We take a four hour drive to Tbaeng Meanchey in Preah Vihear province with Carol Cassidy. Our first stop the abandoned children’s orphanage, Carol has supported for the last 10 years, to deliver blankets, mosquito nets, rice and vegetables.
By Nina
We drove up country 1 hour on hard surface, 2.5 hours on dirt road 80% full of pot holes. Our destination Tbaeng Meanchey in Preah Vihear province Carol Cassidy’s ‘studio’ so primitive, dirt floors, endearing weavers, amazing to find such luxurious textiles created ‘from the red earth’. Here over 40 rural artisans, land mine survivors earn a sustainable income under the generous care of Carol’s NGO Weaves of Cambodia.
From the red earth of Preah Vihear, Cambodia, a community of determined land mine survivors is creating a sustainable income through traditional weaving. In 1998 with five women making silk products and now employs over 40 rural artisans who use their artistic skills to earn a sustainable income. “We strive to uphold Fair Trade values by ensuring that all team members are able to enjoy a healthy and safe working environment.” Carol Cassidy.
by Rob Elliot
Canadians from Vancouver participate in the Cambodian International Half Marathon December 7th, 2008 , running to raise funds for the children of Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap.
In early December 2008, the Vancouver group went over seas and participated in an incredible event that raises awareness for Youth with HIV and land man survivors. The Cambodian International Half Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia must be one of the most exotic running races in the world, a run through the ancient ruins of Angkor. But this was not the only purpose of our journey
Dr. Chris Zed (associate Dean of Dentistry UBC) has been working in South East Asia for almost 10 years leading residency students in a knowledge transfer program through the University of British Columbia. Dr. Zed works extensively with The Angkor Hospital for Children in the town of Siem Reap. In 2007, he and Innovative Fitness West Vancouver training coach Rob Elliott ran the Half Marathon for the first time, as well as brought the concepts of health, wellness and fitness to the hospital. The two brought over simple fitness equipment for the employees, an active seminar was held teaching functional training and exercises that would help the employees on the job. The Angkor Hospital for Children sees upwards of 450 children a day, and the employees were having some injuries due to the volume. That trip was a huge success and an inspiration to share the experience with others.
Five dollars can feed five families for a week
Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier
Nina Cassil’s visit to Myanmar this Christmas will be her 13th visit to Southeast Asia in eight years. She can’t help it. She and her husband fell in love with that part of the world during their travels and can’t stop going back. But the couple’s most recent visit will also be an arduous journey as they travel by bus and boat to see how money from their CW Asia Fund helped aid those in the path of Cyclone Nargis in May. While large non-governmental organizations struggled to get food and medicine to residents of the Irrawaddy Delta, the Cassils delivered 8,000 pounds of donated medicine with relative ease.
“I don’t know why the international community just feels that they can’t work or do anything because of the government, ” Nina Cassils said. “It’s really not the case.” Governments could have easily partnered with aid agencies, including World Vision and Save the Children, which operate in Myanmar, said Cassils, a 54-year-old resident of Point Grey who talked to the Courier Wednesday on the phone from Hong Kong. Working with aid agencies is exactly what the Cassils did. The Clinton Global Initiative invited the Cassils to Hong Kong to talk to international heads of state, non-government organizations, businesspeople and philanthropists about how they can work together to improve education and public health and tackle problems involving energy and climate change in Asia.
Patient Total October 2008
| October 2008 | Year to Date | Total since 1999 | |
| Outpatient | 12,860 | 92,733 | 601,469 |
| Inpatient | 214 | 2,339 | 24,876 |
| Intensive Care Unit | 58 | 622 | 3,894 |
| Low Acuity Unit | 85 | 856 | 7,741 |
| Emergency | 603 | 6,418 | 88,051 |
Dec 1-3, 2008
Support for M’Lop Tapang, 2008
Commitment By: Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund (CW Asia Fund)
Partner(s): M’Lop Tapang and ADM Capital Foundation
Objective: To provide funding for the construction of a new wing of M’Lop Tapang’s day center. The new wing will host a medical clinic for street children and other vulnerable children, 4 classrooms, 1 large computer lab, 1 art room and 1 dance/music room.
