Munns Care for Cambodia

Watch here to see a story Today Tonight did on Paul Munn Cares for Cambodia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGZvpl7ExW0

Back in July 2013 Paul and I came to know the staff and students of Brighton Secondary School. Our connection with them came about by the interest that the Assistant Principal David Thomson had for the work we had done in Cambodia. David invited Paul and me to share about what we had done to a group of interested Teachers at the school where we were asked if we had a project that the school could get involved in. After discussions with the Leaders of five communities in Ou Dong, Paul and I came back to Brighton Secondary with the idea of building a Kindergarten. The Principal, Olivia O'neill, listened and gave the ok for the school to get involved.

Brighton Secondary School and Warradale Primary School are in a local schools agreement within the Asia Education Foundation who assist in projects like these. Along with the support of the foundation, the students have fundraised the money needed to employ local Cambodian builders who will do the foundational work in building the Kindergarten. In November two teams of year ll and 12 students along with their teachers will go and assist in the build, staying in the nearby New Life Village during their stay.

On the 20^th November Paul and I will fly out a week before the teams to make sure the materials, tools, bricks etc will be on site.It will be wonderful to see the first 4 and 5 year old students of the kindergarten alongside the Brighton Secondary Students. We are planning a photo shoot out the front of the completed Kindy

Building a Kindergarten for the children of Oudong, Cambodia

It’s been almost a year since we committed to building a kindergarten in Cambodia. There is much need in countries like Cambodia for good education and far too often it’s a sector that is neglected. It doesn't take a lot to see the flow on effects of quality education from an early age. It’s an issue right at the heart of breaking the cycle of poverty.

At the beginning of any project of this size there are many things to consider which required us to be in Cambodia to get the ball rolling. On the initial visit, Paul was not able to travel, so I travelled alone to work out the early details.

First up I had a meeting with our trusty partners Habitat for Humanity Cambodia with the new CEO Don Boring and Kar. Initially we intended to build the kindy on some Agricultural land next to the New Life village (one of our earlier projects). As it turns out, that land could not be used due to its costly lease terms which meant an alternative had to be found at short notice.

It wasn't long though before we were back on track which I have to say was a real answer to prayer. Pastor Simon of the New Life Village offered the use of a piece of land on his church land for the Kindergarten. This is situated opposite the Holistic Community (1km from the NLV). The next job was to find an engineer to draw up the plans.

A gentleman by the name of Mr Pov agreed to do this for us after hours in his own time which took him three weeks. We settled on an overall size of 24m long by 10m deep. The main building will be divided in to 4 classrooms with a 2 metre wide veranda around the outside for the children to place their shoes and bags.

While we were waiting for the plans to be done, we moved on to the many other things that needed our attention such as water supply, fencing, gates and the list on.  Within no time a well was sunk on the land complete with a push bike pump to get the water up, the land was fenced with galvanized fencing and gates were sourced for the entrance. Due to the cost of having new gates made, we decided on using second had ones. In Phnom Penh and found ones we liked for $300 consisting of double gates for vehicle  access  then a single gate for people to get through. The cost of getting them delivered to Ou Dong was $25US. With some solid elbow grease, cobalt blue paint , sandpaper, thinners and scrapers  we got to work restoring them and within a couple of days had  them looking brand  new. I must say I had my share of blue paint on me. lol

I ended up sleeping at the NLV for a couple of nights make sure the gates got 2 coats . Thank you to Simon, Chandy Vibol and the students from Simons senior English Class for all their hard work.

Next on the agenda was a meeting with Chandy who is the leader of the New Life Village and Mr Pov the engineer. Simon translated for me. This was to organize the digging and laying of the Kindy foundations. Chandy said that he and 14 others would do the work. He is a skilled builder and he was able to organise some semi skilled and unskilled labor to help. Wages range from $10US for skilled , $7US for semi, and $5Us per day unskilled. We agreed to get the work done in 27days with Mr Pov on-site for  3 days a week to oversee. Each man was given a work contract  which they signed using their thumb print. We paid for the Materials and Mr Pov salary and set the builders to receive a weekly wage.

