Cambodia - all Australians can make a difference

A message from Gaye Miller:
To explain further, I have been travelling to Cambodia for the last six
years and have been taking shipping containers full of clothes, toys,
medical supplies, students stationery, bicycles etc to supply several
orphanages in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Kampot Province, Cambodia.

There are so many needy people over there it is difficult to know where to
begin.
I intend to establish a halfway house later this year with the aim of
providing accommodation for orphanage leavers whilst educating and preparing
the children to become self sufficient in the world outside the orphanage.
These children have become institutionalised from living in a sheltered and
isolated Buddhist environment and are not accustomed to taking
responsibility for themselves or making personal decisions. Being used to
sleeping in dormitories, they are frightened to sleep alone as they believe
in ghosts.
If these children are left to fend for themselves they could end up as
beggars, thieves, sex workers, street kids, glue sniffers or even dump
scavengers.
Some of the children are trying to combine studying and working. This is a
real struggle as the children only earn a pittance which isn't enough to
survive on. I've seen children wake at 4am to study by candlelight, before
they go off to a full days work.
An additional problem is the perception that to be an orphan, female and
perhaps handicapped, makes you inferior and a second class citizen.

The ultimate goal is to give the boys and girls a sense of self worth and
the confidence to live an independent life as a useful member of the
community, which will be achieved by providing an education in the necessary
life skills

As this will be an ongoing commitment, I will be holding an annual
fundraiser in the form of a dinner/auction.
The 1st Fundraising Dinner will be held on:
29 July 2006: 7pm to Midnight.
at Camelot Receptions, Corner Dandenong and North Roads, MELBOURNE,
AUSTRALIA.
Dinner with wine, beer, soft drinks. Traditional Cambodian Dancers. $75.00.
Fundraising Auction prizes include 7 nights accommodation in Thailand.
RSVP by 1 July 2006 to Gaye Miller: , tel 9795 5055 or
Sharon 04 04 04 2906

If you can attend the dinner, donate or bid on auction items or offer any
other assistance we will be delighted to hear from you.

For more information on my involvement in Cambodia, my newsletters can be
read on www.yatesweb.com click on Cambodia, then click on Gaye Miller.

Thank you.