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25.01.2022 We cannot leave without thanking a few people who have contributed recently to this project. To Anne Johnson, a retired nurse, who contributes every year specifically for our first aid boxes in the school and with the village chief. We will shop for basics like betadine, swabs, bandaids, bandages and burn cream. Thank you Anne. To Susan Stubbs, who recently added to her previous contributions, we say thank you. Our decision was that you will cover the 181 bowls and spoons f...or our students for their daily meals. To Andrea and Peter Collins, who contribute on behalf of their family in lieu of Easter eggs each year. Thirteen children will get a new uniform from you. X x To Robyn Mepham and Lyn who recently made a significant contribution to our village fund project. Both ladies could see the benefit of this project. To Deb Morley who once again contributed to our work in the village, we thank you. Deb has brought our Village Fund to $500 US or 2,000,000 riel. This was our goal and we are pleased that this will now go ahead. Our young ambassador, Xavier Vaughan, is working on his commitment to cover the cost of sporting gear for the school. Let's hope he achieves his goal. Thanks Xavier. X Contact recently with Cambodia informs me that work has commenced on the drilling of our 10 wells, the 11 water filters are ready to go and the children have been sized for their uniforms. Our 25 bikes are ordered. Seems like we need to get over there . A big thank you to everyone involved this year. It has been a big ask and we are very pleased with the outcome. Love to you all x Jan

24.01.2022 Sport and Craft Supplies. We had donations from both Xavier Vaughan and his mother Rachael just before we left for Cambodia. We were so happy to be able to purchase the sport and craft supplies when we shopped with the teachers. While volleyballs and basket balls were on the list, along with skipping ropes, they were keen to buy numerous small balls which they use for eye-hand co-ordination throwing them into a basket from a distance. Quoits are used for the same reason. Sim...ilarly paper folding and making various decorative pieces for the classrooms are very popular. These brighten up the classroom and involve some precise work by the students. Thank you Rach and this is yet another involvement by Xavier. He has contributed so much this year. I had sent a photo to Dear, our grade 6 teacher, explaining his involvement this year and her words were "what a lovely boy". Love from Romdoul to you Xavier x x

22.01.2022 The last week has been rather busy. Wallsend South has wound up their "at school" collection in a big way, and with gifts from our Australia for Cambodia family we are well on our way to achieving our goals. Today I would like to thank Rhonda and Pieter Ploeger, Donna Tyson, Ang Fidden. Carmel Stormer, Deb Smith, Mrs Jackson, Danielle and Lauren Currington, Georgia Garness, Brydie Chapman-Cole, along with the Spratt, Hearne, McPhail, LeQuesne, Ferguson, and Marodin Winkler Fa...milies.A special mention must be made of Tracey's 3M class who have sold chocolates and raised enough to cover the 24 children in Year 4 in Romdoul School. A wonderful effort. This leaves us with 20 students to cover for meals. Our uniform project has been assisted by Lauren Boyles, Tracy Mtao, Donna Tyson, Mrs M and Cooper, Julie and Ben Reynolds and the Spratt and LeQuesne families. We have a further 95 students to cover if we are to give every child a uniform. This has been an amazing effort on the part of our Australia for Cambodia family, and with just over a month to go I am feeling very positive about our ability to again make a real difference in Romdoul. Love to you all x Jan. See more

22.01.2022 News from Romdoul tells me our enrolments have resulted in a total of 175 children at our school. We still have 62 students to cover for their meals each day, having covered 113 at this time. This last week we must thank Joan Drysdale, Rosemary Donovan, Craig Upton, Amy Knox, Mark Martell, Becky Gilbert, Eva Carroll, Helmut Panhuber, Anna Volker, the Andrews, Gaffney, Fox and Hale Families for their support. We have six water filters and promises for two more, giving us a fu...ll load. Thank you Helen Taylor and Stuart Fitzpatrick for sponsoring filters. We need 175 uniforms, with donations this week from Craig Upton, Amy Knox and the Hale Family. We have only 13 covered at this time, but at $15 each, I am hopeful we will be able to cover our new enrolments and we will see how it goes from there. A big thank you to everyone who is involved this year. I will continue to update each week. Anyone who wishes to be involved and does not have details, send us a message. Love Jan xx

