Sustainable Cambodia Australia

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Sustainable Cambodia Australia is a Rotary District 9470 initiative seeking to meet the challenge set by Rotary International to lessen third world problems arising from abject poverty. Disease, sickness, malnutrition and death arise from the lack of clean water affecting the world’s poorest people. Cambodia is one of our Asian neighbours and by far the poorest, still suffering the trauma brought about by the slaughter of more than 25% of the nation’s educated people and the destruction of rural village family life by Pol Pot and the misguided ambitions of the Khmer Rouge.

Several Rotary District 9470 Rotarians visited Cambodia in July 2008 and decided that we should act to help these poor people. Not wishing to reinvent the Rotary wheel, we soon discovered Sustainable Cambodia, a Rotary-sponsored self-help organization operating from Gainesville in Florida USA. We made contact and offered to collaborate, and Sustainable Cambodia Australia is the result. We are now teamed with a marvellous group of dedicated people whose aim is the welfare of the gentle and kind and desperately poor rural Cambodians, and their children in the poorest region of Cambodia, in Pursat Province.

We currently empower rural villagers to create self-sustaining communities with clean water, nutritious food and local opportunities for self reliance. We provide both educational and economic opportunities for rural parents and children to improve their quality of life, and make it sustainable. We are fortunate our partner has exactly the same philosophy, aims and objectives, as we have here in Australia. Ours is a commitment to empower people rather than do the job for them - a self–help project. It is the Cambodians who must shoulder the work task. We will help them to achieve that.

The pass-on animal programme is a good example. It is designed to self propagate, spreading from village to village. The long term goal of Sustainable Cambodia Australia, together with our partner in this endeavour, is to empower communities to spread this unique model throughout Cambodia and to ultimately help all rural Cambodians to transform their quality of life.

Sustainable Cambodia employs Cambodians in situ locally, to supervise and direct projects. Other than these locally-employed Cambodians, all other staff of Sustainable Cambodia are volunteers. Funds are under tight control, making sure every penny is allocated, spent and accounted for, according to a pre-determined plan and within the Cambodian communities. We need your help. Without it we can do nothing, but with it we can do some amazing things.

You can help by making a donation to assist with providing a clean water well for a village, donate an animal to start a pass-on program, or a number of other seed donations. Cheque donations are accepted made out to: “Rotary Australia World Community Service Project 39/2008-9 for Pursat Cambodia”. If seeking tax deductibility for your donation please give us the name and address to send your receipt. Please post your donation to:

Sustainable Cambodia (Australia)
RAWCS Project 39
Rotary Western Australia
P.O.Box 3200
Shelley WA 6148 Australia

Sustainable Cambodia Australia can be contacted by telephoning our secretary PDG Allan Lewins +61 (08) 9354 1910 or emailing our chairman, Geoff Richards at geoff@richgro.com.au