Success! Our 15th well brings clean water to the Sneung community
In the September Update, we highlighted the urgent need for clean water in the remote village of Sneung, midway between Cambodia’s third city of Battambang and the border town of Pailin.
Since then, several people, including one very generous major donor from Swaffham, have financed the drilling of a borewell with electric pump and pipes to the caretaker’s house, kindergarten, community building and church [though Support Cambodia have not paid for the church connection].
The work is finished, and the community finally has water!!!
The clean water will directly benefit not only the village’s 80 residents, but also the rapidly increasing number of young people who come to Sneung for the kindergarten, English class or Sunday activities.
Father Carlos Alfaro, Parish Priest of Sneung and responsible for overseeing the project writes: “I take this opportunity to thank you for the beautiful gift of water for our Sneung community. We are very happy and grateful and will take well [good] care of it!”.
The photo below shows Father Carlos with members of the community.
News from Cambodia
Prek Toal Floating School
The late arrival of the rainy season, resulting in low water levels on the Tonle Sap Lake, delayed the start of urgent repairs to the Floating School at Prek Toal. But they’re finally underway and due to be completed by the start of November.
The new flotation barrels were brought up the river from Phnom Penh, to be installed below the water level by several intrepid [and very wet] workers. This had to be done before the start of the new school year on 1st November.
Once again, grateful thanks to Aylsham Rotary Club, David & June Thorn, Carol & Bernard Webb and Ralph Chinery for their invaluable help in getting this essential job done and to Father Yacob Chilka for overseeing the project.
Trustees Carol Shippey and Katie Maidment were delighted to be able to meet Father Yacob [pictured below] on his recent visit to the UK. Support Cambodia are hoping to be able to help Father Yacob with some other projects in the near future.
From the Trustees
Vocational Training
With the new academic year in Cambodia already under way, the Trustees are very pleased to announce that we hope to have six students in training for2024/5. Second year students Som and Sayet will be joined at Don Bosco Technical School, Battambang by another second year, Chavroam – all of them studying Engineering and Mechanics. Three new students, all from Kompong Thom [at the other side of the Tonle Sap Lake] are anxiously awaiting the results of their Don Bosco entrance exam. If successful, we hope the Bob Maidment Educational Support Fund will be able to sponsor all six students.
We hope the Bob Maidment Educational Support Fund will sponsor all six students. Grateful thanks to all who have contributed to the Education Fund throughout the summer. Somnop, our remaining sponsored student from last year, has apparently gone to Thailand with his family and will not be returning to complete his course. Although this is disappointing news, it’s not unusual for this to happen in developing countries such as Cambodia. We wish Somnop all the best.
Water Filtration Plant – An Update
Earlier this year, Support Cambodia contributed $2,300 to Stage 1 of an innovative Water Filtration initiative being run by Marist Pailin. Part of the development is named in honour of Bob Maidment. An outline of the project appeared in the May Update and is also available on the website. The charity was also expecting to contribute to Stage 2 of the project, due to start in 2025. However, for a number of reasons, Marist Pailin have decided to postpone Stage 2 until 2026 in order to concentrate on student accommodation, education and well-being. We’ll keep you informed.
Business Supporters 2024/25
The Trustees are delighted to welcome our ten Administration Sponsors for 2024/5:
Ace of Spades Gardens, AMT Web Services, Eclipse Hair Studio, Lavenders Blue Florist, Woodgate Nursery [all Aylsham area], Enigmedia Marketing [Norwich], The Cutting Room [Brundall], Semperart Glass [Ely], The Bottle & Jar Company [Sussex] and Peggy Little’s Products.
The charity’s COLLECTION TINS may be found at the following locations:
Aylsham area: Bond’s Chip Shop, Bon Bons, Carousel Chocolates, Eclipse Hair Studio and Aldborough Village Shop
Swaffham: The Market Cross Café and Café Lisa
North Walsham: The Tech Geeks
Norwich: The Fat Cat Pub
Brundall: The Cutting Room
Heacham: Ridouts Bakery
Wroxham: Wherrymans Restaurant
Binham: Fox’s Creations.
Market stalls: Semperart Glass and Peggy Little’s Products
All proceeds from the tins [with no costs taken] go to Projects, not to Administration.
HUGE THANKS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS SUPPORTERS – PLEASE SUPPORT THEM WHEN YOU CAN.
Digital Upgrade – latest news
In the September Update we welcomed Sonia Warder of Enigmedia Marketing [Norwich] to handle our social media output…and what a great job she’s doing! Thank you, Sonia. If you’ve been ‘sharing’ our Facebook posts… thank you, please keep doing it…if not, please do so and help to introduce Support Cambodia to a wider audience.
The WhatsApp Group is up and running but so far, with limited results. Facebook and WhatsApp are both owned by Meta so you should not need a Facebook account to read the posts. Sonia is still trying to work out why some people can’t open them. We will continue to experiment with various techniques so if you’re on this WhatsApp Group, please let us know when you can open and read a post as it will help us to improve the ‘service’!! (If you would like to join the Group, please get in touch with Katie – details below).