22.01.2022 The last two weeks have flown and no doubt heading in towards Christmas it will only get busier. While I keep an eye on posts here, Tracey is running her Cambodia Christmas Challenge at Wallsend South Primary School. Today I will attempt to combine the two so you can see where we are at this time. I am only counting in those where "gifts" are in, not promised. 1 Our classroom needs for both students and teachers including textbooks and reading books. This has been covered by ...Lambton High School, where a Book Week event raised $1300. This is wonderful. 2. Our student meals each day. At this time we have 70 of our 162 students covered. Thank you to Karen Lilley and the Irrawang Support Unit, Belinda Beasley and Josh, the Harper Family, Cheryl Davis, Bianca Blatchford, Vivienne Panhuber, Susan Stubbs, Vikas and Swapnali Shidore, Michelle Riedel, Susan Fuller, and Xavier Vaughan. From WSPS we must thank the Hinchcliffe Family, the Campbell Family, Charlotte Kirton, Monique, Lexie, Maxine, Todd and Nick Robinson. Recently Jane Cottee, The Graham Family, Tahlia, Teuban and Harper Smith, The McGrath Family, the Greentree Family, the Ryan Family, the Khafaji and Gizzi families, Aela and Edie March, Zion and Isaiah Olajoyegbe, Gail Mayers and Hunter and Mitchell Hooker have contibuted to the cause. We are very grateful for your support. 3. We wish to thank the following people who have sponsored uniforms for five of our students. Zion and Isaiah and Gail Mayers, Susan Stubbs and Karen Katz . 4. We have two water filters sponsored at this time. One from the Mullard Family and the second from Xavier Vaughan. 5. Our girls packs are covered. We had numerous donations of fabric, face washers, soap. I must thank Jeanette Fisher and the ladies from the Pindimer Craft group who made all the bags and donated soap and face washers. Jada and Lexie have covered the additional costs involved. What is left to cover? Student meals, with 92 still to cover. After that we will be looking at wood for cooking the meals, with the cooks salaries promised at this stage. Uniforms for our students will be the cream, as are water filters. Again, thank you to all who have contributed as we know there are many groups who require help at this time in our own country. Love to you all x Jan

22.01.2022 Not long now and all we are really looking at is kicking of our Village Fund. At this time we have $310 in the fund representing 62 individual shares. Some like the Bridges, Smiths, Fitzpatricks and Davis families, are on behalf of children or grandchildren. I personally would love to see a flood of $5 come into our account indicating your support of the project. The loans taken may be as little as $1, so it will make a huge difference for a villager who wants to buy seed etc.... I became quite emotional when our new school Principal posted on facebook a photo of the fires here and asked all his friends to pray for Australia. Our 4th Grade teacher has done the same. It was nice to have their support. We will get the well-drilling process underway next week, with 10 to be drilled thanks to Deb Morley, the Rigby Family and Julie Reynolds who have added to our previous list. Thank you also to Vikas and Swapnali Shidore who have added a filter to our list in memory of Shahbai Shidore, his mother. Only two more weeks and I will be sending photos instead of asking for dollars. Thank you all once again x Jan

21.01.2022 Recently, Raymond Terrace Lions donated $1000 to our project so that two push-pull wells can be drilled for the Romdoul community. This generous offer will in fact allow up to 10 families to access water all year round. Grant and Kirsten Bridge have joined with them on this project on behalf of TK Distributors. We have an assurance that these wells will be drilled while we are there in January. Each well costs us AUD $475 and covers the drilling and concreting of a pad and a well-head bearing the name of the donor. I will leave this option open to anyone who might like to join this particular project. We could put in any number of these as they are desperately needed.

