Dec 17, 2009
By Nicole Ferguson
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Nashville family found their mission 9,000 miles away in a remote region of Cambodia. The connection has given hundreds of women and children a new life.
When Ann Walling's relative wanted to attach their family's foundation to a worthy cause, she wanted her dollar to stretch a long way.
Walling's family help launch the Stung Treng Women's Center in the Mekong River region of Cambodia back in 2002.
There, women, many of which are illiterate and prone to working in the sex trade, weave beautiful silk scarves to make a living and are taught how to read, do math.
In October, Walling helped launch the Mekong Blue Scarves enterprise online and at Nashville's St. David's Episcopal Church. Volunteers process orders each week, sending all the money back to Cambodia to help expand the Stung Treng Women's Center and its services.
It's Walling's hope that her family's foundation will eventually step away, and the women will be able to independently sustain their business.
"These are women who never dreamed they could be independent. I mean this is an unbelievable dream for them, so we're anxious for that day to come," said Walling.
When the Stung Treng women's center opened in 2002, they had just 10 women and four weaving looms. In 2009, the center employed more than a hundred Cambodian women, houses a pre-school and provided reading and math education to the women and children, as well as construction jobs for men.
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