There have been delays to our new website, partly because Andy Thompson from AMT Web Design has unfortunately been very unwell for several weeks, and partly because the job has proven a lot bigger than any of us anticipated. But it will be well worth the wait… a similar ‘look’ but much more interactive and user-friendly and with improved mobile phone compatibility. Look out for the launch of the new site in mid-November – we’ll let you know via our Facebook and WhatsApp channels. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Andy for the many, many hours he’s put in on this.
Thank You Liam
The Trustees would also like to say a final ‘goodbye and thank you’ to Liam Doyle [formerly of The Tech Geeks but now fronting his own Derbyshire-based web design company, Peak Cloud Solutions]. Liam has been with Support Cambodia in some capacity almost since its inception in 2015 and has certainly played his part in promoting the work of the charity. From “Team Cambodia”, ‘okoon’ [thank you] Liam!
Welcome Father Totet!
On 31st October, we were delighted to welcome Father Totet Banaynal, Parish Priest of Siem Reap and a long-standing friend of Support Cambodia. In the UK on a holiday to celebrate 25 years as a priest, Father Totet paid a flying visit to charity headquarters at Ivy Cottage, Wickmere, joining some Supporters for supper and meeting others in Aylsham the following morning.
As always, it was a joy and a real privilege to spend time in his company, benefitting from his insight and 30 years of experience with disadvantaged communities in Cambodia.
From Ely to Cambodia – with Love
Children at Ely Cathedral’s Junior Church have been very, very busy……making Christmas angels for children in Cambodia. In their own words, this is what they did – see above photo.
Father Totet has taken the angels back to Cambodia and will distribute them to children in his parish. What a brilliant idea! A very well done and a big ‘okoon charen’ [thank you very much] to all 16 Ely ‘angels’ for their wonderful gift. Watch this space for more from the ‘Ely Angels’!!
Trustee Visit to Cambodia 2025
Trustees Katie Maidment and Maria Brown are planning to visit Cambodia in January. Details of the trip are still to be finalised but we’ll keep you posted so those of you who like to follow us via the daily ‘Tour Diary’ blog can do so.
Fundraising
A Spooky Morning at ‘The Cutting Room’!
New Business Sponsor and self-confessed Hallowe’en addict Kirsty Gotsell closed her Brundall hair salon on Thursday 31st October to hold a Coffee Morning and Raffle in aid [jointly] of Support Cambodia and the East Anglian Air Ambulance – both excellent causes!! A massive Raffle and a really impressive selection of homemade goodies encouraged much local support and an amazing £352.30 was raised, half of which came to our Nutrition Fund. Huge thanks to all who came, to Kirsty and her helpers, especially Sue who spent many hours baking for the event and to Trustee Maria Brown [pictured with Kirsty] for her input. Thank you all for “Supporting Cambodia” so effectively. Kirsty is planning another similar event at Easter.
Change of Date
We are no longer able to have a stall at the Christmas Lights Switch-On event in Aylsham on Friday 29th November. Instead, there will be TWO opportunities to Support Cambodia, both on Saturday 7th December:
1. Aylsham Town Hall Craft Fair 10am – 1pm. Katie will be selling unique handmade scarves and other Cambodian crafts
2. Sacred Heart Hall, North Walsham – Christmas Bazaar 10am – 2pm, for Christmas decorations and inexpensive gifts
All proceeds from both events will go to the Nutrition Fund.
If you are unable to go to either of these events and wish to purchase Cambodian crafts for Christmas, please contact Katie Maidment – contact details below.
Talks
Talks are a really good way to spread the word about the charity and Cambodia in general. We have recently revised our illustrated talks and now have available a choice of three:
DISCOVER CAMBODIA – an introduction to both the country and the work of the charity. Good for ‘first timers’.
CAMBODIA THE FORGOTTEN COUNTRY – an overview of its history and culture, past and present.
SUPPORTING CAMBODIA – the work of an independent charity helping disadvantaged communities in North-West Cambodia. Suitable for groups with some knowledge of the country.
All the talks are between 45 mins and an hour and can be adapted to the venue, the size and particular interests of the group. We can even arrange to do a talk for a group in your own home! There is no specified talk fee – instead, either a donation to the charity is requested and/or travel expenses if the venue is over 30 miles. We can also bring a small selection of Cambodian crafts for sale. We have availability for talks from now into 2025 – so please…think about it and get in touch for more information. Email katie@supportcambodia.org.uk OR phone (01263) 577784.
Financial support for any of the above projects is warmly welcomed!
Visit our web page to donate (please reference all donations accordingly)
Contact us:
Call +44(0) 1263 577784
Send a text/SMS to 07759 982011
Email info@supportcambodia.org.uk
Get in Touch Via Facebook Messenger
Support Cambodia
Ivy Cottage
22/23 Regent Street
Wickmere
Norfolk
NR11 7ND
THANK YOU FOR “SUPPORTING CAMBODIA”