21.01.2022 While we were there we were able to witness classroom activity, and after school a class comes back each day and does general chores with their teacher. I have included some of these for your enjoyment. Each day we visited, the staff cooked us lunch and Owen maintains our grade 2 teacher makes the best pork ribs he has ever tasted. x Jan

19.01.2022 An insight for all our group into why we love this place so much. Mr Rith is really great in that he keeps us posted on messenger as to what is going on at the school. We communicated online long before we met, and I can only say that he is a great leader and has a wonderful group of teachers that work alongside him for the benefit of our students. Prior to our visit, the staff and students were working to have everything perfect for us. These photos show the staff and students working together after school hours and I think they are fantastic. I know many of the teachers read these posts so show them your appreciation please x Jan

19.01.2022 Yes, we have booked our flights and accommodation and will spend three weeks in Cambodia in January/February 2020. Every year we look at how we are both going health wise, knowing that we enjoy our respite time over there so much. To our Australia for Cambodia family and friends, we are again asking for your support. We feel that this year it will be difficult to do many of the things we have covered in previous years so we will prioritise our wish list. For those involv...Continue reading

18.01.2022 Our lucky recipients x

18.01.2022 A huge thank you to all who have contributed to this years project. A special mention to two of my ex students for their on-going support. As mentioned Louise Hewson ( Foley), her husband Kenny and his brother, are covering the wages of two villagers who will cook each morning for our 162 students. This makes our fight against malnutrition possible, as does the provision of our wood each week so that the meals can be prepared. We are so grateful for your support Bill and Jo L...illey who are covering this cost for us again this year. We are now 72 sponsors short if we are to provide meals for all our students. This past week we have added Hainna Guerra, Julie Davy, Abigail and Edward Barnes, Jacob and Tahlia Polley, Riley, Jordan and Jade Lenton, Hester Taylor, Robyn Melphan, Lucy Phillips, the Disher, Cook and Taylor families to our list of sponsors bringing out total list covered to 90. We have 8 students covered for uniforms and would hope to at least cover our new kindergarten class once our meals are covered. Water filters donated in memory of Edward and Noelene Mills by their daughter Susan, brings out water filter number to four. With a truck load at six, if anyone is interested in purchasing a filter for a family I am keen to complete this load, and will see that they are installed while we are there. Thank you for your support, if you look back at last years posts where I did a 2013 through to 2019 comparison, you will see how much difference we have all made in this one village. Love to you all x Jan

17.01.2022 Our students will receive a meal at school each morning thanks to the generosity of a large group of people. This year we were impressed with the response from members of our group despite the hardships here in Australia. Thank you all x x Lets begin with the supply of wood provided by Bill and Jo Lilley. Our Principal has taken the responsibility of organising this, and the wood will be paid for by Bill and Jo. Thank you. Next our wonderful cooks who get the fires going each... morning before light and have a meal for the children ready to set them up for the day. Thank you Louise, Kenny and Garry Hewson who have covered the salaries of our two cooks for the year. x x To Susan Stubbs who covered the cost of providing a bowl and spoon to each child. They are responsible for bringing them to school each day. Thanks Susan x x Then we have 181 children to take care of by providing the ingredients for these meals. Ratanak did the maths with me, and we have problems with our budget because of the low Australian dollar and rising prices. We will look at it again before our next trip, meanwhile thank you so much. xx Jan A special note to the Taylor Family - your name has not shown in your photo, so our apologies. We have put you last for that reason and included a video showing the chaos when we are doing the photos. Lucky we had Sokha to help on the day and the children and staff are always very co-operative. x x Jan

