Mission Direct - Volunteers helping the world's poor

What you'll be doing

In 2010

There is still important building work for you to do at the New Happy Village project in 2010. Families have been moved out of their old shacks on the polluted Mekong river delta and into proper housing. The founders of NHV want to make it more of a true village with a proper sense of community.

You will be working to put these essential communal facilities in place - you don’t need to be a skilled craftsman though.

You will also get plenty of time to play games with the dozens of children on site.

Cambodia_poss_2010_smallCambodian Christians in action

When you are not hard at work, we will take you to several other projects in the area, to observe or even lend a hand. These include:

New Life Fellowship, Phnom Penh: one of the largest churches in Cambodia with more than 600 Khmer worshipers. You will join in with their worship, evangelism and many social, health and educational projects.

Khmer Development of Freedom Organisation (KDFO) is a locally registered Cambodian NGO, managed and directed by Cambodians. It has 13 years of experience working with the street population, in particular targeting children and their families. Many of these children have been forced into child trafficking. You will help to distribute food at a Municipal Dump.

Off duty in Cambodia

In your free time you will have a chance to learn first hand about Cambodia’s past by visiting the Royal Palace, the infamous Killing Fields and the Teul Sleng prison camp. You will also enjoy watching a traditional Khmer dance, sample some tasty Cambodian food and take a trip to the 12th century temple of Angkor Wat, a world heritage site.

 

New hope for a broken nation

Cambodians are a broken people: between 1976 and 1979 Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge killed around 2 million Cambodians, or 20% of the population. But his regime’s murderous influence had another influence: families were split up and put in re-education camps. You were taught to trust nobody but the state itself.

Three decades later and the people of Cambodia still live in the shadow of this monstrous message – there is a whole generation that does not know how to bring up a family properly or trust others.

Contribution: £1,395

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