CamKids selected by Northwest Vision and Media as its Charity of the Year

CamKids is delighted to have been chosen by Northwest Vision and Media, the agency that works on behalf of the TV, film, radio, digital and games industries in the Northwest of England, as their staff's Charity of the Year.

Across the year staff will be holding various fundraising events to raise as much money as possible for CamKids. For more information about Northwest Vision and Media go to www.visionandmedia.co.uk.

We would like to thank the staff of Northwest Vision and Media for selecting CamKids and wish them good luck with all of their fundraising activities.

CamKids First Newsletter

We are pleased to announce that our first Newsletter is now available.

A great deal has happened since our launch on 1 March 2007 and we have grown far faster than we could have anticipated. Through your generosity we have been able to support more projects which directly help the children in Cambodia.

The Newsletter provides an update of projects at Kais Village Orphanage, including the Medical Centre, the new Kitchen / Canteen and the Farm project.

We are also very pleased to report on the official opening of a rural school for more than 200 children, which was financed by CamKids, as well as a number of other ongoing projects and some of our fundraising events.

To access the Newsletter, you can either click on the image above, This Link or Contact Us and we will send you a copy by e-mail. If you sign up to our Newsletter Here, you will receive your copy by e-mail every 6 months (your details will not be used for commercial or any other purpose).

Thanks again to all of our donors and supporters, without whom none of this would have been possible.

With Best Wishes

The CamKids Trustees

GIVING FROM ABROAD - If you are an Australian or American taxpayer, you can now make tax deductible donations to CamKids. Please send Mark Purser an e-mail at: finance@camkids.org, for further details.

SPREAD THE WORD - please forward this blog entry or the Newsletter to any friends or family who you think might be interested. if you could ‘cc’ the e-mail to us as well, we will add their e-mail address to our Newsletter database, so that they receive the next issue directly.

We will never provide personal information to any other organisation. If you wish to unsubscribe from this Newsletter, please contact us.

Kais Village Orphanage Nursery Build 2008

In May 2007, Sergeant Charlie Brooks of The Royal Engineers approached our patron Al Murray with the idea of constructing a building in Cambodia for CamKids.

We couldn’t believe our luck, only a few months after the charity was launched, and we are offered skilled help for a new building! Soldiers love this kind of work, it gives them a chance to utilise their skills to create something of fundamental importance, especially in a country that still needs a great deal of help to get back on its feet after the devastation of war.

Al immediately flew Charlie out to Cambodia (before he could change his mind!) to meet the directors of (charity funded) Kais Village Orphanage which is in desperate need of a new, bigger, more functional nursery. Kais, situated in a rural area in Cambodia, is currently home to 30 babies, the conditions are cramped and basic to say the least and more babies arrive every other week. Cots can double up over night and the nannies sleep on the floor - many work all through the day, feed babies in the night and have nowhere to go for a nap or break.

Charlie carried out an initial reconnaissance of the orphanage land and drew up some basic drafts and estimates for the nursery. Working from a detailed wish list we think we have managed to incorporate everything we could hope for in a nursery; sleep areas for up to 40 babies and up to 20 nannies, play areas, bottle preparation rooms, wet and dry rooms for changing, storage, and of course a tea break/wash/sleep area for the nannies. Charlie is now faced with a far more challenging build than he ever could have anticipated.

A particularly generous friend of CamKids, architect Scott Gill, has taken time out to turn Charlie’s drafts into beautiful, architectural plans. Between Scott, Charlie and new recruit, Steve Haskins, some serious thought has gone into to the design of this building, such as the need for good ventilation (given the sheer volume of soiled nappies and the tropical climate), the need for water collection guttering, and most importantly they have had to account for the fact that there is no sewage system in this part of Cambodia.

Charlie, Project Manager Lee Belcher and two other volunteers from the British Army, Greg Lawrence and Stephen Halpin, are taking 9 weeks leave to undertake this enormous build. They will be employing a team of local construction builders and tradesmen. CamKids volunteers will join them in April to help with plastering, tiling and painting. The new nursery should be complete by the end of April.

