MaD Cambodia

Last week MaD was hit with the devastating news that 7 of our 8 foster children had decided to go back to their community. Unbeknownst to us, members from our foster kids' former village community had been secretly visiting the kids at their school and had been promising them the world if they went back to their home community, despite the fact that conditions have not changed there at all since the kids decided to come to MaD over a year ago. However, through their concerted and persistent efforts they somehow managed to convince the children to leave their life of education, daily nutritious meals, electricity, water, etc, and return to their former village with little food, no education, no clean water or education, and no electricity. Out of the eight kids, one of them (Thuy) chose to stay with us and refused to accept his former life. We are all clearly at a loss and are utterly devastated by the others' decision. However, there is little we could do and all we can fall back on is the hope that we provided them with the happiest, most fulfilling and enriching lives that we could throughout their time with us. Please click this link to read the full story.

With the arrival of several thousand Moringa Oleifera seeds today, MaD is now ready to officially launch the pilot project for our new Nutrition Program. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the Asia Pacific region, with 26% of the population suffering from malnutrition and 45% of children suffering from moderate or severe stunting as a direct result. This program has been designed with the aim of fostering a local, sustainable solution to this problem by promoting the cultivation and consumption of Moringa Oleifera trees and amaranth grain amongst rural communities. 

So everyone is back safe and sound from the inaugural event of the MaD Tuk Tuk Challenge. All the teams did great in their fundraising efforts and we managed to raise over $3500 for MaD in total!!

The trip itself was fantastic and we encourage anyone else who's been thinking about giving it a try to come across for one of the next events in July and then November!

We've made a video compilation of the best pictures and videos from the challenge, which you can view below (be sure to switch to hi-res mode and turn up your speakers!). Enjoy!

Matthew Nelson, an ex-volunteer with vMaD, has recently written an article for Buzz Magazine on his experience volunteering with us and on his thoughts on 'voluntourism' in general. It's a great read and we highly recommend that you check it out. Thanks Matt!

You can read the article here.

MaD has recently partnered with Ecodana, a new social enterprise that aims to support ecological development projects working at the grassroots level through microdonations. We currently have two of our projects posted on their site: our compost toilet project for Prolit village and our Moringa Oleifera project, to be launched later this year. Please visit their website and consider making a donation to help us reach our fundraising targets!