Thank you for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Donations are paid via Camkids Charity who pass the funds on to New Futures Organisation directly. We have written below our reasons for raising the money and also some background information on the orphanage, but please look at their website http://www.newfuturesorganisation.com/ and the video we have made to give you an idea of what New Futures is all about.

 

Our story

Last year we visited Cambodia. Whilst there, we worked in an orphanage for a short period.  The children were so friendly and welcoming that we never once felt uneasy. It is very difficult to encapsulate the whole experience in just a few paragraphs but one short story might help to illustrate the wonderful work done by the team at NFO (New Futures Organisation).

We met a little boy called Tee, he was about six years old but no one is exactly sure. Tee had spent two years locked up underneath his father’s house and was eventually ‘rescued’ by his uncle who brought him to the orphanage. Not long after arriving at the NFO orphanage Tee cut his foot very badly. One of the staff cleaned the wound with antiseptic which would have brought tears to an adult’s eyes, let alone a child's, but Tee did not cry. He had been so terrified by his father that to be seen crying would have brought even greater pain at the hands of his father or sister.

Six months on Tee is so much better, as you can see from the pictures opposite; we particularly like the one of him cheating at cards! Unfortunately when we left Tee had been suspended from school for stealing the teacher’s apple. We are reliably informed that he has now been allowed back! When we left, as well as promising to return, we also promised to raise money for the children.

So here is the crunch !

We are running a Marathon in May. Neither of us has ever run before except at school (and for me that was a long time ago). The training has been hard but nothing compared to the heartache that some of these children have been through.

Our aim is to raise £5,000 for the orphanage and its associated rural schools (1250 children in all) and below are just some of the things that will be done with the money:

£1 will pay for schooling for one child for one month   £4 will feed a child for a week

£250 will send a child to University    £1,200 will build a rudimentary village school

£1,500 will fund the orphanage for one month; that’s all the bills and rent

£1,500 will buy three ‘Tuk Tuks’ which can be used to ferry children to school from some of the more remote villages and also raise money locally

Please note that all of the money raised will go directly to the orphanage and we know Neville (the wonderful man who runs the NFO) will make sure it is wisely used. Thank you for taking the time to read this note. Wish us luck for 8 May (Stratford Marathon) and if you would like to donate even a small amount of money we can assure you it will be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you very much, Paul & Nick Thompson 

Their story

In January 2008 a small orphanage in Takeo (a small rural town in Cambodia, approx 79 km south of the capital Phnom Penh) was at the point of closing down due to lack of funds and poor leadership. The previous director and staff had abandoned the orphanage, leaving just $100 in the bank. Most of the children at the orphanage, who are aged from 6 to 17 years old, came from the many small outlying subsistence level farming villages around Takeo. These villages have no power supply, no portable water supply and poor access to most services. Luckily for the children, Neville, a volunteer visiting from overseas was at the orphanage at the time. On seeing the dire circumstances he decided that he would pick up the reins to help ensure the orphanage would not close. So along with the remaining Cambodian staff and other volunteers the recovery commenced.

In the past two years an incredible amount has been achieved.  The orphanage was renamed and registered in both the UK and Cambodia as a charity and INGO (International Non Governmental Organisation) to protect the children from such a risk happening again. New premises were found (they were being evicted from their existing one), child protection policies were put in place and a medical room was built and stocked with first aid supplies. Knowing that education is vital for the children – it literally means the difference between a life of unemployment leading to poverty or a life of opportunity and freedom, especially for the girls – all the children are sent to the local school and English classes are run at the orphanage. On top of this standard education a whole range of other skills training is now available at the New Futures Vocational Training Centre which has been built at the orphanage. This is also open for other children in the local area to use, and is designed to give them both life and vocational skills which they can use to earn a living and support themselves in the future. The orphanage now has its first child at University and is seeking funding for further education for their other older children to go to college.

Wanting to help children and families further afield, New Futures Organisation has also started a Rural Schools Project which involves the creation of a chain of schools in the rural villages surrounding Takeo town. These villages are in extremely remote agricultural regions, scattered among the rice fields and down dirt tracks which are difficult to access and which can become virtually impassable during the rainy season. Children at all ages are required to help out on the family farm, sowing and harvesting rice or looking after livestock, which prevents them from attending regular school classes. Although education is free in Cambodia parents still have to buy uniforms, provide books and pens which is often beyond the financial means of rural farming families. The logical solution was to take the education to these communities so this is what was done.

NFO has recently opened its eighth rural school and work is ongoing to expand the project further into other villages.

All this has been achieved after just two years – many other things are planned and the imagination, enthusiasm and dedication of the team at NFO seems boundless. Please do look at their website and see what else they have planned. When we visited them last summer as volunteers we knew very little about them but it was a brilliant experience which has obviously culminated in running the Marathon – which must show what an effect it had on us all.

Not to labour the point, but here are a few facts which you, like us, might not have been aware of:

 

Cambodia may be the most heavily bombed country in history – more bombs were dropped between 1965 to 1973 than the Allies dropped during the whole of World War II – and it was a neutral country.

Nearly two  million people, a quarter of the population, died from mass killings under the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.

Unexploded munitions – thought to number in the millions – continue to kill and maim civilians, despite an ongoing de-mining drive.

One in four Cambodians cannot read.

Around 70% of Cambodia’s workforce is still employed in subsistence farming.

The spread of HIV/Aids is high; street children are commonplace.

Today Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and relies heavily on aid. Owing to the UK budget deficit government contributions have recently been stopped.