Tabitha, Water Lily and Monivrong

Mum and I always go and see Janne when we’re in Phnom Penh. Janne started TABITHA, an amazing NGO that supports millions of Cambodians to have their own homes, build businesses, have wells in their village, bicycles for kids to get to school - and LOTS more. Tabitha has set up a silk business where Cambodians learn to weave and sew, make beautiful products and then receive money from the sale. We always buy from Tabitha because the money is going directly to the Cambodians who produced the silks. I bought a new bedspread and cushion covers, AND a gorgeous bracelet that was made from a land mine shell, and was made by Cambodian amputees - land mine victims. 

Tabitha has branches in Singapore, Canada, US, Hong Kong, UK and Australia. The link is here: Tabitha Australia

So we saw Janne, but also Sinet who works with her. Sinet has known me since Mum first took me to Tabitha on the day I had to have my medical when I was 8 months old. Srey Neak was also there. This is part of why I feel so “at home” in Cambodia, I meet people who have known me all my life. 

Sinet & me when I was 8 months old

Sinet and me today - 11 & ½ years later

Srey Neak, me and Sinet at Tabitha

We then went to Waterlily, which is a creative jewellery shop using recycled materials. It is also a social enterprise because poorer Cambodians are employed and given vocational skills. It was started by a French lady, Christine Gauthier who moved to Cambodia in 1996. 

She told us “her passion for jewellery developed through her creative need to interpret the nature she was surrounded by. The stunning landscapes of Cambodia gave her inspiration with the spectacular green of rice fields, calming reds of the Cambodian sunset, the rustic browns of the dry season and the water lily. Here's a ring I really like:

Then we visited Sister Lumina and the kids at Monivrong - the Missionaries of Charity in Phnom Penh. This isn’t Cham Chao but actually IN the city.  Sister Lumina is fantastic, she also has known me since I was a baby. She told me today that when she finished school she thought she might be an airline hostess, or an actress, or a nurse, but after 3 years of working out what she wanted to do with her life, she joined the Missionaries of Charity order. She was born in Madras in India and has worked in Taiwan, HongKong, Canberra and Cambodia, (I can’t remember the other countries she mentioned). Her good friend is now working at the Missionaries of Charity in Surry Hills, and I saw her when I went there with Mum in the last holidays. 

Samnang, the cheeky 6 year old, was all over me. He’s the boy I helped go to school last year. He’s a cheeky monkey and he’s going to move to another orphanage soon where there is a school close. The one at Monivrong is very small, just one room, and Samnang isn’t getting stimulation. I’m going to Monivrong every day this week. 

I'm hanging out with Courtenay this afternoon .. getting a tuk tuk to her place. It's sooooo good having her in Phnom Penh.