The girls at Kampong Cham Centre in their new uniforms.

During our New Day trip to Phnom Penh on November 25, we visited the Afesip offices to discuss ongoing developments at the Kampong Cham Centre.  The existing New Day/Norton Rose grant will stretch into 2012 to fund an on-site counselor at the Centre.  While we were there we were able to deliver 30 sets of school uniforms donated by the Glenealy ESF School PTA in Hong Kong.  A big thank you to New Day member Scarlett Mattoli for arranging this donation!

New Day members with Eric Gonzales of CSC

On November 25, New Day members visited the Children’s Surgical Center in Phnom Penh to learn more about the amazing work they are doing and get an update on the grant that we disbursed earlier this year for their Obstetric Fistula program.  You can read about the visit in the below post from New Day member Shannon Rogers:

The first thing we noticed driving up to the CSC was all the work going on!  The CSC is in the process of adding on to their building in order to double their space.  When complete, there will be 100 beds and space for 8-10 surgeries at a time.  Based on the demands they are seeing – the space will be put to use!

The New Day Grant of $10,000 for Obstetric Fistula Surgeries has not been fully utilized yet.  In total, the CSC has done 15 OF Surgeries, and most of the women have had the problem for over 20 years.  The surgeries can be complex, and only about 50% are successful after one procedure.  Follow-up surgeries are often needed.

The UNFPA recently had a $20,000 grant that was allocated to an organization that addressed the Obstetric Fistula problem in Cambodia.  Thanks to the education/publicity campaign that was funded by New Day, the UNPFA was directed to CSC.  They are now known as the NGO that is addressing this problem, and are the recipients of the grant!!   A team from CSC is now spending a month traveling around the countryside of Cambodia to spread the word about the Obstetric Fistula and Acid Burn programs.  Due to the great shame on the part of the victim and the families, many victims are hidden away and can be difficult to find.  The scope of the problem is still unknown.  Unfortunately, based on a rough estimate of about 5% of women in Cambodia receiving medical attention during pregnancy and delivery, it is likely a large problem.   Dr. Jim stated that the Acid Burn Program also started out this way.  As soon as word gets out and people learn there is a place to go – the victims will start coming.

In addition to the Education/Publicity campaign, Dr. Jim is also hoping to utilize the UN relationship to get some specialty training for the surgeons in the area of Obstetric Fistulas.

A poster made by the Daughters clients on the wall of the Sewing Room

You can read about our visit in this post from New Day member Shannon Rogers:

Daughters had a very busy year working on the quality and efficiency of their Fair Trade Businesses. They are growing and have space for additional clients.

The Cafe:   We had an opportunity to have lunch in the Cafe over the shop.  There was a marked improvement in the service and food quality.  Business has been doing well.

The Spa:  This has also been much busier than expected.  Initially the jewelry business was moved over to the Shop space in order to train the women in both Spa services and Jewelry making – making better use of their time.  However, the Spa has been so busy that there has been little time for Jewelry making.

The Jewelry Business:  To address the demand, additional clients were moved over to the Shop workspace to focus on the Jewelry.  It was determined that the Jewelry line is the biggest seller in the store, so Daughters is working to capitalize on that.

The Daycare: There are over 20 young children in the daycare now, many of which are babies.  The clients working in the Sewing Room also rotate through the daycare, giving them a chance to spend time with the children and learn parenting skills.  Daughters has a relationship with several NGO schools for placement of all the school aged children of clients.

The Men’s Program:  Daughters started a program to work with husband’s of clients who are abusive.  The Social Workers have been going to the clients homes and working with the men on behavioral management techniques.  Behavioral improvements have been seen and the Social Workers would like to continue building on this program.

The Woodworking Program:  A new line of wood carvings has been designed and the clients in the Sons program are being trained in woodworking skills.  They are also responsible for all the coconut buttons and coconut pieces used in the clothing and jewelry lines.

