My name is Stephen Hodgkiss, a UK born citizen now living in Cambodia. I recently visited an orphanage and after seeing first-hand the conditions, I decided to support them as best I can. In particular, I set up a website for them, as a previous company had made promises and delivered nothing after 6 months of waiting.

Visit their website here

Some areas are in more need than others. So the first project was decided and that was a good food program with a hygienic kitchen area and new equipment for preparing and cooking food for the 55 children now living there.

What will your funds be used for?

1. Install 4 extractor fans
2. Move cooking gas bottle and piping from the dirty outside area to the new kitchen inside space.
3. Install work tops and cooking preparation areas, with food and equipment storage space.
4. Purchase new tables and chairs.
5. Purchase and install refrigeration units. 
6. Purchase cooking pots, pans and utensils (existing ones dirty and 10 years old).
7. Any excess funds will be used to provide nutritious food for the children for a whole month.

Cambodia Social Welfare (CSW) was started in 2004.

The vision was to improve children’s welfare and was founded by a small group of 3 Cambodians, headed by an Army General. Helping these underprivileged children was to be achieved through Housing and Education to empower both their lives and their futures.

After 10 years of sincere effort, by special permission, a good size land of approx 6000 sq metres, was acquired by CSW at the same time of the NGO registration in May 2014.

Thereafter, through gradual fundraising from some large hearted donors, the first structure was built to house the children with proper accommodation, kitchen and other facilities etc.

Over a period of 14 years, over 500 children have been taken care of, educated and looked after, till they have completed school, and are ready to take up independent jobs elsewhere in the marketplace.

Currently there are 55 children to look after and Fund Raising is surely a challenge to take care of the housing, food and education responsibilities. Hence this serious effort to create a positive, proactive and interactive website … primarily to show case our sincere efforts to empower our deserving needy children…and build a strong fund raising Platform…even through a monthly collection program of 1$ to 5$ per month … from good donors, and some large donors, who will come occasionally.

Child Labour & Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry affecting every nation in the world today. Across the globe, traffickers supply human beings for use in forced labour activities such as domestic service, work in brick kilns, sweatshops, cocoa plantations, or mines. Some are trafficked into the commercial sex industry.

Cambodia is a sending, receiving and transit country for trafficking, most often for the purpose of commercial sex, begging, domestic work, fishing, construction and adoption.

Victims of sex trafficking are sometimes tricked into believing that they are being recruited to work as domestic staff or waitresses. However, one of the main reasons why victims endure appalling work environments is the cultural obligation of children to financially support their parents and siblings. Families are often in dire straits because of poverty, illness, debt and financial difficulties – sadly, often the result of social problems such as parental alcoholism, gambling, and even materialism.

Girls are also at risk of being sold if they are raped or lose their virginity with little hope of finding a supportive husband. Parents may then see the girl’s only value is to provide them with income through sex work.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmond Burke (18th century anti-slavery campaigner)

Cambodia has the highest rates of child labour in all of East and Southeast Asia.

89% of youth who have dropped out of school are working without adequate social protection. Most begin employment in low-skill, unpaid family work, moving to equally low-skill and low-paying self-employment in the informal sector as they get older.

Children, primarily girls between 7 and 17, work as housemaids and are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.

Contributing factors: Poverty, inadequate access to quality education and training, insufficient employment opportunities, especially for youth.

21,266 child domestic workers were found in Phnom Penh and 3 other provinces in 2007.

CSW Response

CSW upholds the value and dignity of a child’s life. We believe they are a precious gift from God, to be nurtured and protected, not abused and exploited.

Poverty

CSW works to release children and their families from the downward spiral of poverty. Our work gives hope to the hopeless and creates the possibility of brighter, better futures for whole families. We seek to provide hand-ups, not hand-outs, teaching, encouraging and equipping CSW children and families to turn their own lives around.

Poverty Facts

The genocidal Pol Pot regime of the 1970s, preceded by decades of civil war and unrest, has made Cambodia one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 153 out of 194 countries with a GDP per capita of $2,300. In comparison, Australia is ranked 13 with a GDP of $40,800 per capita.

Cambodia is among the 36 countries with the highest burden of child under-nutrition and one of the 33 “alarming” countries for levels of hunger and malnutrition.

Despite recent socio-economic progress, 31% of Cambodians still live under the national poverty line and more than half of these Cambodians are food insecure. Many children of the poor go to bed hungry at night.

There are no government welfare benefits to alleviate the suffering and distress of these families.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute … Defend the rights of the poor …” Proverbs 31:9

Lack of Educational Opportunity

For poor families in Cambodia there are two major costs involved in educating their children:-

1. The cost of education itself

Public education is never “free” but in Cambodia there are extras like exam fees; fees to teachers and even a fee to park your bicycle at school! These “fees” are on top of the usual costs for uniforms, stationery etc. and they exist because education is only partially funded by the government. Parents are required to fill the gap. This makes the system largely inaccessible to poor families.

2. Loss of income

Families with little or no income are forced to prioritise survival over education. Consequently, children end up on the streets working (even at a young age) instead of being in school. Even if a child is fortunate enough to receive some education, it’s likely to be short lived. Older children are forced into the workforce from an early age, in order to support their families. This fact is reflected in Cambodian secondary school retention rates.

CSW Response

CSW addresses the lack of educational opportunity by sponsoring the children’s education, whilst at the same time working with the parents to increase the family’s earning capacity. This means the children are not obliged to work and the parents can, increasingly over time, cover their child’s education costs themselves and enable them to complete secondary school.