The day that I left to fly home was the day that Chandy’s team started work.

The 7 Stars are coming to Adelaide and we thought we’d post some of their performance times here for you to see.  Anyone is welcome to come along and experience some Cambodian culture, music and dance. We’d love to see you there!

6/10/13    10.00am

Trinity Baptist Church.

8a Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens

13/10/13  10.00am

Brighton Church of Christ

66 Sturt St, Brighton

13/10/13 1.30pm

Paralowie Uniting Church

Liberator Dr, Paralowie

13/10/13 6.00pm

Lighthouse Community Church

26 Jetty Rd, Brighton

18/10/13 6.00pm

Seaton Baptist Church

182 Trimmer Prd, Seaton

25/10/13 7.00pm

Hampstead Gardens Church of Christ

28 Gambia Ave, Hampstead Gardens

Stefan Palm
Manager

Paul Munns Instant Lawn
356 Brighton Rd, HOVE. SA 5048 
Ph - (08) 8298 0555
Fax - (08) 8296 2222

Way back a year ago, we hatched a plan to bring a bunch of Cambodian teenagers over to Australia so that they could experience our culture and be further equipped to be difference makers in Cambodia. We found 7 young people who were gifted in music and made it possible for them to visit us. They were named the 7 Stars.

On the 1st October the 7stars will be staying at our home for a month. They will be performing at 22 places over that time and when they are not performing we hope to show them around Adelaide. Yes they will pat a koala & feed a kangaroo!

The team consists of five girls and two boys ages ranging from 18 to 20. A lady named Ayling is chaperoning them. She is the founder of a drop in centre she opened called the Morning Star Centre. This is a place where children who have suffered great injustices have been able to come and receive an education, learn music and have access to food and health care.

The good news is that the 7stars have pick up their visa's today and are ready to come to Australia!!  Not long to go now. The house is getting a spring cleaning and the garden is full of spring flowers.

Paul and I would like to thank all the venues that have invited the team to perform and also Stefan Palm our manager of our business for all the work he does behind the scenes.  Stefan we thank you for going the extra mile in all you do.

A full itinerary of their performances will be listed here in this blog shortly so you are welcome to come and see them, and hear them share their life stories.

This time we only headed over for 7 days to Cambodia to gather information and look at possible sites for a kindergarten at Ou-Dong(which is 40km north of phnom penh).

Paul and I where guests of pastor Simon and his wife Sophor to stay the night in their home at the new life village. Our driver Sam brought us up arriving at noon.

After a delicious meal that Sophor and Samnang prepared we handed out some clothes and toys to the children of the village. Paul and I have so much fun seeing the children so excited.

Paul went with the men in the village to go to the rice warehouse to buy 10 sacks of rice for the families and I took some photos and chatted with Samnang.

Later in the afternoon we went with Simon and Chandy, the chief of the new life village to visit some close by communities. Simon translated for us as we met the chiefs to see if they would be interested in their 4 to 6 yr. olds going to a kindergarten. I took a note book and wrote down the names of the villages, leaders names and contact details and a list of children that would go.

We counted 162 children in all so this kindergarten will have to be big enough to accommodate that many. The site we are hoping to have access to use is some land that was used to teach the village about agriculture. Now the 3yr project is finished the land is sitting idle. It is fenced with a gate and it already has a well. We are waiting for the all clear.

A Cambodian architect will be employed to draw up the design. God willing the kindergarten will go up in 2014.

Aileen and I have just sent funds to help a worthy project in the Trialeu village, takeo province, Cambodia. In October 2012 a pre school was opened and has 26 children attending with two very capable teachers giving a high standard in education. The funds we sent will help establish and run the new facility.

Once the first centre is running well, the principal Jean-Marie Jooste is planning to open similar ones in other villages.

We donated through HADA (Health And Development Abroad) for the preschool which offers tax deductability. HADA does not use any funds for administration.

Other projects we donated money to this month included Habitat for Humanity in Phnom Penh. Habitat are currently building homes for families affected by HIV in Cambodia.   We are hoping to get there for a build early July 2013.  It is wonderful to be a part of making a difference in some one’s life.

