Spreading love in Siem Reap

via Khmer NZ

Saturday July 10, 2010

By ROSE YASMIN KARIM

Counting your blessings can be hard when all you see is the downside. The cure: Get a better perspective through ‘do-gooding’ and some down time in Siem Reap.

Wake up. Shower. Go to work. Go to gym. Eat dinner. Pass out. Rinse and repeat. When did your routine get, well, so routine?

Right about now, perhaps you’re thinking about giving, and getting away from it all. Hotel de la Paix, in Siem Reap, Cambodia lets you do both.

Your childhood dream? To save the world, obviously. But the tricky part about doing good is figuring out who really needs you now and whether the cause is legitimate. Hotel de la Paix’s Community Connections Programme offers a one-stop shop for all your charitable inclinations.

Have more heart than time?

Want to quit spending and start saving? Start by saving Khmer kids from cutting class by donating bicycles for them to get to school.

Most projects don’t require attendance. So no matter what you do, you can make an invaluable contribution to Cambodia’s many causes.

Think you’ve got nothing to offer? You do, baby, you do. Chickens, seeds or piglets generate money and food for a hungry family. Rice gives health and comfort to a starving child.

So, if your resolve to do more good deeds this year has resulted in paying your rent on time, take a gander at the humanitarian causes below. Now’s a great time to contribute a little of yourself. Act now and you’ll also receive warm fuzzy feelings — absolutely free.

Warning: Daily consumption may potentially make you a better person.

Shiny new bicycles for children who deserve them.

The ride of their lives

There’s no question that education can often make or break your luck in life. So how about giving some kid a leg up?

Child stars aren’t the only ones who miss out on their childhood. Life’s training wheels comes off far too soon for many Khmer children. Mastercard and Hotel de la Paix’s Pushbike programme helps to gets these orphaned, neglected or abused kids pedalling in the right direction — to school and a brighter future.

The intiative has raised funds for nearly 800 shiny, new bicycles for children from Siem Reap’s outlying villages.

How does it work? To roll with the programme, simply charge your stay at Hotel de la Paix with your MasterCard. MasterCard will then donate a bicycle and a school bag filled with school supplies to less fortunate children through reliable beneficiaries which include Sangkheum Centre Orphanage, Sunrise Orphanage, Green Gecko Orphanage — sanctuaries for children to learn, play, relax and enjoy being kids.

“I like listening to Korean hip hop and playing football,” says Khouch, a bright 15-year-old at the Sangkheum Centre for Children. To get to school, the eighth grader walks almost 15km every day. With his new bicycle, the journey will be a lot easier. “I hope I can be an English teacher one day. I want to make many friends and be rich.”

Nothing is as fun as hanging out with kids. But your friends might be getting sick of your borrowing theirs for the afternoon. If you wish to be more involved with the children, Hotel de la Paix will facilitate the introduction to the relevant organisation where you can personally direct your contribution.

Here’s your chance to give back. However you choose to get involved, it’s sure to brighten a child’s day.

The Hotel de la Paix Sewing Training Centre.

Sew perfect

You and your girl friends congregate for three main reasons: to pick up men, complain about said men, and comfort each other after break-ups. All worthy causes, but perhaps it’s time to take a cue from the band of poverty-ridden women at Hotel de la Paix Sewing Training Centre, a not-for-profit vocational facility run by a network of local monks from the Life and Hope Association.

At the centre, young, disadvantaged Khmer women between the ages of 16 and 22 are sponsored by MasterCard for a 10-month-long programme that teaches them sewing skills and offers a basic course on setting up a business.

The programme also includes basic financial literacy to help the women learn to manage their finances. Students also learn English and are each given a sewing machine and start-up kit of materials upon graduation so that they can return to their own villages and start their own businesses.

“These uneducated and unskilled women usually find work at construction sites, earning around US$1 per day for 16 hours of labour,” says Hotel de la Paix director of sales and marketing, Christian de Boer. “The initiative seeks to provide them with the skills to make a living so that they are not subjected to working environments which are unsafe and unsuitable. More women in Cambodia now have a chance to earn a decent living to support themselves and their families.”

Hotel de la Paix is located right smack in town.

Ngeab Pot is one of the beneficiaries of this programme. She was eight when she dropped out of school in a desperate attempt to keep her impoverished family afloat. Despite her age, Ngeab quickly found a job at a kiln, moulding bricks by hand for up to 80 hours a week. The reward for loading bricks to and from the kiln and grinding clay — a scant 5,000 riel per day (RM4).

When Ngeab came to the centre, she hardly knew how to fix a loose button or mend a broken seam. The 28-year-old, stooped and wasted from her years at the kiln, can now build a dream beyond the fierce heat of the furnaces.

“I want to open a small tailoring shop when I finish the course,” she says shyly, squeezing her chapped hands together. Once she has conquered the needle and thread, Ngeab will be able to earn US$3 (RM9) for a shirt she tailors.

Most visitors to Siem Reap cannot help but be touched by the challenges that exist in the lives of many who live here. And for guests at Hotel de la Paix who would like to experience first-hand a side of life less travelled, they may choose to sponsor a student for the entire course or for a month, or donate a sewing machine or a push bike.

The centre also educates and raises awareness about HIV and AIDs.

Want to rid Cambodia of malnutrition? Want to help build a home? Provide fresh, clean water? You can, even while sitting safely on this side of the world. Just check out the community sponsorship page of the Hotel de la Paix website (www.hoteldelapaixangkor), an online menu of sponsorship packages.

Now, go on. Throw your arms around the world. It really does make giving feel a bit like getting.