28/05/2026
If you'd like to find out what we've been up to for the past 12 months here's my chairman's report from the recent AGM. It's a bit of a read so grab a coffee and a comfy chair:
On the eve of our 18th year partnering with the incredible projects in Cambodia, it still isn’t lost on me what an incredible transformation has taken place in the villages and communities that we support.
I still have vivid memories of my first encounter with true poverty when we were ushered into Andong slum village for the very first time on a hot and humid mid-July day in 2009. Despite having been in Cambodia for over a week, I wasn’t prepared for the level of depravity we witnessed, with families living in abject poverty that is hard to put into words.
But amid the squalor sat a tiny bamboo classroom with a handful of students in crisp white uniforms eager to learn and with such hope etched on their faces. In the years that have followed our student population in the now two schools has grown to well over 1,000 and the diversity of project activity is quite astounding and is such an inspiration and encouragement to me.
But I’m not going to lie – these past 12 months have been extremely testing. The border skirmish with Thailand has had a lasting impact on thousands of families we know and support in Oddar Meanchey. In fact, more broadly it has been the catalyst for the largest displacement of Cambodians since the infamous Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s.
In the early days of the conflict, students as young as five in our school sat terrified in their classrooms as artillery fire echoed across the landscape from just 20 kilometres away. This is something no child should ever have to endure. Before long the school was closed and boarded up as villagers prepared to pour out of OM.
The so-called lucky ones escaped with their families to evacuation camps a few hours down the road where food aid eventually filtered through, but sanitation and general living conditions were nothing short of third world.
But there were others, hundreds from our villages alone, who, with no form of transport, were left behind to hide in the jungle for weeks with virtually no shelter and scant provisions that ran out after a couple of days. As the conflict spread well inside the Cambodian side of the border, these terrified families had to endure F16s and drones dropping ordinances all around them.
Amid the chaos of all this our dedicated and big-hearted project director Pastor Abe was involved in a roadside accident in a remote corner of Oddar Meanchey that very nearly claimed his life. I can honestly say it was the most challenging few months that I think we have had to endure since our partnership began.
But among the darkness and tragedy emerged much light, love and hope. Despite his injuries, Abe rallied a courageous team of volunteers to venture into the danger zone and deliver life-saving food aid to families sheltering in the jungle and this was only possible because of the generous hearts of our Aussie donors. Village elders said at the time that they feared for the lives of some of their malnourished children and believed some would have perished had Abe’s team not arrived when it did.
These same donors also dug deep to fund Abe’s recovery-related medical expenses and in a show of great humility Abe even stretched the budget to support the man who ran into him on the side of the road. He has stayed in contact with his family to this day.
I’m also very proud of our devoted and compassionate Oddar Meanchey teaching team who set aside their own personal family challenges during the border war to deliver a makeshift education program to children in evacuation camps, no doubt easing the boredom for them and their parents.
Further donor generosity enabled us to continue to roll out food aid programs to desperate OM families as they started to trickle back home early in the new year. Because their villages were well inside the identified conflict zone, they were not on the radar of foreign aid agencies pouring into Cambodia, so our support was the only help they got.
Of course, while all this was going on we continued to maintain a focus on the myriad of other project activities like operating Andong school, OM House of Hope, mentoring and accommodating young adults in Phnom Pehn undertaking tertiary education, operation of the OM cow, fish and avocado farm among many other things.
We again funded very significant Christmas celebrations in both OM and Andong that attract thousands of villagers and were able to provide modest monetary gifts to all our teachers during Khmer New Year in April.
A really exciting development in the early part of 2026 has been laying some groundwork for a multi-layered agribusiness proposal that has the potential to be a real game-changer for struggling Oddar Meanchey landholders who are no longer able to access employment across the border in Thailand. It could also have a significant impact on the sustainability of our farm as well. Watch this space as things develop in the coming months.
Due to the border skirmish, it was with a heavy heart that we were forced to push the pause button on a trip planned last November for a great group of Supporting Cambodia champions, the vast majority of them going for the very first time. I’m hopeful we will be able to make this happen next year.
I did manage to accompany a small group of repeat offenders to Cambodia in late February to undertake a somewhat brief fact-finding foray into OM for the planned agribusiness project. I must say it was a bit surreal staying under armed guard in our usual guest house, dodging missile craters on the roads and seeing normally bustling OM still virtually devoid of activity. A real poignant moment on this trip that brought home that miliary tensions are still very high was being escorted by army personnel to view a truck mounted missile-launcher hidden in the jungle. I got the feeling hostilities could resume in a heartbeat.
Back here in Australia we rolled out some terrific fundraising initiatives this past year including our usual pop-up food stall at the Kingscote Show, ice-cream extravaganza at the Stokes Bay fireworks night, clean up at the KI Races, a Supporting Cambodia merchandise campaign and a very well attended variety talent show. I also made a handful of presentations to community groups promoting our project activities.
As much as these fundraising events deliver a much-needed boost to our coffers, it’s the generosity of our donors that underpins the majority of what we are able to achieve in Cambodia. A really important component of this is the fantastic matching funding campaign that we have once again just announced that is underwritten by a couple of our longtime champions for the cause. The compassion of our ever-broadening supporter base never ceases to amaze me and I offer my heartfelt gratitude for your support this past year.
So what does this translate to in terms of the impact on the bottom line? Last year we managed to fund over AU$245,000 in project activities, however, in the 12 months just gone, this increased to a staggering AU$310,000 or 843 million riel in the local currency. This takes our running tally over the past seven years well beyond AU$2 million which is just amazing.
I’d like to round out my report with a few thank yous. To everyone who has donated, volunteered or shared stories about the projects give yourselves a massive pat on the back.
Kathy Flack from our office continues to do much of the administration heavy lifting behind the scenes and makes sure our tax deductible receipting is always up to date. This is really important so thank you Kathy.
Our fantastic website continues to be a really effective gateway to the projects and another platform for people to be able to financially contribute so a big thanks to Emily McWaters for keeping this running smoothly.
To Chris Bowditch in Tassie and Pam Ledley in Perth, I really appreciate your wisdom and enthusiasm for all things Cambodian and for flying the flag in your respective communities.
A big thank you to Leah Couchman from Couchman Accounting who gives up her time to undertake our annual audit. It’s very much appreciated.
It’s hard to know where to start and finish with this next individual – our project director Abe. He really is the architect of everything that happens on the ground in Andong and Oddar Meanchey and the debt of gratitude we owe him is too great for words. Thank you from the bottom of my heart my brother.
And finally to my awesome wife, cm treasurer, cm catering division, cm sounding board – you’re amazing and I’m really proud of the great team that we make. Thanks Princess.
Thank you once again for entrusting me with the honour and privilege to oversee Supporting Cambodia as chairman and I look forward to the journey that lays before us over the coming year.
