Sustainable Cambodia, Inc.

This Mother's Day, Give the gift of POWER, instead of FLOWERS


In rural Cambodia, girls are often forced to stay home from school during their period because they cannot afford sanitary products. This can cause girls to miss up to a week of school a month, eventually dropping out completely from falling too far behind. With additional school closures due to COVID-19 the likelihood of them leaving school is higher than ever.


Contribute to our campaign and help keep these young women in school.

Studies have shown a higher school enrollment rate in girls leads to community-wide benefits. According to UNICEF, an educated girl is less likely to experience child marriage, face domestic abuse, and suffer from long-term health complications. She is also likely to increase her personal earning potential and reduce poverty in her community. A World Bank study shows that the return on one year of secondary education for a girl correlates with an increase of nearly 25 percent in wages later in life.

Sustainable Cambodia (SC) is teaming up with Days for Girls (DfG) International to take action. We are providing feminine hygiene kits and basic health education workshops to school girls in rural Cambodia. SC’s health department works with local teachers and principals to hold the health education workshops for 7th grade girls. After the workshop the kits are distributed to the girls. 

DfG kits are reusable for up to three years. They are produced at SC’s Fair Trade Sewing Enterprise, a small business in Pursat, that pays local women a fair living wage. In addition to DfG kits, they produce school uniforms, bags, and now, face masks.

In 2019, SC distributed over 400 kits and held workshops at three schools in Pursat Province, home to 500,000 people and more than 100 schools with over 50,000 students. In 2020 thus far, over 500 kits have been distributed to young women and two additional schools have hosted workshops. While these numbers are encouraging, our goal is to reach 20 additional schools with 3,000 more girls in need of basic menstrual products and education.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO REACH MORE GIRLS. A Mother’s Day donation of $15 to our campaign gives the gift of one kit to one girl and helps fund a health education workshop.

We currently spend about $500 per year at a small school, $750 at a medium school, and $1500 at large schools.

Sustainable Cambodia Helping Village Families & Children Fight Covid-19

Our Sustainable Cambodia village development teams have been doing additional trainings in the villages on hand-washing and sanitation, to protect against Covid-19. But in Cambodia, even the families who have their own Victory Gardens must visit the local market to purchase some food and supplies. And “social distancing” is more difficult in the close confines of an open-door market. Based on recommendations from the WHO, the families know that they and their children should be wearing masks while in public. But how can they get masks to wear?

The Sustainable Cambodia Sewing Team volunteered to make masks. They sewed the first few dozens of masks for testing. The masks are made of two layers of cotton fabric, with ribbon for fastening.


Up to 10,000 Masks to Protect Families & Children

The SC Sewing Team is now starting to produce the masks, at least 8,000 masks, perhaps growing to 10,000+ masks depending upon the level of support. The masks cost around $0.50 (50 cents) each to produce. The fabrics and materials are available in the Pursat markets. The sewing capacity of the Sewing Team is 200 masks a day. Every dollar contributed to this project will be matched dollar-for-dollar.



Who gets the masks?

About 2,500 students from Sustainable Cambodia & TC Swartz schools
Another 2,500 masks for the family members of the students
Around 3,000 families in 10 or more villages where Rotary/Sustainable Cambodia projects are underway
And SC staff who are distributing all the masks and conducting the trainings
 
How the masks are delivered:

The masks are delivered with education on health and sanitation, and specific information about COVID19, and instructions on when and how to wear masks correctly 
Villagers who are part of Self-Help Groups (SHG’s) will get the masks and trainings through their SHG
Students will come in very small groups with appropriate social distancing to receive their masks and to get training

To learn more about Sustainable Cambodia, go to our website at sustainablecambodia.org .