Holiday Donation! December 2010
It has been a very successful week for Cambodian Threads! We were able to connect with the Heng family out in Prek Bongkong village, Cambodia. The autumn weather made for a dry and warm afternoon as we motor biked out to the ferry. World globes, meter rulers, notebooks and pens were strapped onto the Honda dream as we bumped up and down the dusty road. We have been wanting to progress from our initial donations to those that have more long term higher educational implications, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Having a world globe changes perspective about Earth and we were excited to bring the globes out to the Khmer students.
The Heng family was waiting to greet us with fresh fruit and smiles. Naysim and Naycheng, the elder sisters, spoke about new developments in their lives while Mama and Money prepared a grilled chicken lunch. We talked about future goals, a main one, as always, being that of better education for the community.
Cambodian Threads Scholarship Search!
We have meditated about how to truly help the Prek Bongkong community for a long time. We believe that we can implement a formula for significant educational progress. First, we will find two intelligent and motivated students from the village high school. These students will be given a scholarship to study at a university in Phnom Penh (probably Pannasastra University of Cambodia because of previous working ties and because it is a premier university). One student will study English and the other information technology. While they are studying, they also have an obligation to come back to the village to teach the younger students the skills they are learning. We will find an educational facility which can host village students. By that time, we hope to provide better technology to the students, such as computers. The long term goal is that after the scholarship students graduate, they will continue to teach and help the community. This is Cambodian Threads progression. The Hengs were very happy to hear about this strategy and are currently working with the school administration to seek desired candidates to start studying next year.
After lunch we sorted through the new beautiful hand-made silk scarves that they had been working on since August. The quality is always impressive. The skill required to make each scarf is amazing. We collected the fresh batch and packaged them up. Look out for these pieces of silk art!
Cambodian Threads then went on to explain a new construction style that we are hoping to feature this spring/ summer: square scarves. Naycheng was scribbling down the instructions while we explained the new construction. She said they can manage the new design and she was happy to try. We are excited to see how they turn out!
Another big success Cambodian Threads had last week is that we were able to connect with our Spanish videographer who helped shoot a documentary earlier this year. We had some technological woes when our mini-tape got magnetically washed while being shipped back stateside, but now we have the footage digitalized and will get a reel out soon!
Cambodian Threads wishes the very best to everyone during the holiday season! Come check out our beautiful silk scarves at www.cambodianthreads.com . They are truly the perfect gift for the holiday season! We greatly appreciate your support!
