Making A Difference - Hanuman & Camcaf

Two organisations that have recently taken up the challenge to make a real difference to the underprivileged and impoverished in Cambodia are my old friends at Hanuman Tourism and The Cambodian Children’s Advocacy Foundation. Hanuman, already well-established as a top provider of tourism services in Cambodia, have now set up a charitable body called The Hanuman Foundation to support grass-roots anti-poverty programmes in the more remote areas that their tours visit. They plan to concentrate on the fundamentals first, providing access to cleaner water for communities by drilling wells and supplying water filters, providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as malaria through the provision of mosquito nets and improving the quality of materials in remote local schools. They will focus on communities in Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces initially, as well as initiatives to assist the disadvantaged ethnic minorities of the northeast, including the Pnong people of Mondulkiri and the Jarai of Ratanakiri. Hanuman also plan to work with a selected group of NGOs and have chosen a combination of causes to ensure they assist in areas such as healthcare, education, child welfare, landmine clearance, heritage preservation and the promotion of arts and culture, working with their partners to make tourism a force for positive change in Cambodia. To find out more about Hanuman's plans, click here.

Meanwhile, The Cambodian Children’s Advocacy Foundation (CCAF) is a grass-roots Khmer NGO established earlier this year by Hing Channarith, a former Country Director of Veterans International for the past decade. The primary mission of the CCAF is to support the children of single mothers in the areas of schooling and education, intervention and the prevention of child labor and trafficking. In addition, the nutrition and health of these children must be improved and skills developed to enable mothers and their children to generate an income for their families. The same support will also be given to children with disabilities. Early successes have included the provision of water sanitation and mushroom-growing projects. The pilot target area is currently the Banteay Meas district and in Kampot province. You can find out more about CCAF here.