3: Father Glenn)

The ceasefire agreed on 28^th July has held so far and some families have been able to return or have simply moved to a safer location in the country. Dr Chamrom writes:
“For the situation of the border, some places is going well and some places is not really good. Some families are still in the camp because they was [sic] living very close to the border and now Bishop Kike try to create the team to go there to help the children and encouragement for the young people”.
Fortunately the excessively partisan vitriol evident from both sides on social media has also calmed down but it will take some time for the fallout from this flare-up to work through. For more background, a recent BBC report from a mainly Cambodian viewpoint [other media reports are available] please click here. 
In the meantime, Support Cambodia have held the final £1000 of the Appeal money in reserve to provide extra help should it be requested. In the event of it not being needed, it will be spent on our regular Rice Soup and Baby Milk programmes.

(Image 1: Camp distribution  Image 2: KBO emergency aid)

£4911 is not exactly SMALL MONEY….but it has certainly made a very, very BIG DIFFERENCE to a large number of needy people. On behalf of all who have been helped by your generous contributions,“Okoon charen [thank you very much]”

GETTING A-HEAD – WITH OUR NEW AUTUMN COLOURS!

Sales of our unique headwear at Big C Centres and at Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital and Norwich City have gone so well we’ve now reordered three times since January! We are delighted by this success and this has encouraged the ladies of Betty Millena’s Dressmaking Group [at Piaksnaeng, near Siem Reap] to branch out into new fabrics and colours.
The latest batch features an improved fit in slightly heavier material and comes in seven different colours, more in keeping with the Autumn and Winter seasons here in the UK. The originals, in ‘Khmer’ check, are still available but having had several requests for plain materials, we thought we’d try something different.
The production price has gone up a little so the headscarves are now on sale at £5.00, of which 20%  goes back directly to the ladies and the rest to Support Cambodia projects. Big thanks to Betty and her ladies for their hard work and together with Savin Ny, arranging to get the items to us.

Corinne Cambridge, Support & Information Officer at Big C writes, “We are very proud to work alongside Support Cambodia in co-operation with this local and much respected charity. You can find their headscarves for sale at both of our Norwich Cancer Support Centres. We’re here for anyone affected by cancer and would love to see you, so please come on by.” 

For those who missed it, a description of the headscarves may be found in the Summer issue of ‘Mango’ – click here to read more. And if you’d like to purchase one of these versatile headscarves, handmade in 100% washable cotton, Support Cambodia will be selling them at our stall at Costessey Fete on Sunday 21st September.

Apart from the headscarves, we’ll be selling several designs of bags [also made by the Dressmaking Group], traditional hand woven Cambodian scarves [from another women’s outreach group], other Cambodian items e.g. silk scarves, pashminas, elephants and puppets, keyrings and purses, spices and tea and our very own Support Cambodia range of jams, homemade in Norfolk.

Proceeds from the event [no costs taken] will go to the Bob Maidment Education Fund for young people not able to afford vocational training [like Seng Hoan see below] and for families whose financial situation prevents them from keeping their children in school. Currently the Fund also supports a primary school dental health programme, a trainee textile worker and language classes for medical staff. It’s a wide-ranging fund which needs  regular ’feeding’ with money….so any contributions are VERY gratefully received!!

NEWS FROM CAMBODIA

2. Following our request in the Summer issue of ‘Mango’ for a donor to fund the next six months of Sunday Rice Soup at Tampoung, two long-time Supporters have very generously offered to do this. The programme, recently re-introduced after a ten year absence, feeds 120 children and vulnerable adults every Sunday morning, thereby encouraging the children to attend the equivalent of ‘Sunday School’. Huge thanks to our donors for enabling this valuable initiative to continue until March 31^st 2026.

3. Partnerships: this time with another group with whom we are developing a link: Ely [Anglican] Cathedral Junior Church [aka The Ely Angels]. This group of young children has had a Support Cambodia ‘Karuna’ Bear for about a year and his message of loving and caring for everyone, regardless of race, colour, creed or disability [Karuna means ‘compassion’ ] has gone down very well. Father Totet (pictured) was delighted to receive last year’s cards for his children in Siem Reap. The Ely Angels are making cards again, this time for the ‘Sunday School’ children at Tampoung and are hoping to receive some in return! Watch this space!!

As we highlighted in the last ‘Mango’, our Trustees are very keen to develop active links with other charities, organisations or parishes. Working together enables the efforts of all interested people of good will to be maximized,  avoids duplication both of funding and of “treading on each others toes” and can only be to the advantage of everyone….particularly the poor of Cambodia. We invite anyone interested in discussing  such an  arrangement to please get in touch with Support Cambodia via the Contact Us page. Thank you.

4. Social media: Support Cambodia needs to attract new followers, supporters and donors and social media is one of several ways we can reach a wider audience. Our brilliant social media wizz, Sonia Warder from Enigmedia Marketing has done a wonderful job promoting the charity, especially during the ‘Food for Families’ Appeal….but the effectiveness of any media campaign depends on everyone sharing the posts to their friends… and friends of friends – that’s how it works. As well as our Facebook posts and WhatsApp Group, Support Cambodia is now on Instagram and we need all those who use these platforms to PLEASE SHARE our posts as regularly as you can. So please.. HELP US OUT HERE!! Thank you. 

FUNDRAISING & EVENTS

Events at Aylsham, Upton, Aldborough, Wickmere and Dorset [yes!…Avril Harcourt held a garage sale and raised a very useful £103  – well done and thanks Avril!] this summer helped to raise a total of nearly £1500, enough to achieve our objective of funding the Kindergarten Rice Soup Programme at Kompong Kleang up to the end of February 2026. Grateful thanks to everyone involved in running the stalls or contributing to the proceeds. Misson accomplished!!

COSTESSEY FETE: SUNDAY 21^st SEPTEMBER – see item & poster above

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR STALL!!

DIARY DATES

Friday 31^st October: Raffle at The Cutting Room, Brundall – proceeds shared with East Anglian Air Ambulance. Contact: Kirsty Gotsell [07387 844089]
Friday 28^th November: Christmas Craft Stall at Aylsham Lights Switch-On. From 5pm. 
Contact: Fran Ludden [07849 602227]
Saturday 29^th November: Stall at Sacred Heart Parish Bazaar,
North Walsham. From 9am to 1pm.
Contact: Katie Maidment [01263 577784]
Details nearer the time will be available on our website here

Finally…. as the ladies in our cover picture say, “OKOON” [Thank you]….not just for continuing to “Support Cambodia” by your generous donations but especially to those behind the scenes or who contribute to the day-to-day running of the charity: Pauline Copperwheat  [jam & ‘bear’ dressing], Pauline Andrews, Fran Ludden, Cathy Dickson, Rosemary Brown [events], Carol Shippey [fundraiser extraordinaire], Sonia Warder & Andy Thomson [media & internet], our faithful Standing Order donors who provide the backbone of our regular income, and last but not least, to Trustee colleagues Maria Brown [jam, plants, and general advice] and David Pattrick [meticulous accounting and endless patience at the end of a phone].
To every one of you…OKOON, OKOON!