Our club is planning a hands-on project in Siem Reap in Cambodia in January 2027. Up to 16 Rotarians and volunteers will fly up in the new year to:
- build a new home for a rural Cambodian family;
- provided training for 10 teachers and administrators in the only Siem Reap school that caters for students with moderate to severe disabilities. The staff will learn how to design individual learning plans for each of the 32 children in their care;
- Repaint a school;
- Provide care to a village of Cambodians who live below the poverty line;
- Have a great deal of fun learning about life in Cambodia.
This house was being build by some Americans, when we visited Siem Reap in 2026 to plan for our international project. Once completed there is a ceremony with the family who then owns their own home. They have a water well, a toilet with septic tank and a shower. A solar system with a battery provides lights and a fan for use at night. A water filter provides clean drinking water so that the children no longer suffer from diarrhea. They can now go to school.
The new home is built for the floods that occur every year during the wet season. This project really changes the lives of all the members of the family.
We raise US$3,000 to pay for the costs of building the house. Then another US$1,300 for the extras (toilet, shower, lights, etc)
Great work. I’m also leading a group of 9 Rotarians from 5 Adelaide Rotary clubs called ‘Homes for Hope’ again to build another home for a very poor family near Siem Reap through a Cambodian NGO called New Hope Cambodia. Staying at Royal Crown Hotel in Siem Reap from 12th January 2027 for 8 days before traveling to Vietnam. It would be great to catch up and swap notes while there if possible. Different design building, but everything else sounds very similar. Mark Carter, Rotary Club of Regency Park. District 5091.