Human and Hope Association Archives

Cambodia, Developing countries, Human and Hope Association, Preschool

It’s that time of the year again.

June 24

If you had the chance to change a child’s life forever, would you? Six-year-old *Kosal had behaviour difficulties. He often hit his family members, throwing violent tantrums and not listening to anyone. His family was desperate and needed to do something when they found Human and Hope Association’s preschool program. When he was accepted into the preschool program at Human and Hope Association, something remarkable happened; Kosal began to change. It wasn’t easy. But with the ...

Cambodia, Human and Hope Association

Live in Sydney and want to see Ocean’s 8? This is the way to do it.

June 1

Human and Hope Association are excited to be screening a private session of the newly released Ocean’s 8 film. Help us raise much-needed funds to transform the lives of Cambodians and empower them to create sustainable futures for themselves. For this event, we are aiming to raise enough funds to put at least one lady through the Human and Hope Association sewing program, and help them to break the cycle of poverty for good. Date: Wed. 27 June 2018 Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm AEST ...

Australia, Cambodia, Developing countries, Human and Hope Association, Poverty, Responsible Tourism

The Problem with False Promises

May 13

There used to be a Khmer volunteer who taught at Human and Hope Association in addition to his full-time work teaching at a nearby NGO. The NGO he taught at was funded primarily by Australians who frequently visited the organisation. He formed a close relationship with a lady he called ‘Mum’. One day in early 2013, this volunteer came into our office and proudly told me that his ‘Mum’ was going to pay for him to move to Australia to study. I was sceptical. I knew how difficult it was to get ...

Cambodia, Developing countries, Development, Empowerment, Human and Hope Association, Poverty Tourism, Thoughts, Voluntourism

Treating Children as ‘Team Building’ Activities

April 23

One day in February 2016, Human and Hope Association was approached by a tour company in Phnom Penh. They wanted to bring 15 tourists from India to Human and Hope Association to “teach, play with the kids and do something competitive” so that those tourists would have ‘team building’. If we allowed them to do that, they would give us a donation in return. I was absolutely mortified. I had known that this was common practice with some tour companies, however, we had never been approached to ...