17.01.2022 This year I would like to put forward the following suggestions re our support of Romdoul village. 1. Because the school has been closed much of the year, our meals packages, our uniforms and school equipment should last into next year and we will revist maybe October next year in preparation for the following year. We will have new enrolments in January who will require school uniforms if we can cover them. I am thinking 30 uniform sets @ $15 AUD each. 2. In Ratanak words "...the weather is cold now with lots of mosquitoes...they need mosquito nets in their wish list". There are 165 families and each net will cost $8.50 AUD. 3. Again from Ratanak .."The village fund is working smoothly, people took turns to borrow and pay back the loans according to the schedule with loan records being kept by the school headmaster as village Fund Manager". I have included pics from last year of Mr Rith addressing the villagers re the fund operation. If we are able to add to the fund this would be good. 4. A big ask. We have installed around 40 latrines in the past. It would be wonderful if we could fund more, but with the AUD as it is, each one will cost $260 AUD. Photos show the installed "septic" system and the "privacy screens" constructed by the families. A bit there to digest, and I welcome any suggestions/comments. I am proposing that Sokha distribute the nets to the villagers for us, and the school uniforms. Ratanak will of course provide photos of the latrines once installed. Our account is operating as before, but please make sure you include your name with your deposit. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all, Love Jan and Owen x x

17.01.2022 Wonderful to have our school principal make a post here in Cambodia. We will of course post our photos when we get home. Such a great group of teachers who have your support and are so grateful. What an example of how two cultures can work in harmony for the benefit of these fantastic kids. Dear, our grade 6 teacher from last year, told me our Romdoul children are ranked in the top 5 at their new secondary school. A wonderful teacher who gets great results. We are meeting all six teachers Sunday morning, to shop for the books and equipment needed for the next 12 months. This will be covered by Lambton High School with money raised from Book Week. We look forward to taking them all to lunch when our shopping is completed. Love to you all x x

17.01.2022 Bio-sand water filters, making our villagers safe. This year we added 12 filters to the 150 we have supplied to this village, This allows every family to have access to clean drinking water. If a new family moves into the village we will look at providing them with a filter but for the moment all are now covered. Those gifted in 2013 will no doubt need to be repacked in a couple of years time but we will look at that later. Thank you to those who provided a filter this year. ...I noted that four were in memory of loved ones who had passed and find it a lovely way to pay tribute to them. Another resulted from collecting within a community (thanks Jenny Little) and yet another is to be covered by an Irrawang High School Year 10 Food Technology class who are learning about the difficulties faced in developing countries. My personal interest in this project stemmed from teaching a unit on "World Hunger" and the need to do something about the inequality in the world. I hope these students "get it". x Jan A special mention to young Xavier Vaughan who raised the money to pay for his filter by making magnets and key rings and selling them for our projects. A great way for a young man to learn that he has the power to change lives. x Jan

16.01.2022 Our Village Fund is in memory of our beautiful friend Em who passed just twelve months ago. Her family were present and I have included a photo of her grand-daughter with Jada back in 2016, and last month with Owen at the school. We have a strong bond with the family and this will continue. Many will remember our request to you all to join us in establishing a viable "Village Fund" in Romdoul. Your response to this was great and Deb Morley topped it up so we were able to get... this up and operating with an account balance of US $500 or 2,000,000 riel. This will allow micro-loans to be made to the villagers for medical needs or to begin a small business. We noted that some villagers were making baskets from vines they dry, and a young man comes through the village and takes them to market. Maybe more small enterprises will arise with the money now available. Ratanak took us to meet with the villagers, the village chief and commune councillor (elected representative of the government),and the school principal, Mr Rith. Here each of them spoke to the villagers explaining that it would be overseen by the Principal and the Village Chief and they were encouraged to try and put some money into the fund to indicate that they had an ability to save. They would then be in a position to borrow from the fund for larger amounts. Mr Rith spoke so well and is obviously held in high regard by the villagers. We were very impressed and feel so lucky to have him in charge of our school. He holds the metal box with lock and key and a book where all transactions are recorded. Following the meeting, we distributed the 60kg of clothes we took with us this trip. We are still transporting shorts from Elermore Vale Public donated three years ago, along with 20kg of children's clothes. One of the men put his EVPS shorts on over his pants. He wasn't planning on losing them in the crowd. I noted in the group the presence of the oldest man in the village. Jim Jackson you will remember him from last year when I think you quietly slipped him a few US $'s. x xJan