The directors of Kais have always had a dream that their orphanage would never feel like an institution. They have always wanted the children, the nannies, the cook, the cleaner, the doctor, the farmers, the maintenance men and volunteers that work and live there to feel like Kais is their little community, their village, their home. On behalf of Kais, CamKids would like to say thank you to Charlie Brooks, Scott Gill, Steve Haskins, Lee Belcher, Big Misters Shipping Co, Paul Redfern of Redferness (who is assisting Charlie with sourcing materials and a team of builders in Cambodia) and a special thank you to our generous donors, without your support this project never would have been possible.

Please contact us or click one of the links if you would like to make make a donation to support this build or a regular donation to support the running costs of the nursery or to support future builds. Please mark your donation 'Nursery'.

School Opening and Recent CamKids Trustee Visit

CamKids Trustee, Mark Purser, visited Cambodia recently and attended the official opening and blessing of Rumdoul Thmei school, in Kampong Speu Region (see article Here). The school is located in an extremely isolated and poor community, even by Cambodian standards. None of the children have ever spent a single day at school.

CamKids is working with a local NGO and has provided the financing for the acquisition of the land and buildings and renovation of the school. CamKids will also be meeting the running costs of the school, which will be teaching the Cambodian State syllabus, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Future plans include teaching English to the students and providing vocational training for the older children.

Representatives from the Ministry, as well as Village and Commune Chiefs and the families of the children also attended the opening. All of the children were given a school bag containing writing materials, small toys and sweets and they will all be provided with school uniforms and flip flops. As many of the children have to walk over 5 km to the school, we are also planning to provide bicycles to some of the students.

We still need donors to help support the running costs of the school, including regular sponsors for the teachers and pupils and donors to fund the cost of 'School Starter Packs' for each of the children. If you would like to find out more about the project or if you would like to sponsor a teacher or a student, please send an e-mail to: Mark Purser. Alternatively, to make a regular online donation, please click REGULAR or SINGLE, to make a single online donation. Please mark any donation ‘School’.

Al Murray Xmas Benefit Show for CamKids

STOP PRESS - SHOW NOW SOLD OUT

CHECK THIS NEWS WEBLOG FOR FUTURE SHOWS

On Thursday 13th December Al Murray 'The Pub Landlord' (and CamKids Patron) will be hosting a special variety show at his pub of choice in aid of CamKids at the George IV Function Room, 185 Chiswick High Road, London W4 2DR.

All money raised will be used to benefit orphaned, abandoned and poor children in Cambodia.

Tickets cost £25 and doors open at 7.30. Other acts will be added to the line up in the next few weeks - check back here for details.

Tickets are strictly limited to 250 and we are initially offering them on a first come first served basis to existing supporters and friends of CamKids.

Tickets will go on sale to the public next week - to reserve a ticket, please send an e-mail to: Amber Murray.

Diary from KV Orphanage Volunteer

The days keep vanishing, the weeks melting the months evaporating. “Soon your year will be over” everyone kept commenting. As a calendar year, yes that may be true, but as a year that will live so closely to my heart and bear down on my decisions throughout life, it had only just begun. I really can’t believe how fast my time here has gone - thinking of going home feels like a world away. Writing this has brought feelings of leaving and how scared I am to go.

The children mean so much to me, they are my family and not only am I their teacher, their sister their mum I am also their friend. It’s going to be so tough walking out the gates for the last time. Thinking about looking back and seeing the kids and nannies brings me to tears.

Many people comment on how proud they are of me, but I feel like it’s such a simple thing to do. I love people, helping out and hey I get nice weather. But now as my flight looms closer I realise how many challenges I have faced. Any things I wish I never have to experience again and many I never want to end.

My role has developed so much this year - I gained great amounts of responsibility. I found myself in charge of the monthly expenditure for the orphanage, paying the bills and filling in reports. Where my role developed most is on the medical side of life.

In the beginning another girl and I shared a room, our room was a little way from the kid’s house and on many occasions I'd be woken up throughout the night with sick kids or problems. It became easier for me and the nannies to sleep alongside the children. So I slept on the floor with the nannies next to the cots - during the day the mosquito nets came down and it became a play area, by making this move

I became more involved with the lives of all the children and nannies. Many nights were spent talking late into the night with nannies. I picked up a lot of the language this way and made amazing friends, although most importantly, I was on hand for any medical issues. Looking back now I realise that I have saved lives - it’s hard to grasp and believe because I feel so young and I suppose I thought that, at nineteen, you can’t do things like that. I guess it’s hard to admit that there are problems the world over that can be prevented so simply.

