Hand in Hand Cambodia Nieuws

usd 40,000 for “Hand in Hand” from Mr. C. Liekens /Belgium.

2010-05-31T12:15:00Z

We honnor Mr. Carl Liekens in full. He is definitely our largest donor in our Hand in Hand project. For the third year in a row Mr. Liekens is willing to share with us a budget of usd 40,000 which will be used to support different activities in our 5 year sustainable development plan.

Another $ 40,000 for Hand in Hand

2010-05-30T12:19:01Z

We greatly appreciate the continuing support Mr. C.L., a private donor in Belgium who is once again supporting our Hand in Hand project.
His support in 2009 has allowed us to continue our work with a focus on the agricultural development towards food security in Chamcar Bei.

Running and Cycling Enthusiasts take on Third Annual Kep Trio

2010-05-30T12:17:01Z

For the third exciting year in a row, the sleepy town of Kep on the south coast of Cambodia found its streets buzzing with activity during the weekend of March 6 & 7th as people from over ten countries arrived to join the Third Annual Kep Trio. The event, which is organized by BABC and the Singapore based Trio team, hosted over 100 sporting enthusiasts and supporters who braved the intense sun and heat to take part in the 10k fun bike ride, 10k run and half marathon fundraising event.

Registration open for the 3rd Annual Kep Trio

2010-01-25T08:06:00Z

What: Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride

When: March 6th & 7th, 2010

Where: Phnom Voar area of Kep, Cambodia

BABSEA is once again excited to announce that we will be hosting the 3rd Annual Kep Trio fundraising and sporting event in the Phnom Voar area of Kep, Cambodia over the weekend of March 6th & 7th, 2010. The event – a Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride – was designed specifically to support the 5-year integrated community development project called Hand in Hand Cambodia.

USD 40,000 donation for Hand in Hand.

2009-08-17T05:58:02Z

Our biggest corporate donor HUBO promised to donate once more another
USD 40,000 to support our 2010 program.

We would like to thank Carl Liekens and the whole HUBO management for this
huge donation.

Another birthday party: USD1,650 for “Hand in Hand”

2009-06-15T11:37:00Z

Dear friends, Jef Moons, the founder of our “Hand in Hand” project organized a private party for his 47th birthday.
All his friends in Cambodia had a smashing time on the beach and donated in total USD 1,650.
This money will go directly and 100% to the project.

Members of the Royal Palace of Cambodia are supporting officially our “Hand in Hand” Project.

2009-06-15T11:02:03Z

Dear Friends, we are delighted that 2 members of the Royal Palace of Cambodia visited our “Hand in Hand” program last month. His Royal highness Prince Thomico Sisowath , advisor to his Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni and Her Royal Highness Princess Sylvia Sisowath, Secretary of State of the Royal Palace were very pleasantly surprised about all the good results we obtained in our 5 year community development program.

Both are delighted to mention that they officially support our “Hand In Hand” program and they confirm they will do the utmost to help our 2500 villagers.

2008 Annual Project Report and 2009 Annual Plan online

2009-03-03T23:25:00Z

As we move into our third year of implementation, the Hand in Hand project is on track to achieve its aims of improving the education, health and livelihoods of village families, while establishing sustainable, community-based structures to carry on the development activities after the project phases out.

A full annual report on the project’s accomplishments in 2008 and our plan of operation 2009 can be found in our reports section.

Sarah Dobbe committed as new project manager

2009-02-26T23:21:00Z

We had some difficulties with staffing in 2008, particularly at the management level, and this was indeed a hindrance to the project. Nevertheless, most of the planned outputs were still achieved, and more importantly, the staffing issues have now been resolved and the project team is fully in place.

We are pleased to have recruited a qualified and committed new project manager, Sarah Dobbe, a Dutch expatriate with ample experience who has graciously agreed to work within our local salary scale. She has “hit the ground running” and we are confident that the project will advance rapidly in 2009 under her leadership, which is a crucial year to lay the groundwork for our planned scale-back in 2010-2011, as the CBOs are empowered to take over management of many of the project activities.