The Sewing Room: Most of the New Day Grant in 2011 went to the Sewing Room.  Training courses were provided to 18 clients and 4 staff, covering pattern cutting, production management, and production techniques.  Socheata, the Sewing Room Manager, stated that the training have dramatically improved the efficiency in the sewing room and the quality of the products.  She also noted that the clients were taking much greater pride in their work – stating that they feel like they are actually part of  a real business, not just an NGO.   The trainings, new equipment purchased with help from New Day, and a new inventory system has really streamlined the business. They are selling through their online catalog and their shop.

Based on such positive feedback on the training programs both from a business perspective and a psychological perspective, we discussed the possibility of further trainings.  Ruth will investigate if there are more advance modules.  Also, the clients who participated in the trainings were literate.  So we discussed ways in which illiterate clients could participate in the future, whether GIPC has a program, or if a buddy system or a pre-training program could work, so that all clients could benefit from the program.

A big challenge discussed for the Sewing Room is the difficulty in sourcing fabric.  Based on the amount purchased, they tend to buy scraps and have a difficult time finding the same fabric again.  This can be a challenge for larger orders and/or managing catalog buyers expectations.

An overall challenge right now is the limitations and poor physical state of the existing workshop.  Ruth is actively looking for a new space in Phnom Penh.  They are hoping to move in the near future and this will increase their expenses.

Daughters is really utilizing volunteers to develop their designs, implement an inventory system, run the daycare, etc.  We met a group of committed volunteers, staff, and clients.

Creating messages of hope for the tree planting ceremony

The Counseling and Psychological Services program for the girls at the AFESIP Kampong Cham Centre continues to make progress and provide invaluable psychological care and healing.  New Day funded Year 1 of this 3 year program in December 2010 and visited the centre in May 2011 along with our corporate co-funding partner, Norton Rose.  The program is run and staffed jointly by AFESIP and the Ragamuffin Project.  Recent outcomes are detailed below:

• Recruitment of an extremely qualified Cambodian head of psychology department;

• Weekly open studio groups and as needed individual counseling sessions provided from AFESIP psychologist and Ragamuffin therapists at Kampong Cham;

• 50 art therapy assessments conducted at Kampong Cham;

• 171 residents received psychosocial counseling sessions (over all the centers);

• Monthly psychology department planning and supervision meetings have begun;

• Modification of our partnership agreement with Ragamuffin;

• Development of a detailed work plan for the remainder of the year

• Good progress towards creating a comprehensive work plan for 2012;

• Coordination with several international experts on psychosocial care for trafficking and sexual exploitation survivors;

• Gathering resources and training on Cambodian-specific trauma assessment tools and treatment modalities;

• Participation in the 2nd annual Good Practices conference held in Phnom Penh;

• Preliminary negotiations with partners to provide yoga and meditation training for our staff and residents;

• Development and approval of a plan to reallocate funds from New Day Foundation for the meditation gardens to higher priority items at Kampong Cham shelter such as a playground and supplies/equipment for the counseling room.

You can read the full quarterly report from AFESIP here: August Report 2011

We wish all involved in this project the best of luck for the remainder of this year.

Girls at the Kalki Girls Centre

New Day is funding the 2011/2012 budget for the Kalki Girls Centre and Girls Programme in Pondicherry, India.  The program continues to progress from strength to strength. The number of girls Kalki is able to help (through activities, medical care, access to social workers, education etc) only continues to increase.  This is especially true during the rainy season and the summer holidays.

Girls Centre: Currently 18 girls live at the shelter (with 16 having received temporary shelter during the summer months) and a further 175 are being helped through outreach work in the streets and slums where they live with their families.

Girls Programme: Medical camps in partnership with two local hospitals were run over the summer, reaching over 80 girls.  An ad hoc medical camp for young mothers and their babies helped 44 women and their children to receive a free check-up and follow-on medication.  The Kalki tuition programme has recently started for the academic year with 97 girls from grade 6 to grade 12 enrolled.  Career Orientation workshops conducted during the year have resulted in the placement of 31 girls in local businesses since June: supermarkets, boutiques, shops and various offices.

We are delighted that Kalki is developing in such a steady and exciting way.  They have the staff and the programmes in place to continue to run successfully into the future and New Day is pleased to support their Girls Centre and Girls Programme.