My year has been amazing and I have learnt so much, yes I have had tough days. Witnessing death in children so young, knowing that in another country these things would not be allowed to happen was hard and often brought anger, but I had to come to realise that there sometimes was nothing else I could do.

For every sad moment there’s a million amazing moments. Like when the weight of an extremely malnourished child begins to rise every week, after months of struggling to get her to eat properly. Or when a weak boy of three with a hole in the heart gains enough strength to walk and laugh. Or when I’ve sat up all night with a child that is extremely dehydrated due to vomiting and diarrhoea and also has a fever of 42c manages to keep something down and starts regaining health. Or when I meet my students in the market and they can hold a whole conversation with me in English. I can see their parents eyes light up as it means their child might make it out of the wooden shack and get a proper paid job. And I smile so proud because my student no matter how much trouble they’d caused in class had after all been listening.

I came to Cambodia knowing only that I'd be living in an orphanage and teaching in a school. I taught classes of 50 children geography, English, Maths, Arts and Sports and most importantly, Hygiene. My role developed so much in so many different ways but it always came back to teaching and learning. Just as much as I am teaching I am learning. I’ve gained great friends and earned respect in my village, becoming a local in the rural Cambodian village which has become my home.

I don’t know how to thank everyone so much who contributed in any way to sending me to Cambodia.

Akon Chran - Thank you very much

Esme
Project Trust Volunteer
Cambodia

If you are interested in volunteering in Cambodia or elsewhere, contact Project Trust at info@projecttrust.org.uk or go to http://www.projecttrust.org.uk/.

Items needed for Container to Cambodia

In Spring 2008, CamKids will be constructing a large Nursery building at the main orphanage which CamKids supports (more important news on this project shortly). In addition, we are in the process of renovating a building to be used as a school for 120 children, who have never received any education (see Weblog Entry) in their lives, as well as a number of other projects.

As some of the materials are not available in Cambodia, we will be sending a container out in January 2008. We will also be taking this opportunity of filling the container with other items which are difficult or expensive to source in Cambodia, such as medical equipment and supplies for the Medical Centre. As the container will be going anyway, any additional items we can cram in, will cost us nothing to transport.

In addition to the things which people might have at home (cotton children’s clothes, durable toys etc), we need some specialist medical / physiotherapy items for the new nursery and items for the new school. If you have any specialist contacts who might be able to assist, we would really appreciate it if you could forward this post to them as well as circulating it to friends / family / contacts / club members etc.

The full list of items required can ge found HERE.

The list is not exhaustive and we have probably left some things off which would be very useful for one of our projects. Please feel free to contact us by e-mail (contact@camkids.org) if you have anything to offer, have any questions or if you would like us to send a ‘formal’ request for items, where this might be required by your company.

As we are all volunteers in full-time work, It would far easier for us if the items could be delivered to us in London or West Sussex, but we could also arrange collection of items in London (easiest), Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire and might be able to arrange collection of large amounts or much needed medical other equipment from elsewhere – please Contact Us.

If you are unable to provide any of the items, but would like to help in other ways, such as making a donation or taking part in a sponsored event to raise money for the charity, please Contact Us for more information.

Recent Trip to Cambodia by Trustees

Trustees Amber and Benita were in Cambodia last month for 10 days to follow up on current and future CamKids projects. This included the signing off of the sustainable, eco farming project at Kais with the Cambodian Rural Development Team and the planning of a new nursery to be built by the British Army in February 2008.

Amber and Benita visited the dentist the children at Kais receive basic free dental treatments from, a children’s surgical centre, a burns rehabilitation centre, an orphanage in Phnom Penh and a number of families living in poor rural areas.

They also managed to fit in four days at Kais Village Orphanage and spent lots of time with the children currently being sponsored there. The children are doing well and are happy and thriving. The babies who were poorly earlier in the year have gained weight and strength and are benefitting from a good ratio of one Nanny to two babies. Lots of new babies have arrived at Kais - many of them are very small and need feeding up and lots of TLC - we are looking forward to seeing great improvements in their health too.

