From little things big things grow

"Desire to sow no seed for your own harvesting; desire only to sow that seed the fruit of which shall feed the world."
Light on the path, from Hatha Yoga by Kathleen Hitchcock

If you take a seed and nurture it- feed it nutrients, give it water, sunshine and love, it will grow healthy and strong, into something wonderful.
As it is with children.
We decided we wanted to do something for the kids in Cambodia, so we sent out a brief email to all our friends asking for a little help. Well, flocks of emails flew back to us on angels wings from caring people who trusted in us and wanted to help also.
We were overwhelmed with generous donations, exceeding our expectations. Some people passed on the word and collected donations from friends also. What started as a small ripple, gathered in size and grew and grew without us, into a wave of compassion.



To the Cambodians their country is Kampuchea. It remains one of the poorest countries in Asia and its a tough existence for much of the population, a daily struggle to survive. It has survived horrific civil war, genocide and famine, in my lifetime alone.
I would look at Cambodians about my age (38) and wonder what horrors they had been through already and how many family members they had lost. All my personal worries and fears suddenly seem very insignificant. One thing we noticed is there didn't seem to be many old people. Plenty of kids though, beautiful brown shining, wide eyed children!! Kampucheas future.

Australian Kids Reach Out


August Noosa News:
Extending the Hand of Friendship to Cambodian Orphans
The 2 day group of children at Peregian Beach Community Kindergarten have been busy working with local artist, Virginia Luhrs to create a wall hanging of colourful painted leaves and warm wishes for the Lighthouse orphanage to be visited soon by Kindy parents, Amy and Andrew Houston. Donations of coloured pencils and cash to purchase much needed supplies of rice and other staple foods for the children were also made by the Kindy families at an afternoon tea held on Friday at the Kindergarten. The Kindy children are looking forward to seeing photos of the Cambodian children with the wall hanging in their environment when Amy and Andrew return!



This Blog is so that you can see where all our donations went and see pictures of the gorgeous kids it helped.
We initially chose only one needy orphanage-The Lighthouse. But when we arrived in Cambodia and saw how much need there is and as the funds grew to more than twice the anticipated amount, we decided to "share the love" between 3 different orphanages, trusting this to be the best decision on behalf of all the donors.
(The Lighthouse received approximately 50% and the other two shared the other 50% of the total )
It was heartwarming to see how many fantastic projects for kids are happening here in Cambodia.(We wanted to support them ALL!) So we spent many hours visiting and chatting with co-coordinators, looking for ones with a sustainable approach eg. helping the kids to become independent in the world through education. We learnt so much! Two thirds of children in Cambodia don't even complete primary school.



So, research, intuition and fate lead us to the following three orphanages.
We would love to hear your comments, questions and if you are planning a trip-we have plenty of tips to share.
From the kids of Cambodia -THANK YOU all who contributed. Together we sprinkled some seeds of love and hope. May they grow and blossom.

Amy and Andrew
www.sunshinewellbeing.com


Amy and Andrew are interviewed on Noosa Community Radio:
http://www.noosacommunityradio.org/presenters/jacqui-burns