We Can See The Difference

September 8, 2018

There are so many heartwarming stories I could tell you about the work we are doing in Southeast Asia. With your help we are now providing education and housing for thousands of needy young women and girls in Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar each year, as these regions claw their way back from poverty and troubled political histories.

Take Sedtha Long, for example, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge and a young teen during Pol Pot’s reign of terror. Sedtha has dedicated his life to helping Cambodians recover from this horrific chapter in their past, and through his Build Your Future Today organization is providing education and training for over 100 children. Our support of the Cambodian Community Dream Organization is helping feed 800 children, six days a week so they can attend school with a full stomach. Our contribution to the Konawin Monastery School in Myanmar has funded a dormitory that will provide housing for 150 girls. We’re helping to support 24 abandoned kids in Chiang Rai, Thailand. And the list goes on.

A shining case in point of how this is working? After listening to his novel idea, we provided the monk heading up the Guiding Star Monastery School (Myanmar) with a rice harvester and tractor. After just a few months revenues are in excess of $15,000 with an annual projection of at least $40,000, which will cover teachers’ salaries, food costs, and funding for several construction projects.

But I believe the most important work we’ve done this past year is to offer business tools for our sponsored groups to strive towards self-sufficiency. In addition to developing a ‘sustainability index’ that provides a framework for becoming less reliant on donations, we also conducted three 2-day workshops helping NGO* leaders construct strategic plans for profitable endeavors to support their charities.

We couldn’t be more pleased.

We have a vision for these
commendable organizations to become self-sustaining; we can see it coming to fruition.

And, it wouldn’t be happening without you.

* Non-Governmental Organization