15.01.2022 Sary visiting her students at home.

14.01.2022 Another week, how quickly they pass. Our sponsorship of student meals has been assisted by Lorraine Fanning, Jack Cathcart, Liam Cathcart, Emily, Anna and Lucy Jobson, bringing our shortfall to just five students. Thank you to everyone who has been involved. We now have just FIVE to cover @ just $50 each. Our uniform purchase has been bolstered by Rosemary Donovan, Joan Drysdale, Jodi Cassar, Jodie Bennett , Jack and Liam Cathcart. Unfortunately we still have 86 to cover if e...very child is to receive a new uniform. These cost us $15 AUD over there, and I am hopeful that we will be able to meet this target. We will be concentrating on these over the next few days. The bike sponsorship last week resulted in us covering 14 bikes at this time. This was kicked off by Leah, Andrew, Lexie, and Freya Zok. Others included Joan Drysdale, Rosemary Donovan, Ange Fidden, Robyn King, Jodi Cassar, Jodie Bennett and Theresa Moss. Our plan now is to provide a bike for our year 6 who will set off for high school six months after our visit. If we are unable to cover these, they will be given to those students who have the furthest to walk. Thank you to everyone involved on behalf of the Romdoul community. Love Jan x x

13.01.2022 Covid has changed so much in our world including Cambodia and the way we are able to help our friends in Romdoul village. I have been hesitant about making a post because I felt everyone had enough to deal with here, but recent calls and messages from members of our group have encouraged me to contact you all through this page. Romdoul is managing through this crisis although 60 poor families have been given some assistance by the government. This has now stopped so their pro...blem will continue. The school closed at the beginning of April and reopened for September, but is closed now. It appears that the isolation of our village has worked in their favour, with no recorded covid amongst the villagers. Sadly we will not visit Romdoul this year but have our reliable "Cambodian daughter" Sokha who is happy to travel out with Ratanak on our behalf. ( a couple of pics from February) I will make a separate post re my thoughts for this year and value your feedback and ideas. Love Jan x x

12.01.2022 Mum and Dad a third of the way through this year’s Cambodia trip.. The school has changed so much over the years.. from nothing to this.. the smiles on the kids faces says it all.. so proud of them both.. the boys loved seeing their bikes in the pics and we spied Isla’s donation in the background too.. To everyone who supports Mum & Dad each year, THANK YOU.. and to Mum & Dad who manage to pull all this together, I have no idea how you do it all (you’re meant to be bloody retired!!), but you do, year after year & I could not be prouder.. I’m sure everyone that supports your efforts will join me in saying travel safe, find some time out too, & enjoy those smiles that you are cementing on those gorgeous faces over there.. Love you loads xx Kirst & Co xx

11.01.2022 Last trip we spent quite a bit of time with Dear and her year 6 class. Tracey had them drumming and they tried out their English with us. Now they are in High School, a 7 kilometre walk, or if they are lucky, a good bike ride. I have had Dear check, and there are 10 students who are walking 14 klms each day. My good friend Janis Winn has been sponsoring one of these students for her meals for the last few years and has decided she would like to buy her a bike. Taj, Kai and I...sla Bridge are sponsoring a bike for three more. We have six more students who would be over the moon if they had a bike. Anyone who is interested, they cost us AUD $70 which includes our delivery. We have had a great response so feel we can open this up to our current year 6 who will head to high school in the middle of next year. There school year begins and ends mid year. A load of bikes is usually around 24 so we are happy to accept all offers on their behalf. X Jan

11.01.2022 We are planning on increasing the number of bio-sand filters in the village. This process allows villagers to clean their water, avoiding the problems associated with drinking dirty water. Lauren Boyles, Cheryl Crane, and Jill have joined forces to have a filter installed. Excel Financial services has again joined this project, making our truck load up to 7 at this time. Thank you so much x Jan