Amber and Benita were delighted to be able to give the children gifts from their sponsors, new pyjamas and games and some much needed terry nappies, bottle sterilisers, blankets and baby grows for the babies. They helped the children write letters and draw pictures for their sponsors, took them swimming, taught them some new games and gave them plenty of cuddles!

Two new Project Trust volunteers had arrived a week before Amber and Benita’s visit. They will be spending a year at Kais teaching the children and local villagers English. The girls have raised funds and volunteered their gap year and will have the experience of their lifetime. The girls were acclimatising to the heat, the Asian diet, the basic living conditions and having to teach children with limited English. CamKids wishes them all the best. They have fantastic shoes to fill as Debbie and Esme, the previous volunteers, did an incredible job last school year and are to be highly commended for their commitment to the children.

The Inaugural Al Murray Golf Classic

On Friday 21st September the Inaugural Al Murray Golf Classic fund raising event took place at Wyke Green Golf Club in Osterley, Middlesex. Fifty-six ‘golfing’ men and women set off around the course with ongoing entertainment provided by Al Murray and Abi Titmuss, for what proved to be a fantastic day for everyone involved.

The golf was of mixed quality with many of the ‘ordinary’ shots captured on a short film of the day, shot by our friends at GBTV, which can be viewed by following This Link. After making hard work of a lovely course, the weary golfers soon picked up as the evening guests started to arrive. Following a few drinks at the bar eighty-three guests sat down for a wonderful three-course meal.

Later in the evening, Abi Titmuss hosted a raffle and the Governor himself, Mr Al Murray, presided over a very successful auction. People seemed quite willing to part with their cash, although it did seem to be the Landlord’s hand in their pockets.

This brought the profit for the day up to a staggering £10,000, which will make an incredible contribution to our work in Cambodia. The whole event was an overwhelming success and ended with a disco for the revellers to strut their stuff. Such was the popularity of the event that it will definitely be repeated again next year!

CamKids at the Children's Surgical Centre (CSC)

During a recent trip to Cambodia, CamKids Trustees Benita and Amber visited the Children's Surgical Centre (CSC) in Phnom Penh. The CSC provides a wide range of surgery, encompassing facial reconstruction, orthopaedic surgery, eye surgery, and plastic and burn surgery.

The CSC provide surgeries and procedures for children and adults free of charge and relies on support from NGOs, individuals, organisations and grants to keep running. Some of these complex surgeries are currently unavailable in the rest of Cambodia. If it were not for the CSC, people would need to travel to neighbouring Singapore or Thailand to receive the same operations, which a majority of the population would never be able to afford. CSC are saving and changing lives.

Our Trustees were overwhelmed by the dedication of the team behind the CSC and the high level of expertise and care provided by the medical staff. CamKids are proud to have now made a substantial financial contribution to the running costs of the hospital. This is thanks to our generous donors, friends and supporters - thank you for giving us the chance to help extraordinary places like the CSC. CamKids are privileged to be associated with this incredible hospital. For more information about their work, you can visit the CSC website http://www.csc.org/.

If you are a UK resident and would like to make a donation to CSC through CamKids, please Click Here to make a single donation or Here for a regular donation and mark your payment "CSC". This way, we will be able to increase your donation by 28% Gift Aid and remember, there will be no deduction for administrative costs (we don't have any !).

Jazz at the BoE Update

Only 2 days left to purchase tickets for the Saturday night Gala Dinner or the Saturday and Sunday Brunch gigs to be held at the Bank Of England Sports Centre, Priory Lane in Roehampton, London SW15.

The Saturday evening gala performance includes a gourmet menu from 8-12 midnight with music from BBC award winner Liane Carroll & hot salsa from the Cuban rhythms of 'Soneando'.

Participating Musicians include Liane Carroll - Janet Penfold - Stan Sulzman - Martin Speake - Jonny Boston - Patrick Wood - Gavin Scott - Bernie Holden - Sophie Garner - Tommaso Starace - Tom Stone - Soneando - Rojer Beaujolais - Malcolm Edmonstone - Pat Crumly - Chris Lee - Graham Pike.

To buy tickets - click here, contact bob@jazzattheboe.co.uk or call BOB MALSTON on 07775 852 684.

