MAY, TWENTY TWENTY ONE
Dear friends and family,
The month of May is here already hard to believe how fast time is going. I have been here in New Zealand over a year! It’s almost bittersweet as I sit here in this beautiful home in Wellington with family while my heart is breaking for the people of Cambodia.
I thought it would be good to do a little summary of the Aroha Project at this time.
WHAT we do -
Leadership Home
A home where we safely support and help Cambodian young people grow into the future leaders and professionals that the nation of Cambodia so desperately needs to transform.
Scholarships | Education
Giving young adults from the poorer urban and rural communities financial assistance to study at University and a safe place to live in Phnom Penh. Full or Half scholarships available.
Community Needs
Identifying urgent needs within the Phnom Penh community and surrounding provinces offering guidance, practical support and funds to meet those needs.
and the WHY -
To break the cycle of poverty, abuse, illiteracy and neglect. Everyone matters. Everyone is equal…some just don’t have the same opportunities – we aim to help rebuild the children in Cambodia providing a safe place to live, study, grow and mature with the provision of educational scholarships, and a safe and supportive place to call home.
We work within the local communities identifying needs and where possible meet the immediate needs through the local church and the guidance of other NGO’s.
The first quarter of this year the Community arm of the project has been in necessary focus with the need for bicycles, text books, emergency surgery and now the urgent need of financial support to provide food parcels. I know I have asked for a lot of help over the last few months but I also hope you never feel any pressure from me - just my hopeful ask!
I feel blessed I can always share with you what’s on my heart for Cambodia.
Here is a brief summary of the difference we have made together …
All high school students in Jesus School (13 of them) have new bicycles and helmets.
45 text book parcels were provided to the primary aged Jesus School students.
Sarun (gentleman in Phnom Penh that required emergency surgery after a horrific accident) has recovered well- we were able to pay for two surgeries and his hospital care ensuring his leg did not require amputation. Amazing! The surgeon I had a zoom call with said he would have most certainly died without our assistance.
We have been working with the local church and have so far fed nearly 200 families with food packs made up of rice, noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce and tinned fish.
The boys in the Leadership Home are doing well despite the lockdown and have learnt a lot of new cooking skills! I feel so grateful they have a safe place to live, study and thrive during this crisis.
And the ongoing needs include...
The Leadership Home
The most pressing need right now is to maintain the funds for the Aroha Leadership Home - including the rent and electricity for both the home and the shop. The monthly costs have increased as the students are all home in lockdown and they have no means of income even to buy their own food. The shop has been forced closed yet again so it's all expenses and no income at the moment.
Scholarships
The students are studying online to the best of their capacity. They are doing well. Without the scholarships they would have little to no ability to live well, study or even eat. Thank you to everyone who has helped me with this initiative. Cambodia’s future is in the hands of these young adults becoming educated. I still have the pressing need for more scholarships if anyone could help?
Community
Covid is escalating quite dramatically in Cambodia with the death toll rising every day and lockdowns and curfews enforced right throughout Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces. There seems to be no respite in sight. As of today there are over 14,000 cases from the last 3 months and multiple deaths recorded every day. The city has been divided into Zones with “Red Zone” having no accessibility for anyone to go in or out and it has become a crisis with no food supplies or clean water in this Zone.
It’s so heart breaking as I’m seeing the families I love and care for who were already on the border of poverty start to lose all hope they had. They are desperate and many are literally starving (words direct from the Pastor there who has asked for our help). The markets are closed which has cut off their food supplies and they have lost their incomes overnight. There is no financial backup for them. No help from the government. Many of their little businesses have been closed and avenues of income almost dried up. The families I help in the community are now struggling to find money for food and are at risk of losing their homes too. They are so vulnerable, anxious about their health and becoming desperate. The government have some food parcels going into the Red Zones but many families are missing out.
We are partnering with the local churches there giving emergency packs out made up mostly of a 50kg sack of rice, 2 boxes of noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce and tinned fish for each family.
One package is approximately USD$50 // NZD$72 // AUD$66
Any finances you can help with for the food parcels will go directly to the Local Church Pastor who has the capacity to purchase the food in bulk and permission to distribute the food parcels in the ‘Red Zone’ once a week.
You can give directly at www.arohaproject.com support page or through the usual bank details.
Can you support a family for a month or two?
As part of the fundraising, we have a Mother’s Day raffle. Sponsored by many of our friends and local businesses in Auckland and Wellington. Tickets are $20 each or 3 for $50 x 3 packages worth over $300 each!
Be quick as its drawn-on Saturday…100% of money raised from this will go to the food parcels. Pop the money through with your name and mark ‘raffle’ in the reference.
Forever thankful for any help you or you can offer. If you have a preference to support one of the 3 areas specifically then note that as your reference and I will make sure it goes to the area you have chosen otherwise we will be use the donations for the most pressing need within the project.
Take care everyone and a special thank you for sponsorship of our Mother’s Day raffle to all business' listed below:
FINANCIAL INFO.
As always, please see below for giving options.
NZ ANZ Direct Deposit: WILSON 06 0383 0164749 04
Australia ANZ Direct Deposit: WILSON 016141 299685840
Our Aroha Project website has been updated to include a giving function - see the SUPPORT site page for for more information!
To claim donation tax credit in NZ:
Direct Deposit: Edge | 03 0155 0451009-000 (please note the change in suffix) and reference 'arohaproject'
Pushpay: Text 'edge' to 818 and reference 'arohaproject'