10.01.2022 Mum and dad have booked the next trip over. Time to start the fundraising. Thanks to everyone for your support xo

10.01.2022 Our Girls Packs. Last year Jada and Lexie sold chocolates and busked to raise the money necessary for our girls packs. With much of our fabric donated we managed to cover the cost and had enough left to cover much of our cost this year. With additional donations from Raymond Terrace Lions Club, and the Pindimar Craft Group we managed to put together another fifty packs which are now in the hands of our beautiful year 6 teacher Dear. She can be approached by students within the school, and because she lives with her family in the village, she also has contact with the older students who are now attending high school. x x

10.01.2022 A big thank you to Susan Stubbs, the Panhuber family, and the Harper family. We now have 4 children covered for meals. x Jan

09.01.2022 Wood, Cooks, and bowls along with Mrs M and 3 M students sponsorships.

09.01.2022 School uniforms are valued in Romdoul and allow our students to turn up each day in what is often their best set of clothes. We have, as a group, provided each student with a new uniform for the last seven years and here are our students with their uniforms this year. Thank you to all x Jan

09.01.2022 Technology and Romdoul. Back a couple of years ago we introduced technology by way of solar energy to the school and a laptop with scanner/printer for the staff. With a school Principal and his need to administer the school, this laptop is almost exclusively used by Mr Rith. A meeting with the staff revealed the need for a desktop computer for the remaining five teachers. A reliable source of electricity to operate the computer during the wet season was also discussed. So ...... Ratanak sourced a new Dell desktop computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse for our staff to use for lesson preparation. Six USB sticks were purchased so that the staff can save their own work. Some staff are more computer literate than others but there is quite a bit of in-servicing taking place, led from the top by Mr Rith. We must thank Deb Morley and Cambridge Hills Pre-school for covering the cost of this for our staff. They are delighted. We now have electricity connected to the school as a back-up for our solar panels, and our new computer is connected to this power supply. While the connection to the school was done by the authorities, our two young men have been responsible for connections within the classroom. Thank you Don and Ceal Holbert for covering the cost of connecting power to the school, and for a year's supply of toner cartridges and A4 paper. They were all set up and in business within two weeks, and we were able to see everything operating before we came home. Further to this, we were able to give our Grade 6 teacher Dear an Apple laptop as a gift from Yvonne Harper, a friend of ours who had no use for it and suggested Dear might find it useful. Dear was thrilled and the remaining staff are envious. Thank you Yv x x

08.01.2022 Well.. Mum & Dad promised you that we'd have a NEW project for 2020 and here it is.. EM'S VILLAGE FUND - Many giving a little, so that we are ALL supporting the village together as a team and promoting sustainability through a bank type set up! Please see attached graphics for an explanation of out group project - TOGETHER we can make a huge difference with a small contribution.... Any questions, please let us know - Direct message through the link below, or email [email protected] Payment can be made in the usual way (bank details are on the last graphic) or via PayPal paypal.me/australiaforcambodia if that suits you better - remember to use your surname as a description and message us with details so that we can track your kind donations.. We are giving this two weeks to pool contributions and at this time we will shut off and get everything in order ready for foreign exchange of funds and set up in Cambodia. I've just done my 5 x $5 contributions for my family of 5 - at this rate it won't take long to reach an amount that will make a HUGE difference to this community, keeping in mind that the average wage for a rural villager in Cambodia is a mere $0.25 per day.. Loads of Love & Thank You for supporting Mum & Dad in their continued efforts. xx Kirst