Commitment Details:
Estimated Total Value: $100,000
Anticipated Launch: January 1, 2009
Commitment Duration: 1 year
Geographic Region: Asia
Geographic Scope: Cambodia
Dr. Phoebe Tsang and her dental team from the Children’s Oral Care Center in Abbotsford, British Columbia closed her practice for 10 days to volunteer their services to the child patients of Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap Cambodia. A young graduate from University of British Columbia made a commitment to David Shoemaker, Medical Education Director of AHC in September 2006 that she would come help him one day. She kept her promise, not only did she go, but she brought along her husband Dr. Samson Ng, an oral pathologist and her office dental assistants Shauna Willems, Norine Kobes and Sheila Harte. Together they provided much needed dental care to young patients at the AHC dental clinic in the mornings and in the afternoon went out on outreach into the community reaching children in their schools to fluoride teeth, repair, and extract as needed. Hundreds of tooth brushes and tooth paste was provided.
Dr. Phoebe Tsang opened her dental clinic in September 2007 at
201-2051 McCallum Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 3N5.
Tel: 604-756-0111, Hours 8:30 to 4pm Tues – Fri.
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg nurse helps restore a shattered nation
By: Rick Friedlander
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — David Shoemaker, a nurse from Winnipeg, stumbled upon Siem Reap during a volunteer trip to Southeast Asia in January 2000 and decided to return to continue his efforts. He’s still there.
Siem Reap, site of the architectural wonder of the world, Angkor Wat, shows Cambodia’s tentative steps toward economic growth. When I first saw it in 2004, Siem Reap seemed to be another dusty town with a great attraction, slowly emerging in the global tourism market. When I revisited it a year ago, billboards were promoting new shopping malls and cellphones, and hotels were competing with aid groups for real estate.
It has helped that a decade has passed since Pol Pot died quietly in the jungles of northern Cambodia. Brother No. 1 and his radical form of agrarian communism, enforced by the dreaded Khmer Rouge, brought the country to its knees. No one is doing more than Shoemaker to get it back on its feet.
“What has kept me here for so long? Quite simply, it is the people, the doctors, nurses, housekeepers and the rest of the staff at AHC (Angkor Hospital for Children),” Shoemaker said. “I have never experienced a country where the people want so desperately to learn and improve.”
At the Center for Friends Without A Border (Friends Center), visitors will have a unique opportunity to learn more about the impact of Cambodia’s recent history and the dramatic progress being made today through the medical care, education and outreach programs provided by Friends.
The Friends Center symbolizes a nexus of caring for the community and of ecological sustainability. The design of the center represents a gesture of openness that invites visitors to connect with the mission and learn about the projects of Friends, while allowing Angkor Hospital for Children to maintain the dignity and privacy of the children and their families.
The award-winning design of the Friends Center was developed by the internationally renowned architectural firm, Cook + Fox. The design and construction were grounded in the cultural belief that there is an inherent link between the health of Cambodia’s people and its environment. The Friends Center itself demonstrates an ethos of cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability, honoring the Khmer legacy of wise stewardship during the Angkor period. Rainwater is captured for reuse, bamboo louvers and roof overhangs are angled to the path of the sun for temperature control, and the roof is engineered for solar photovoltaic power. Renewable biofuel derived from the jatropha plant will be used to help generate the power necessary to operate the Friends Center.
Friends Without A Border 2007 Annual Report
Download the full report (PDF) here.
In our continuing efforts to keep pace with growing demands, primarily due to the success of the Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC), we needed to evolve to a higher level. 2007 began with the long journey of searching for a new Executive Director (ED). We received about 100 applications from all over the world; this reinforced in my mind the large presence of Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC), which has received recognition from the medical and non-medical world alike for its compassionate and quality care, as well as its nationally influential education programs. With this realization, our expectations of the new ED became highly elevated, and appropriately so. The responsibilities awaiting the new ED would present daunting challenges. READ MORE
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