While on our January 2011 trip to Cambodia I was invited to open 2 new Churches. These churches had recently been constructed to cater for the growing numbers of Christians looking for a venue to meet together.

Pastor Kunthys church is nestled in a small community on Mekong Island. It acts as a hub not only for people to meet and worship together but also as to care for and meet the needs of the people of this village.  

Pastor Sittars Church (pictured) has been established deep in one of the slum areas of Phnom Penh where there is great need for basic necessities like food, clean water, sanitation and health care. Pastor Sittars church works hard to serve these people, providing all the help they are able to.

12 months ago we started building on a vision to make it possible for the people of the New Life Village and their neighbours in Udong to be self sufficient. This would require them to be able to grow all their own food and even have some left to sell at local markets.

The answer was to buy a parcel of land near the village and develop some agricultural infrastructure whereby they could raise animals and grow food crops. To cut a long story short, we purchased the land last year and engaged the services of ICC (International Childrens Care) to implement and oversee the project.  ICC will use their experience in this area to educate the locals in various aspects of agriculture, and manage the project on a long term basis. ICC will also build the infrastructure and provide the skilled labor required of a project of this type

The positive impact is wide spreading. Locals will be employed on the project and will be paid a good wage, they will be able to take home food for their families and there will be enough produce to sell at local markets to provide income for the project to keep it sustainable.

The good news is that earlier this month, construction work begun on the site which in turn has created many jobs. The project is on its way!  

Today we were invited to officially open a church.  To make the day one to remember, we provided enough Chicken and rice for the members of the church and the local village people.  The story of Jesus was shown on the TV and after questions about the story were asked by the people.  Then people were invited to say a prayer to accept Jesus.  Pastor Sithais translated my Testimony to them, a show of arms for the people who accepted.  The Church elders came and took their names and where they live to follow them up.  We mixed and chatted with the people at lunch time.

The photo here is of Ps. Sittars  newly constructed church

Today there was a meeting with Habitat for Humanity, International Children’s Care and us to discuss the upcoming agricultural project.  The land has been purchased, the villagers have been employed and the project is ready to commence.  Our 21 families at Ou Dong will be taught the skills necessary to farm animals and grow sustainable crops.   The Lord is giving his wonderful grace to these 21 families and the surrounding community resulting in them seeing a big improvement in their quality of life.

The Picture here is of the 21 house village we built. The land on the other side of the houses is where the agricultural project will be established

 After a stopover in Singapore, we arrived in Cambodia for the 10^th time.  Every time I come back to this tropical Asian country I notice improvement - Less rubbish in the city and less motorbikes and tuk tuks on the road.  Always  friendly faces though and plenty of locals saying “Okoon” which means “Thank you”.  Sam our Tuk Tuk driver was at the airport to pick us up and fill us in on the latest news.   It’s nice to see some of our friends there to greet us.  We made plans to catch up later and headed to our hotel.  I am interested in seeing the large slum community that is near the old stung-meachy dump.  Sam was saying they are very poor, so our plan is to visit there.  We checked into the Mittapheap Hotel and say hello to all our friends there Ly Hong, Phalla, Tola and Phiro.  Yes, there is a touch of jetlag however, when we awake we head to this indescribable area of 150 completely ran shackled homes.  Why do they live there?  They are the poorest of the poor.  There is no other place for them to go.  Homes made of rusting tin, rotting wood, rags at the windows, cardboard, no sanitation – our hearts melted.  Something has to be done.  Stefan and I believe that there are over 150 people living in this community.  After purchasing two Tuk Tuks full of food we find these people are ravenous.  The children have severe mal nutrition and the elders look as if they have gone through utter misery.

The photo here is taken at the slum village mentioned here in this blog

Recently we made our 10^th trip to Cambodia. Being only a 10 day trip, we had a packed schedule and a long list of things to get done. Our main aim was to organise an agricultural project near the new life village. This involved purchasing land, setting it up and organising the people to work it.  The agricultural project will sustain the people of the new life village and surrounding villages by giving them the skills and means to grow food for themselves and then have some left over to sell at local markets.  Self sustainability is the goal. Of course while we were there, we continued on with our feeding programs, local church support and humanitarian aid.

