“You always come back!”, as a young man in Svay Sisophon put it during our visit in 2012. Yes, we do! And it was good to be back…for the first time in two years and the 16^th time since 2007. Trustees Katie Maidment and Maria Brown  spent a very concentrated two weeks in Cambodia [and no, it wasn’t a holiday!] visiting all the projects supported by the charity in the last two years. Here are some of the high [and low] spots:  

We began with the ‘Queen Camilla’ moment at Rohal Primary School –  a sort of ‘royal progress’ down lines of pupils saying ‘choom reap sooa’ on a loop. Support Cambodia have been involved with this wonderfully friendly and welcoming school for quite a few years and it’s always a real pleasure to meet Principal Mr Bun Sarak and his staff. Rohal Primary is a very good local school and Support Cambodia are delighted and honoured to be able to help it stay that way. 

It’s two years since we started to sell the beautiful hand-crafted traditional scarves [kromas] made by the Women Weavers at Ta Hen, near Battambang. The women, who are all the main breadwinners in their families, receive 20% of every scarf sold by Support Cambodia. Maria and I spent a happy hour with them discussing colours for a bespoke scarf, unique to Support Cambodia. We hope to have these on sale in April.

Continuing the creative theme, we made a hugely enjoyable visit to Betty’s Dressmaking Group at Piaksnaeng outside Siem Reap where we help with the sewing teacher’s salary and materials. A selection of handmade bags were purchased and we’re trialling a new design of very light headscarf [see cover picture] which may prove particularly suitable for people needing to protect their head and neck from the sun. As at Ta Hen, these are unique, very much “not on the high street” and the women will receive 20% of each item sold. Please support this initiative if you can.   

Another very enjoyable visit was to Sneung, halfway between Pailin and Battambang. The Parish centre in Sneung is growing quickly and now attracts a large number [70-100] young people every weekend and in the evenings who come to learn English, practice Khmer dance and enjoy social activities. There is also a thriving Kindergarten on site with supportive parents and a new classroom building just completed. Last summer, through a  generous SUPPORTER from Swaffham, Support Cambodia put in a water well to serve the whole site. It’s working fine but there is a problem with the taste and a filter [as yet uncosted] is needed to sort the problem. A great welcome from the Kindergarten and the English class… and the dance group gave an impromptu performance still dressed in their school uniform!!! Parish Priest Father Carlos and his team are  working really hard, with very few resources,  to develop this thriving community. Support Cambodia are keen to help in whatever way we can.   

You may recall that in 2024, courtesy of a bequest by Aylsham resident Ann LeGassick, Support Cambodia were able to fund a boat for the Floating School on the Tonle Sap Lake. Maria and Katie took the day-long journey to see both the boat and the urgent repairs to the pontoons, funded in 2024 by a combination of Ely Catholic Parish, Support Cambodia and Aylsham Rotary Club.

This is the dry season with vegetation clearly visible above the waterline so the floating houses and the School are therefore much closer together than at other times of the year. All transport is entirely waterborne and the extremely noisy outboard motor boats passing within 10 metres of the school, day and night, make teaching and learning here a real challenge! The good news is that ‘our’ boat is proving an essential facility and is in constant use, 7 days a week, ferrying children to and from school and to community activities e.g. rice soup, on Sundays.

After a warm welcome from the children we were back on the water with teacher Mr Bunlouen to get a close look at the new pontoons  – a rather hairy 10 minutes after which a delicious  lunch [with a view to die for] was most welcome.

In the harsh conditions of the Lake, maintenance is a constant problem: roof repair, board replacement and painting are all needed here. Unfortunately, Support Cambodia are not in a position to do any of this but if there is anyone who would like to help, please contact us and we’ll put you in touch with Father Yacob.

Also dominated by the fluctuations of the Tonle Sap Lake is the large village of Kompong Kleang, near Siem Reap. Water levels here can vary from 0 to over 15 feet so houses are built on huge stilts and for part of the year access is only by boat. There’s been a church-run centre here for some years with a regular Kindergarten in the morning, Grades 1-4 in the afternoon and a Saturday class attended by 80-100 older children. Lack of funding makes meaningful development here an uphill struggle and Father Yacob [who has responsibility here in addition to Prek Toal] has asked if Support Cambodia can help.

So the Trustees propose to make Kompong Kleang the focus for our summer fundraising and as a start, we presented $400 to pay for a badly needed loudspeaker – up to now, they’ve been moving the speaker system from Prek Toal back and fore on a weekly basis!! Look out for more about Kompong Kleang on our website, Facebook posts and at events.

But the visit wasn’t all plain sailing –  in Pailin, we discovered our water well at Soun Ampoun Primary School had twice been vandalised [not by the children], rendering 80% of our 2023 refurbishment programme completely useless –  and no-one had told us. The Sewing Centre is still operational… but only just. Both scenarios are very disappointing but steps have been taken to ensure all is not lost and much will depend on the new personnel now in Pailin. In a developing country, situations change very quickly, are often beyond our control and sometimes, despite everyone’s best efforts, things do not go to plan. We await news…..

But to finish this brief resume, a few more positives:

Vocational Training: we had the pleasure of meeting our six current students, all studying electrical engineering at Don Bosco Technical School. Also in Battambang we’re hoping to be able to support English classes for two nurses at Pet Yiey Chee Health Centre; a trainee worker at the Mutitaa Textile Factory and later in the year, a trainee teacher from Pailin. We were also able to meet the Pailin students whose families we support so the young people can stay in full time education rather than have to go out to work. It’s so encouraging to finally see the Bob Maidment Educational Support Fund starting to make a real difference.  

On balance, this was a very successful Trustee Visit with 90% of our planned programme achieved. Huge thanks to the many, many people who made it all happen, particularly to the amazing Dr Nhor Chamrom for taking days away from her busy clinic to look after us; to our hosts in the parishes of Siem Reap, Battambang and Pailin and to Bishop Kike Figaredo for giving us his unique insight …and a whole hour of his precious time. “okoon, okoon charen krob k’nea”

Support Cambodia Annual General Meeting 2025

Goodbye Sister Vangie!

After a very difficult year juggling new buildings, changes of personnel, shortage of staff and [not to mention a minor road traffic accident] Sister Vangie Dunton, whose work in Pailin Province our charity has supported since 2018, is finally taking a very well-earned break before taking up a new role in Phnom Penh.  

In her time in Pailin, Sister has done a quite remarkable job creating social programmes [water wells, the Sewing Centre, microfinance, vegetable gardens, baby milk, rice soup, kitchenettes and much, much more]  all of them a lasting tribute to her extraordinary work ethic, energy, vision, perseverance ….and faith. Support Cambodia have been truly fortunate to have been able to contribute in a very small way to some of  this work – It’s been a real privilege to have been part of her mission. Thank you Sister, for your friendship, trust, goodwill and endless patience during our partnership with you.

From all at Support Cambodia, “goodbye, good luck, good health and may God go with you”.   

…and ‘welcome’ to

Sister Norma Esperas who has taken over as Principal of the Daughters of Charity in Pailin who, together with Sister Angela San Jose, is the charity’s new contact for our community projects in Pailin City. We look forward to continuing to “Support Cambodia” with them.

From the Trustees…Thank You!

Thank you to everyone whose contributions have made these projects possible.

To the many people who followed the Trustee Visit either on Facebook, WhatsApp or the website. It was really encouraging to know so many SUPPORTERS were ‘living the journey’ with us via the daily blog. Thank you for your messages and thank you especially to Sonia at Enigmedia Marketing for editing, sharing and posting over our various platforms. Great job!

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