STOP PRESS: ENTRY TO THE SATURDAY LUNCHTIME GIG IS NOW FREE OF CHARGE

COME ALONG TO HEAR SOME GREAT JAZZ AND SUPPORT CAMKIDS

Sponsored Bare Foot Walk

Congratulations and a big Thankyou to Seb Rounds and Hugh Davies who have walked over 600km (mostly barefoot) through France & Spain to raise money for CamKids. Seb has just sent the following update from the road:

" Just a short email again to keep you and whoever else might be interested up to date:

A lot has changed since I last got in contact - I in fact only wore shoes (or rather sandals) for 3 days before making the decision to split off from Hugh (and Steve, a friend who has also been walking with us in boots) and try walking barefoot again - only this time at a much reduced pace to see if it was more maintainable.

As it happens, I’ve been going over 3 weeks solo now (I think !) and the feet seem to be holding up OK with the new regime of 15 - 20km a day. It kind of became a personal challenge at some point, and though it involved changing my flight and having to say goodbye to the others I’m glad I did it. Still possible of course I may run into feet trouble again but I’ve now done about 550km barefoot (with an additional 80km in sandals) and feeling positive !!

And as you may have noticed, the JustGiving total continues to rise - I’ve also been given a couple of donations out here by interested pilgrims that I’ll add later !

Regards, Seb "


Seb & Hugh have raised an incredible £2,930 to date - almost £3,800 when Gift Aid is added. To sponsor Seb & Hugh though JustGiving, follow this link. If you are planning an event and would like to raise money for CamKids, please contact: contact@camkids.org.

Jazz Festival at the BoE

The Charity is extremely pleased to be chosen as the beneficiary of a weekend of Jazz music, to be held at the Bank Of England Sports Centre, Priory Lane in Roehampton, London SW15 on 22nd and 23rd September.

The event comprises three gigs - Saturday lunchtime from midday to 4pm followed by a sponsored Gala Event from 8pm to midnight and a Sunday lunchtime gig. Details of the Aritsts can be found here.

All three events will take place in the BoE sports Centre's superb permanent marquee in it's beautiful grounds in Roehampton. The Marquee will cater for around 250 people and a sell out is expected for all three events. Catering will be by Searcys, the BoE's in-house caterers, with barbecues for the two lunchtime sessions (weather permitting) and a formal dinner for the Saturday evening Gala.

To purchase tickets or to find out more information about the weekend, visit the event's website: www.jazzattheboe.co.uk.

Dengue Fever Appeal - Update 17 July

A big thanks to all of you who have donated to our Dengue Fever Appeal. The peak risk period has not yet been reached and we need to raise additional funds to protect the existing children and prepare for additional babies being admitted to the orphanage on a daily basis.

See the video news report from the BBC here.

If you are able to help, please click here and mark your donation 'Dengue'.

Inaugural Al Murray Golf Classic - 21 September

CamKids is delighted to announce that it will be the beneficiary of the Inaugural Al Murray Golf Classic, to be held at the Wyke Green Golf Club, Syon Lane, Osterley, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5PT on Friday 21st September, from midday to midnight.

Playing tickets cost £100, which includes 18 holes of golf, a free exclusive souvenir golf shirt, 3-course meal with wine on the tables, guests, Pub Landlord jacket for the winners, DJ, entertainment and lots more. Non-playing tickets are £50, which includes a 3-course meal with wine on the tables and the evening's entertainment.

For more details of the event, celebrity guests and activities, watch this weblog or contact Dom at: golf@camkids.org.

To purchase tickets, contact Dom or send a message from the sidebar on the right of this weblog. Player tickets are limited to 60 and most have already been snapped up - hurry to avoid disappointment !!

Emergency Appeal - Dengue Fever Outbreak

We have received an urgent request for funding and sourcing of supplies to deal with a massive outbreak of Dengue Fever (a mosquito-borne infection) in Cambodia. The Director of SOS, the local NGO which we work with in Cambodia, had this to say:

" We are extremely busy as Cambodia is in the midst of a major Dengue epidemic. The levels are 5 times worse than normal and growing and hospitals are literally overflowing into the streets. Any children in hospital that are perceived as 'out of immediate danger' have to leave the hospital as bed space is urgently required. This means that we have been asked to take many abandoned and still sick children over the past few weeks and we anticipate more coming in as the epidemic worsens. Some, we hope, will be claimed back by their families afterwards.