The photo here is taken from Udong Mountain and shows the New Life Village (the 2 rows of buildings in the middle). The land around the outside is where we will establish the agricultural project.

Over the next few blogs you can read Paul’s diary of the 10 day trip

On Saturday 5th February 2011 at 12noon to 3pm

at 143 States Road, Morphett Vale. Sausage Sizzle for Gold coin donation,

clothes, books, toys,jewellery and Cambodian items (ideal gifts)

All procceeds to help our latest project - housing 17 Familys in Phnom Penh.

With my husbands disability having Polio at 3 months of age, each visit to Cambodia Paul would take 2 specially made walking sticks. On our last trip this proved very beneficial for our dear friend Marady. He too, had Polio at 3 months and Paul gave him one of the walking sticks. Well this changed his ability to get around. It was quite funny to see these two rascals having their mock sword fights with the walking sticks and especially to see how Marady now walks with more confidence.

Put in a photo of Marady and Paul sword fighting with the walking sticks.

Our Next trip will be in January 2011

Paul is heading out on this one with our manager Stefan to plan and organise our next housing project. On our last trip we identified 17 families living in terrible slums so our aim is to buy land in the capital of Phnom Penh where we will build new homes for each of them. We will visit them all and identify and help them with their most urgent needs, then partner with International Children s' Care to build the new homes. We plan to build homes of around 60sqm, with running water, electricity and proper sanitation.

Other projects on the go include an agriculture program next the the new life village we completed in November 2009. We have purchased a large parcel of land next to the village for them to grow food for themselves and to sell at the local markets. Paul will have the honor of turning the first sod on the land to start the Agriculture Project for the New Life Village, so this will be done with a great deal of emotion.

With all that together with officiating at two church Dedications with Pastor Kunthy and Pastor Sithas' new churches, the 10 days are on a tight schedule.

We would be so grateful for any donations to see the Hopes of these dear people come to pass. Any donation over $2 will be Tax Deductible. Please, help us – help them.

Blessings,  from Aileen

One the first time on our arrival in Cambodia my manager Stefan and I were shocked at the incredible amount of traffic. We took a tuk tuk to see this amazing lady, Marion Fromm who was caring for landmine survivors. We spent a week at her factory and learnt so much about the Cambodian people. Firstly they were so kind and very humble.

On arrival back in Australia I was desperate to get back to this somewhat war torn country and to mix with who I believe were some of the friendliest people in the world. When you think that the average age of a Cambodian is 48, our indigenous people is 58the Aussie male is 78, something was wrong. Children half clothed, no shoes and camped out on dirt roads. Malnutrition wherever you look. Compassion came all over Aileen and me. My wife said to me, Paul we have to do something to help these people. We set out not with great funds but with a lot of love to buy as much food and goods as we could.

We began to seek out the poorest of the poor around Phnom Penh. It didn’t take long to find poverty. The Stung Meanchey dump with buried bodies, syringes, methane gas surrounding hundreds of children and adults I would have to say was the greatest shock that people should live this way. Living under 2 or 3 rotten towels held up by sticks, drinking putrid water and eating what ever food they could find – no, no this had to be stopped. Aileen started to bring in rubber boots for all the bare footed people as did our friend and interpreter helped to organise tonnes of rice packed in 10kg bags and he organised their sitting in groups of 20 people to receive the food. So much more had to be done.

We had to get more help from Australia and we were fortunate to receive many donations from Aussies with a big heart. Setting out to re clothe the 2000 or more people in the dump is not easy and once again many of the people ran about naked. They had scars and rashes all over their bodies yet every small mercy they were given, it was if their live had started again.

On the 4th May Paul and I where picked up at our hotel by Greg Allen from ICC ( International Childrens Care). We had a mini van follow us up with Pastors Simon, Kunthy and Souern and Sam our tuk-tuk driver friend and translator. It was a 3hr trip to the Light of Hope Centre,at Kompong Thmor for a five day stay. On arrival we where given a Royal greeting the 178 children, house parents, teachers and Principal and Pastor either side of the drive way clapping us in.

