Shelley & Keith at one of Angkor Wat's temples, October 2010
Last October, Keith and I had the pleasure of staying in Siem Reap, Cambodia for a week. It’s a great town, beautiful area, with amazing people. And of course, home to the incredible UNESCO World Heritage site, the temples of Angkor Wat.
While there, we stayed at the beautiful Hotel de la Paix – which, besides being a lovely hotel, is also highly involved in numerous community projects including an orphanage, monastery sewing school, street children project and several education initiatives. Cristina at HdlP took us to visit the orphanage (which she volunteers at every week on her day off), and to Wat Damnak to experience an incredible private blessing ceremony by the monks.
Blessed by monks at Wat Damnak...one of the top travel moments of my life.
Today, the Sales & Marketing Manager Janet Chan sent me the following request. You may have heard of the devastating floods affecting Cambodia and Thailand, and they really need help from those who can afford to help a little. This is important, so I wanted to share. I am making my $38 donation for a bag of rice. If you have it in your heart to help, or at least can simply pass this on and share it, they can use our support. Thank you in advance.
| As you may be aware of the flooding situation in Cambodia, it is not so good here and there isn’t enough help for those affected…Therefore Hôtel de la Paix in conjunction with Heritage Suites, Golden Banana Boutique Resort & Exotissimo are working with Green Gecko Project, and Australian-run NGO to raise funds for emergency reliefof those affected. Situation here is far worse and media coverage seems to highlight Thailand only, many areas in Cambodia were not ‘addressed’.
Children in houses affected by flood waters in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 26, 2011. REUTERS/Samrang Pring Flooding has spread across 17 of Cambodia’s 24 provinces, killing 247 people, forcing the evacuation of more than 34,000 households, and destroying some 200,000 hectares of rice fields… This week we sent out supplies to 550 families and today another 875, assisting over 6000 people with the help of all the staff and kind donors. The supplies will probably last for next 7-10 days, and our next donation will be on Sunday to villages 2.5 hrs drive from Siem Reap where little assistance was en by government or other organizations. (View photos of their flood relief assistance). We are hoping to continue but would need support from others to make it happen. For US$38 we can purchase 50 kgs of rice – which really isn’t much for those more fortunate in the western / civilized world. Other options for donation are available via this online link: http://www.razoo.com/story/Floodreliefcollaboration/ It would be much appreciated if you could share amongst your friends and contacts. All updates are available via our Facebook page. Thanks again and have a lovely weekend! Kind regards, |
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