08.01.2022 A quick update on our contributions in the past five days. With an additional six latrines covered by Owen's brother Don and his wife Ceal, we now have funds for 14 latrines. Thank you Louise and Kenny Hewson, Julie Reynolds, Eliza and Harry Morley, Patrick King, Deb Smith, Irrawang High Support Group and Don and Ceal Holbert. This will make a huge difference to the lucky recipients. We know that only 40 of our 165 families have a latrine so will welcome any additional contri...butions. We have 7 uniform sets provided by Robyn Mepham, with another 23 to cover. We have 5 mossie nets covered by Irrawang High Food Tech and another 160 left to cover. Again, Merry Christmas and thank you all x Jan and Owen

08.01.2022 With Romdoul School closed because of Covid 19 concerns, our Grade 3 teacher Sary is visiting her students in their homes. We are so lucky to have dedicated teachers at Romdoul. I am posting this as I have had contact with many of our group concerned for the welfare of our school and the village. At this time all is good. x Jan

06.01.2022 Our Wells for 2020.These are a big expense because of the effort taken to drill often 25 metres to strike water then to set up the push-pull well for the family ( or often families) involved. They are however game changers as along with a supply of water for domestic use, they allow crops to be grown in the long dry season. This year we were fortunate to have 10 wells sponsored and we are so grateful to each of the donors involved. I have included photos showing the truck loaded to travel to the drilling site and the activities involved. Also included our ten wells. A huge thank you to the businesses and individuals involved.

05.01.2022 Yes we are back, but chaos exists in this household and we often wish we were back over there without computer problems that have plagued us for weeks. First my computer at a crucial time three days before we left which meant it had to go to "product care" and is awaiting parts. Arriving home to a problem with Owen's which was declared dead by the technicians after a week. He now has a new one and the old one will be used as an anchor. Apologies and we will now attempt to get... to posting our photos. The trip was wonderful and I would recommend our hotel to anyone. Opened last September with only perhaps 30 rooms, all overlooking the beautiful pool, we certainly had a great break. We stayed at Siem Reap Palace Residence as the manager had previously worked at Soria Moria and looked after us so well. The entire staff are amazing, and the position is fantastic. Let us know if you are interested in staying there as I am sure we can arrange for Sina and the owner, Jaxson to look after you. We visited the village and Romdoul School on three occasions, but each day started very early and whilst extremely tiring, was amazing and we achieved a great deal. A fourth day was devoted to shopping with the teachers, followed by a lunch at a local restaurant. I will post over the next few days covering the different aspects of the visit. x Jan

05.01.2022 Big thanks to the families at WSPS. In our first week, we have 7 kids sponsored so far. The ball is definitely rolling. Thank you to the Robinson family for sponsoring 4 kids, the Campbell family, the Hinchcliffe family and Charlotte Kirton. We have a few weeks left to hit our target of 162 this year. We can do it! TM

05.01.2022 Lambton High School SRC took a really big load off our shoulders this year when they ran a "Book Week" fundraiser for Romdoul Primary School. Jada and Lexie, who had assisted us the previous trip with the distribution of books and equipment for the staff and students, spoke to the school community and the result was amazing. The $1300 raised on the day allowed us to purchase all the books and teaching supplies for the year. The following photos will show you our shopping tri...p with the teachers where Samnang, our grade 4 teacher arrived with a computer generated list (clever man) making the process that much easier. Our loaded tuk-tuk went back to the hotel where Vutha our driver unpacked everything into our room. The second load went with us as we all went out for lunch. Owen and I take the teachers for lunch each trip after shopping, and find it a very pleasurable experience. Dear has to sit near us each time so she can translate when necessary. The following day, all these supplies were packed into the back of a truck and transported the 40 kilometres to Romdoul, where the children helped us move everything into the school. I have included photos here of Samnang's mobile library. This is at one end of the school building and allows the children to come back after school to read. We were amazed that so many were keen to change and come back to school to read. For these children it is a special treat and they are so appreciative of the books provided for them. One little boy in particular stayed for a couple of hours and was keen to show us how well he could read. Thank you LHS from the children of Romdoul Primary, and the Australia for Cambodia group. x Jan