On many Hectares there are homes for the orphans and a wonderful school from Reception to year 12. Land growing so many different vegies such as sweetcorn blowing in the breeze taller than me (well I'm almost 5ft) pumkin,cucumber, spinich etc. all under irrigation pumped from a huge dam on the property.

Much of the vegetables in our meals freshly harvested each day led us to be inspired to replicate this for  the New Life Village. So before we left we put ICC in charge of a 3 year project to purchase land next to the 21 Familys for the planting of vegetables and showing them the skills to put in place irrigation. We financed the project also to pay the villagers a daily income for their work on the land. The first year will be what they harvest will be for the village consumption. The next yr will have excess to sell at the local market for added income.

Paul and I had the opportunity to go into the class rooms and speak to the children and let them know about Australia. I enjoyed reading stories with the juniour primary and doing craft with them. The children loved to play games.

Another high light was the Womens Conference 3 held on the 5th of June at Ps. Kunthys' Church. His wife Diep is the organisor and the Topic was Relationships. I was the guest speaker to speak on the topic and many nights went into the preparation and searching scriptures and sharing some life stories too. After lunch Paul shared his testimony and invited the ladies to receive Jesus as their Saviour.

We stayed at the New Life Village on 3 occasions this trip as the guests of Ps. Simon and his wife Sophor. They gave us the Honeymoon Suite (their bedroom) and they slept in the living room. The days are hot and humid so at the end of the day taking a bath is Great! It is a matter of soaping up and then using a ladel to rinse off. As there is no electricity at Ou Dong yet we take a torch to provide light in the bathroom. We loved then to sit on the front porch in our pyjamas and sip our coffee and chat with some of the familys who would come to chat. Simon speaks very good English and is able to translate for us.

Paul had his birthday party at the same time as Little Paul in the village turned 1yr. So we brought 2 big cakes to celebrate One cake for Little Paul and the other for Pappa Paul. The cake was delicious and after Paul instigated a night of entertainment with everyone having a go at singing or saying something nice about him. Well the village loved this idea and we had some lovely singing voices and lots of laughs at the grovellingly nice words about Paul we got into bed after 10pm still laughing.

Our joy in helping Pastor Kunthy and Pastor Sitha in financing the completion of their new church buildings. Also in the purchase of a block of land for Ps. Kunthy that has 34 mature Mango trees and a deep pond for fish. This will support Ps.Kunthy ministry of feeding the needy familys on the Island. Each tree bares $100in fruit to sell at the market.

So it has been a productive 2 months and now the next chapter is opening with our next mission to assist 17 Familys that are needing help. One example is a young man named Ban who has no legs because of Polio and his wife also only having one leg (polio) live in a 9ft x 9ft room with their one yr old daughter and his mother in law. No bathroom no privacy. So we are gearing up to help these 17 Familys with Habitat for Humanity. Please help us to help them climb out of Poverty's grip.

Our 9th trip is on the 1st May 2010 for two months and we will be visiting the 21 Families at the New Life Village at Ou Dong which is just over 40km north of Phnom Penh to see their progress. We have contact with the Pastor of the village Simon and he is recovering from Typhoid Fever. Which is a preventative illness. Better hygiene will need to be discussed with them. We will be taking soaps for each family and explaining that washing their hands before cooking /eating this will reduce the risk of illness.

Also we will be coming alongside International Childrens' Care, which have a project 3hour out of PP with an orphanage and school. They are currently working on agriculture plots that will be able to support not only the orphanage/school but the 30 small villages near by. So we will go and see this project and assist . My years doing Kid's Club will come in handy to play games with the orphans and do craft, read stories and show some love.

We will be visiting a church that is looking after 40 HIV orphans and helping there. You know when I think about my own children having the love of a mum and these boys and girls growing up without that... makes me feel very sad. Then very determined to do something about it. I have heard other projects that house the children with house mothers. I believe children should be brought up in a home with a mother and father – to grow up balanced adults. That's a challenge that needs to be met.

We're always looking for people to come along, so feel free to contact us if you're interested.