Second Annual Kep Trio – Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride

2009-02-08T20:05:00Z

We’re excited to announce that the Second Annual Kep Trio – Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride will be held over the weekend of Saturday February 28th and Sunday March 1st. The Kep Trio is a unique fundraising event, created by running enthusiast and former BABSEA volunteer Nikki Wise, designed specifically to support the 5-year integrated community development project called Hand in Hand Cambodia. Held in January 2008, the First Annual Kep Trip Event was an amazing success with over 80 participants generating $54,000 in cash donations and delivering 50 new locally sourced bicycles to the community.

3th Quarterly Project Report (2008) online

2008-10-31T14:32:01Z

Bridges Across Borders Country Director David Pred submitted the third quarterly project evaluation report to Friends of the Rainbow Schools on October 14, 2008.
During the period of July to September 2008, the project again has been progressing well towards achieving its goal and objectives.

The complete report is available for reading in our Reports section.

2007 Annual Project Report and 2008 Annual Plan online

2008-05-12T21:05:00Z

Bridges Across Borders began implementing the Hand in Hand project in February 2007. During the past year, we have made numerous advancements toward our objectives. The major achievements of 2007 as well as our plans for 2008 can be found in the 2007 Annual Project Report and 2008 Annual Plan or in the sections about our primary objectives.

The four primary objectives of the Hand in Hand project, which were determined by community participants during the planning workshops, are:

Livelihoods improved: Create opportunities for village families to improve their living conditions through the establishment of cooperative and family micro-enterprises, community food security and natural resource conservation initiatives.
Education situation improved: Increase school attendance, particularly for girls; improve the quality of public school services; and establish a Community Learning Center and Demonstration Farm to provide adult vocational, agricultural and literacy training, and supplementary “after school” youth education.
Health situation improved: Provide required resources to the local public health centers and support community-managed primary and preventative health interventions that will bring about a general improvement in the health of village residents.
Sustainability ensured: Establish a strong, democratic community-based organization (CBO) with the capacity to plan, implement and monitor the development activities that are supported by the project. The CBO should continue to operate long after the project phases out, and it will serve as a community organizing model for neighboring communities.

3-H grant for Chamcar Bei

2008-04-25T10:25:00Z

After a successful Matching Grant we now submitted a 3-H project, hand in hand with Rotary.

Our Rotary 3-H project proposal has been registered. Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) grants are awarded to fund large long-term international self-help and grassroots development projects that use an integrative approach to address humanitarian needs. Friends of the Rainbow Schools and our operational partner Bridges Across Borders now submitted a larger proposal to help the people in Chamcar Bei and the surrounding villages. Our request has been assigned the file number, 3H Grant Proposal #67026.

The province of West Flanders, Belgium donates a school building for Chamcar Bei.

2008-03-16T12:04:00Z

The province of West Flanders, Belgium is giving us a subsidy of 12.500 Euro to build a school for Chamcar Bei. This money was raised thanks to the effort of Roos Delobel and Banteay Mean Chey vzw. We hope to built the school this year.

Wereld-Missiehulp recognizes and support “Hand in Hand”.

2008-03-16T07:59:01Z

On March14 the direction committee of Wereld-Missiehulp (WMH) decided to recognize and support our project. For all goods and materials that we ship to Cambodia, WMH will contribute up to 250 euro’s for each shipment.

Half Marathon for Chamkar Bei (January 26/27, 2008)

2008-02-13T04:26:00Z

Nikki Wise of Singapore and our operational partners B.A.B. organized our first Hand in Hand “half Marathon” & “Fun Bike Ride” in Kep, We raised $50,000 for our integrated community project

There were more than 80 participants from 10 different countries who took part in the Half marathon, the 10K run and Fun Bike Ride. The money they help raised will go directly toward sustainable initiatives in health, education and livelihoods in Chamcar Bei village of Kep.

We never expected it to be such a huge success. This event was supported by the Governor of Kep (Kampot Province) and he wants us to organize a full marathon next year.

Sponsoring of costs by Axel Vervoordt. (Benefit evening 13 September 2007)

2007-10-15T15:50:00Z

Friends of the Rainbow School is thankful to the family Axel Vervoordt for sponsoring the food and beverages costs during our benefit evening of 13 September last. This sponsorship totals 3.560 €. This way tot total benefit can go directly to our project in Chamcar bei / Cambodia.