05.01.2022 Our bike distribution. We were so pleased with your response as this is a deal changer. If our students have to walk great distances to school, or the seven kilometres from Romdoul School to Secondary School, the attendance tends to drop off. The village is very rural, so it is possible that some children have to walk from a distance one side of the village, past the Primary School and then another seven kilometres to High School. Our 25 bikes this year, means that every chil...d who attended Romdoul in Grade 6 last year is now riding, and those that will go to high school mid year will all have a bike too. Our year 7 High School students came to the school to receive their bikes then rode off to high school after the distribution. All our students pledged to attend school and take care of their bikes. Their parents were there for the hand over. Very exciting. See more

03.01.2022 Congratulations we have been kicking goals the last few weeks. Can we firstly thank Lucah and Tate Phillips, Donna Griffin, Jeanette Fisher, Bod and Julie Gordon and Kerri Pike and her 3P class. We have our 181 children covered for meals for the next twelve months x x Our filter list has grown to !0 with filters ordered by the Bundabah-Pindimar Community, Kylie Page from Taree Motor Inn, and Gillian Fabiszewski in memory of Wally's mother Maria. We will leave this open to an...yone who is interested. These bio-sand filters cost us AUD $120. We have 17 bikes paid for with two more promised. Thank you Alison Louise, Kat Maranik and Jenny Little for the most recent bike orders. We have room on our truck for 24 but will be taking out a load anyway. x x Thank you Talia Gruschka for our 4th Well in memory of your grandmother Helena and Auntie Ruth. We can drill as many wells as we can fund so will leave this open to anyone at a cost of AUD $475. Recent sponsorships of uniforms by Lara Keeley, Talia Gruschka, Kat Maranik, Jannene Cunningham and Kerry Pike and her 3P class at Wallsend South Primary, have left us with 72 students to cover. If anyone is interested in covering the cost of a uniform at AUD $15 we would be very happy. x x Love to you all x Jan

03.01.2022 Looking to the future in Romdoul. We left Romdoul really pleased with the trip and all that was achieved in three weeks. A couple of projects are still to be completed but are under control and I am sure we will get photos from Mr Rith when they are completed. Both have been funded by Don and Ceal Holbert, and one in particular we will watch with great interest. The first involves repair to the walls of our year 3, 4, 6 classroom block. Being constructed from palm leaves, af...ter the wet it requires some modifications to make it more waterproof for next year. This is a work in progress. The second is a new project. The children are going to try fish farming so we have four concrete tubs in place. They are curing and when the time is right, will be filled, fingerlings added, topped with vegetation and we will see how it goes. Mr Rith quoted for everything including fish food and now they can manage it. If the students are successful, then maybe some of the villagers will give it a try. The students are leading by example. x x Jan

02.01.2022 There's more to come x x Jan

01.01.2022 Today, I would like to thank Robyn Hopper for covering our last two student meals and Robyn Mount for covering bike number 22. Along with this, a big thank you to the van der Vliet family for another well for our village and several school uniform packs. We have covered the last of our uniforms with two generous donations from Rebecca Hughes and Ian Dunlop. So, at this time we have All our uniforms covered All our student meals covered.... 50 girls packs covered The salary for two cooks covered for the year covered The supply of wood for the year covered A budget to cover all school supplies 22 bikes covered 10 water filters covered 5 wells covered If anyone is interested, we can fit two more bikes on our load and two more water filters will make two truck loads. Wells are always needed. We have Xavier Vaughan working on sport supplies. Thank you Julie Reynolds, for going without your "wants" so you could add the two bikes and two filters to our loads for Romdoul. We have two more wells, one from Rachel and Glenn Dible-Dorman and Shire Hearing, and the other from Don and Ceal Holbert on behalf of Corey, Simone and first grandchild Suzannah. Thank you so much x Jan I would ask you all to keep an eye out for our next post as I am hoping you will all get behind our next project. It would be wonderful to have all members of our group involved. x Jan