Just to give you an idea of the scale of the problem, the National Pediatric Hospital has reported on TV that they have seen 90 new Dengue admittances per day for the past month. There are 4 other hospitals in Phnom Penh of a similar size to NPH, which are believed to be experiencing similar levels of admittances.

In this unusual situation we are asking everyone we can think of to help with donations to cover the following items:

Cans of Lactogen 1 & 2
Cans of Allsoy or Nansoy (for use when a baby has diarrhea)
Warm cot blankets and sheets
Plastic cot mats
Terry nappy squares
Extra mossie nets for cots / bunk beds
Tiny baby grows/socks/hats/mittens (it’s all about keeping warm especially at night – it’s cool and windy there now)
IV lines and fluid packs
Rehydration salts
Diarrhea medicines
Napisan
Dettol/bleach "

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and its healthcare system just cannot cope with an emergency on this scale - annual government spending on healthcare is about $3 per person (source: World Bank). The WHO and other international organisations, whilst doing their best, simply cannot react quickly enough in rural locations to save the most vulnerable victims of this outbreak - the children. However, CamKids will be providing funds to assist SOS to save the lives of as many babies and children as possible and any donation you are able to make will literally help to save lives.

Our funds are limited and if you are able to make a donation to CamKids to help out in this extreme emergency, please click here to make an instant online donation and enter "Emergency" in the Project field. Alternatively, send an e-mail to contact@camkids.org, to receive information on other ways to donate or help.

For news reports on the outbreak from Reuters, click here.

Al Murray and Friends Sell Out Shows

The two shows this weekend at the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne were a sell out and the Charity raised over £20,000 - a big thank you to everyone who came to the shows, bought up all the raffle tickets and bid so enthusiastically in the auctions - it was fantastic to see people so willing to get behind the charity and do their bit to help.

Thank you to everyone involved behind the scenes, especially 'Big Dave' for organising the shows, the performers (Britain's most wanted children's entertainer - Jeremy Lion, the first German comedian anyone had ever seen - Henning Wehn and Jewish heavy metal legends - Guns 'n' Moses) and the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne, for providing the Venue free of charge and without whom the event would not have been possible.

Also thanks to our sponsors and everyone who donated prizes and to Al's team, 'Big Bob', friends and family who helped all weekend to make sure that the shows went smoothly, with an extra special mention to all of the Tivoli's volunteer staff who gave up their weekend for CamKids.

Of course, a very special Thank You, on behalf of the Cambodian children, goes to Al Murray for his incredible generosity and hard work this weekend and throughout the year for CamKids.

Look out for more of Al's benefit shows later in the year ..........

Orphanage Kitchen & Canteen Update

The construction of a kitchen and canteen at Kais Village Orphanage is progressing well, as can be seen from the photos below. The roof has now been completed and the fit-out is largely complete. We are just waiting for the arrival of the units and work surfaces for the kitchen.

Current Project - Rumdoul Thmei Village School

The photos show a building, which the Charity has recently funded the acquisition of and is in the process of converting into a school for 120 children in a small rural hamlet in the Kampong Speu Region of Cambodia. None of the children have spent a single day at school before and we plan to enhance the Khmer syllabus with English language and vocational traning, particularly for the older children.

We are still looking for donors to help cover the conversion, equipping and ongoing costs. If you would like to find out more about the Charity, would like to sponsor a teacher or can make a donation, please visit http://www.camkids.org/ - mark any donation ‘School’, or e-mail: info@camkids.org.

“Al Murray and Friends” at The Tivoli Theatre to benefit CamKids

On 30th June and 1st July Al Murray 'The Pub Landlord' (and CamKids Patron) will be hosting an evening of comedy in aid of CamKids at The Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne Minster, Dorset.

Guest acts include premier children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion, Jewish heavy metal band Guns ‘n’ Moses and the Daily Show’s Andy Zaltzman. Other top turns may join the bill !

To make a booking please telephone the Box Office on 01202 885566 (opening Times, Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm, Saturday 10am - 1pm) or go to www.tivoliwimborne.co.uk