See the comprehensive update from Kalki themselves of all their activities at the following link: Girls Program – 3 Months Report to AugustAC

Since our US$10,000 grant in February 2011 US$3,200 has been spent on the following:

1. radio advertising to encourage fistula sufferers to come forward and seek help

2. 5 successful fistula consultations and surgeries

3. 10 consultations with sufferers who are in the process of scheduling their surgeries.

CSC is concentrating on the training of one of their surgeons (and their only female surgeon) in performing successful fistula surgeries.  A visiting specialist in this area will be providing her with additional training and support so that she can continue to help women who are being assisted through the project to heal and move forward with their lives.

New Day members in the jewelry workshop at Daughters

In May 2011 a group of New Day members visited Daughters of Cambodia during our trip to Phnom Penh.  Daughters helps girls and women exit the sex trade by providing them with training and fair trade paid jobs in small businesses it runs including jewellery-making, sewing of home ware and accessories and a cafe and spa that it operates.  Following a USD16,040 grant New Day and Linklaters gave Daughters for their sewing operations at the end of 2010 our members were keen to visit the sewing room at the Daughters Centre as well as the Daughters cafe and shop during our May 26-28 Phnom Penh group field trip. The visitor centre comprises a shop, woman’s spa and café.  Daughters employs around 15 girls or “clients” here, some of whom are training as managers and other positions of responsibility. The shop sells beautifully hand-made clothes, fashion accessories and home furnishings produced in the sewing room at the day centre.  Several purchases were made by the group! We also enjoyed a lunch at the café where we were able to sample the food and speak with the manager about the progress the staff is making.  We were given a good overview of the successes and challenges faced in the safe/Shop since its opening in June 2010.  They are still working on staff training to optimize the efficient running of the café.  The food at the cafe was fresh and tasty and the shop on the ground floor is dong very well – more than covering its costs.  Sadly there was insufficient time to road test the spa! All Daughter’s businesses are targeted to become self-sustaining over time, hence reducing donor dependence. Hopefully a new entry in Luxe City Guides: Cambodia and Laos, will give a boost to trade.

At the Daughters Centre we met up with the inspirational Ruth Elliott, Founder and CEO, for an in-depth review of all six businesses.  We were given an important insight into the daily social and cultural issues the NGO faces. Our group had the opportunity to meet some of the clients Daughters employs as we looked around the operation of its businesses, namely sewing , jewelry-making and t-shirt silk screening.  We were struck by the  industrious and very congenial environment. Management is searching for a new building as it was evident the current premises are now too small.   The New Day grant for sewing training and equipment has helped increase efficiency and capacity.  Indeed, as a reflection of the sewing room’s ongoing success, product demand continues to outstrip supply.  Our group discussed a number of possible future funding areas to assist the Daughters operation with Ruth including inventory control management, management systems, employing an accountant, contributing to new building rental and covering the running costs of the creche and medical/counseling services.  We were impressed with what Daughters has achieved so far and were all happy to have been able to contribute to their success.

Caroline Basham – New Day Member

Ragamuffin generously hosted an evening for the New Day group at their therapy centre in Phnom Penh.  We met the psychologists and were given an progress update.  Candace Blasé, AFESIP trauma care specialist and clinical supervisor volunteer, began work on 20 April. Full-time psychologist Chum Chantha was hired and began work at Kampong Chan mid June,  and they are close to hiring a full-time clinical co-ordinator. Ragamuffin and AFESIP are reviewing assessment drawings and developing plans for individual care programmes.  Therapy with 5 individuals at the centre has begun. Further training for centre staff on trauma care is planned.

The following day the group travelled to the Kampong Cham centre where Children’s Day celebrations were in full swing.  Much progress is evident and the new building is now functional with computer room, weaving centre, offices, medical room, a library and counseling services room.   We engaged with the children in an art activity, before a tree planting ceremony.  We had brought a suitcase full of books for the library with us, gratefully donated by friends of New Day members.  It was a wonderful visit as always with the residents and staff at Kampong Cham and we were delighted with the progress and development at the Centre and with our New Day-funded project.

For more on the progress of the Counseling Services project see the following link:   2nd Quarter Report 2011

Caroline Basham – New Day