Don't be surprised to see these picture! If you travel in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for just an hour during busy -business hour or at night, something irritating like this might disturb your peace of mind. Even amid a pouring rain, it can also be seen. Street children, disabled people, the homeless, and beggars are walking toward you while you stop by any traffic light to beg for money and food. Other than begging on the street, the poor and vulnerable are far from reach to access education, social security, health, social inclusion and other basic needs.
Every time I see something like this, I question the meaning of life. Why are people born to suffer and why the rich are richer while the poor are starving every part of the world? Why don’t we just share little helping-hands to make a better world? Why don't we do something useful and meaningful? Anyone out there shares this feeling? I know many people do, but they do not believe in sharing to make a better world. Soon I will show you how.
People buy more when they earn more, but it less likely that they will share more of what they do not longer need to those in need. We tend to shop almost every occasion. The more we shop, the more we keep our old stuff aside and unused. Out of what we do not need, why don't we just let those unnecessary stuff go to benefit others? I am sure that some people want to share, but they do not know how and where to donate. If you want to see a place where love can be shared by just donating your unwanted stuff, please support us. And you will make this world a better place for those poor people.
Promoting "Reuse", "Recycle", "Revalue" and "Regift" from what we do not longer need can be done by us, by creating charity shops. The charity shop will sell donation to help children with disability and those in need. We a team of volunteer people have initiated a project, namely Loving hand--in Khmer language known as "Dai Srolanh"-- few month earlier with nothing but a handful of loving hearts. A few volunteers drafted the concepts and shared to the public through social media and word-of-mouth. In return, we have constantly received donation in many kinds. However, we have not received some capital to open a charity shop.
Loving Hands Charity Shop project is part of Hands of Hope Community (HHC). HHC is a local not-for-profit organization run by a man with physical disability providing special education program to children with Autism and intellectual disability. With very limited resource, this NGO operates a daycare center sharing some space within a state school. Around 100 children with ID and Autism (some are with physical disability) are studying in this daycare center receiving free food, special education, and having been integrated with other children in the state school. Some other 100 children are receiving some support through this NGO's various community-based programs.
Hoping that Loving Hands project will be able to kick off its real operation and soon generate profit, the to-be-generated profit will go directly to support HHC. HHC does not have enough operation fund to support this charity shop; therefore, we get back on this crowdsourcing platform with the hope to get some seed funding. As described earlier, this charity shop will provide many social and environmental benefits more than just to support the operation of the HHC alone.
Currently we have teamed up with a number of youth volunteers from various background who eager to engage in social activities and who have strong will to contribute to society. The team compose of the following volunteers:
- Project adviser
- Fund receiver
- HHC executive director
- Core project implementers
- Several youth volunteers as team members and core supporters
To get to know more about us, please visit and follow us at:
- Our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/daisrolanh/.
- The project blog at https://lovinghandscharity.wordpress.com/
- The HHC website: http://www.hhccambodia.org/
- or YouTube video :
We wholeheartedly thank you for your donation here.