Students lend a hand in Cambodia

Students in Free Enterprise club goes to Cambodia to raise money for Khmer Krafts.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/

Nhan Pham

The Daily Evergreen

Published: 01/27/2010

via CAAI News Media

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two WSU students representing the Students in Free Enterprise entrepreneurship club took the initiative of visiting Cambodia for nearly two weeks to help those in poverty.

SIFE President Justin Thornley and Vice President Michael DeGooyer traveled to Cambodia from Jan. 1 to 12 to get a first-hand look at the country’s conditions. The trip spanned across three different Cambodian cities: Phnom Penh, Battambang and Siem Reap. Their driver throughout the tour also doubled as their interpreter, while a hired Cambodian cameraman recorded their journey. Thornley and DeGooyer went to Cambodia to assist an organization called Khmer Krafts, which SIFE has been working with for the past three years.

“Khmer Krafts is a fair trade group that takes women from villages who have had a hard time,” Thornley, a senior entrepreneurship major, said. “The women are taught how to sew things like purses so they can earn a living wage and learn job skills.” In fact, Thornley said SIFE sold many purses from Khmer Krafts to pay for a majority of the trip’s expenses that totaled more than $3,000.

Thornley said DeGooyer and he met with the Bob and Kay Petrik, the owners of Khmer Krafts. He said the Petriks acted as guides throughout the trip and introduced them to people like farmers and important Cambodian officials. Some of the sites visited included the “killing fields,” rice mills, temples and even an orphanage run by Khmer Krafts where Thornley and DeGooyer donated various WSU-related products and other goods to the children.

“They could not have been better guides,” he said. “They just know so many people, so many things about Cambodia. They are just so involved there.” Besides the sightseeing, DeGooyer, a senior management and operations major, said the two also did some business consulting with Khmer Krafts and even held a special seminar for the employees. In addition, SIFE and the Petriks will offer a total of four, $250 microloans that the Khmer Krafts employees can apply for to jump-start a business idea. “These are women with the average education of a sixth grader, so the skills they know are things like sewing or taking care of a chicken farm,” DeGooyer said. “A lot of the feedback is, most of these women are interested in the microloans to start their own businesses.” DeGooyer said Khmer Krafts offers great opportunities to young girls and women who would otherwise resort to prostitution or suffer in poverty. He said the average Cambodian woman earns roughly $25 a month, while Khmer Krafts employees can earn up to twice this amount and receive good working conditions.

Thornley said SIFE plans on raising money to buy an embroidery machine for Khmer Krafts. He said the embroidery machine would expand the organization’s market, such as being able to place a company logo on their products to develop brand identity. More than $3,000 will be needed to buy this machine.

“We are planning on selling more purses and handbags, even reaching out to alumni networks to raise this money,” DeGooyer said. “We should be capable of getting it in the next few months. I am fairly confident.” Debra McCarver, a distance degree instructor with the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, said the work with Khmer Krafts first began a few years back.

McCarver said she first began an entrepreneurship student club at a private high school called Gem State Academy in Caldwell, Idaho, in 2006. The club, the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship, raised money to take five students to Cambodia for 10 days. The SAGE students helped out Khmer Krafts by taking photos of products for the company’s Web site as well as inventorying and selling products.

When McCarver arrived at the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at WSU in 2008, she brought the project idea with her. She said SIFE then began to work with the project and came in contact with Khmer Krafts.

“Kudos for Justin and Mike for going on this trip,” she said. “Both of them (and the other students in SIFE) are in charge of an organization where they put a lot of time and energy in so many projects for good causes.” Thornley and DeGooyer said the trip was a life-changing experience. They plan to edit the trip’s video footage and create promotional material to gain further support for Cambodia. They also hope to make the Cambodia trip a sustainable project so SIFE could send students every year.

“To see the darkness and despair and the light of hope was awe-inspiring,” Thornley said.