A special note from her Excellency Mrs. Sun Saphoeun, Cambodian Ambassador in Belgium

2007-09-27T22:09:00Z

7.500 € on annual basis for Chamcar Bei (5 year long)

2007-09-27T11:30:00Z

7500 Euro on annual bases for Chamcar Bei (for a period of 5 years)

We have the pleasure of announcing the support of a prominent Belgian family (who requested to remain anonymous) to the project “Hand in Hand for Cambodia”. The family council has decided to donate 7.500 € each year for 5 years, provided this project expands and grows efficiently and correctly.
As chairman of Friends of the Rainbow Schools I would like to thank the family for the confidence and contribution to our project, and would like to take this opportunity to confirm our dedication and conviction to handle all aspects of this project in an efficient, sound and honorable manner.

Promo film for Hand in Hand

2007-09-22T12:21:01Z

How to make a promotional film for our Project Hand in Hand? Check our latest movie on the website.

Anton Van den Houte (Sony Pictures) has introduced us to Wim Tellier and Thomas Anthoni. Both are students at the Media School of Brussels and were happy to help us in making this short film.

Over a few glasses of beer we discussed and talked about it, exchanged ideas and brainstormed. We ended up with formats and felt ready for this challenge.

At that point we did not take into account that the local community is not made of actors but are in fact people in need, so the formats did not prove useful. Nonetheless we were able to capture the people as they go through every day life, facing their struggles and specific problems. The result was a video which really shows what can be done to help this community, so we accomplished our goal in the end.
Thank you Thomas & Wim and your entire team (I think the music on the video is perfect !)

A small inheritance for Cambodia? Some people are considering it ….

2007-09-22T12:16:01Z

A small inheritance for Cambodia? Some people are considering it …

This is what someone from Brussels told us:

“We should carefully think about what will happen to our inheritance, the government is around the corner waiting to collect huge taxes till nothing is left.”

Throughout life people share emotions and relationships, and these bands make our lives truly rich and precious. Why not expand this beyond the close family ties and share this wealth with people in need. A life here or in Cambodia is just as valuable.

A nice philosophy on life from a lady who wishes to share, not only with her close relatives and family but also with our people in Chamcar Bei.

(For all donations above 30 € we can provide a fiscal statement)

Dentist offices for Cambodia

2007-09-22T12:15:00Z

Dentist offices for Cambodia

Mr Patrick Helderweirt, dentist and member of the Arendonk Rotary Club, had donated two fully equipped dentists’ offices. We will send these, both in a very good state and with a value of approx. 15.000 €, directly to His Excellency Mr. Hong Sunhout, Second Vice President of the National Assembly in Cambodia. He plans to have these units mounted on trucks so he can serve many villages in providing dental care. Chamcar Bei will benefit form these donations.

2nd Quarterly Project Report online

2007-07-14T08:28:00Z

Bridges Across Borders Country Director David Pred submitted the second quarterly project evaluation report to Friends of the Rainbow Schools on July 11, 2007.

During the period of April to June 2007, the project has been progressing well towards achieving its goal and objectives.

Community Task Force formed

2007-04-26T20:18:01Z

The Community Task Force was formed in mid-March. It consists of 13 individuals, including six women, and is led by a female Community Task Force Coordinator who was elected by the other members. The Task Force is made up of five sub-committees – agriculture, education, health, self-help groups and secretariat. The thirteen Task Force members will serve during the first year as the community counterparts working with the project staff on the implementation of all project activities in their respective fields. The Community Task Force can be seen as the first stage of CBO establishment. In Year Two, the Task Force committees will merge together and the most committed and qualified members will be invited to form the CBO. The CBO will then work as a partner with the project and in Year Three, it will take the lead in implementing the project.

Community Learning Center (CLC) Reopened

2007-04-26T19:21:00Z

It was a tedious process to obtain the necessary permission to use the existing CLC building for the project. The CLC in Phnom Voar was first established by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1998. In 2003 UNESCO handed the CLC over to the community management committee resulting in recent confusion over who actually oversaw the Center. In early February, after consulting with various government departments and local authorities, the former CLC management committee under UNESCO signed a hand-over agreement for BAB to use the Center and all the equipment and tools left behind by UNESCO for the community development project in Chamcar Bei. This agreement was witnessed by the local authorities.