MaD Cambodia

I decided to go for volunteering in Cambodia when I was between jobs in Sweden. One week of volunteering and a couple of weeks travelling in Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. You will not be able to add much help in just a week, so my aim was primary to learn about volunteering while working in the field and get myself a rural Cambodia experience. I stayed some nights in Phnom Penh before leaving for Siem Reap and Bakong where the MaD House is located.

When I arrived the whole family met me on the doorstep and I got a warm welcome. The whole situation of going from Stockholm to Bakong is overwhelming and even if I’ve been to third world countries before it takes a couple of days till you get acclimated. Coming here with an open mind and some flexibility you will together with nice hospitality, good food and wonderful kids get comfortable in no time.

Today we received our 501c3 status (non profit) designation for the U.S.! This is the highly sought after tax exemption status for U.S. charities. U.S. donors will now have their donations tax deductible. In addition, there are a hundred other doors that now have been opened, i.e. Google Grants (free advertising tools for charities), Paypal payment processing services and more.

We hope this will further expand the great work being done in Siem Reap by the team and our volunteers!

We live in a rural part of Siem Reap Province - Cambodia affected by Typhoon Ketsana!

We do not know of any deaths is our area but there are most certainly hundreds displaced as we are flooded.  The local river has broken its banks and although we are a good 2kms from the river we have been inundated by flood waters. Our access road has been washed away in part.

One week in: I’ve replanted a couple of rice fields, tiled the floor of the new school house and baked a batch of scones…unfortunately I can’t claim to have done it all single handedly but it feels like an achievement nonetheless!

Arriving in Siem Reap on Thursday evening I was pleased to know that I had a number to call and a home to go to. Travelling by bus from Bangkok was long, dusty, sweaty and tiring so I was relieved to be starting the final leg of the journey. After leaving Siem Reap the tuk tuk turned and we started driving along the red dirt road to Bakong - I was amazed at the beauty of the area. The red sand road wound through vivid green paddy fields and passed wooden houses on stilts, glowing fires starting to smoke - families preparing their evening meals. When I arrived at the house Phil and Conchetta welcomed me with a hot cup of tea and I was ready to start the week.

This month, we welcomed 8 Cambodian children into the MaD family.  They were 8 of our orphans in Bos Village, but due to being unable to raise much needed funds to build the orphanage, coupled with the global financial crises we have elected, with the communities agreement to take some of the children, who have been released to our care - into our own home as foster children rather than leave them to their own devices in the places they were.