Annual Report 2009/10
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Project Little Dream (PLD) organised its first overseas community service trip to Takeo, Cambodia ‘Cambodia 2009’, which took place between December 2009 and January 2010. Through this service trip, they aimed to provide financial resources,
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material and manpower for constructional work (e.g. building a village school and relevant sanitation infrastructure) that would improve access to education for children from an underprivileged community.
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Chairperson’s Message “this is the little dream I have, building a school in which resulted in countless discussions, debates Cambodia.” and soul-searcing that continue on to this day. Furthermore, as a new organization, securing About one year ago, I sent this email message to funding was also one of our most challenging tasks. 15 of my closest friends, most of whom were in their first year of university at the time. With our On behalf of my team and children of Cambodia, shared goals and determination, our group has I would like to take this opportunity to express our since become Project Little Dream, a registered deepest gratitude to all our donors, advisors, and charity in Hong Kong. selection panels of the Hong Kong Society of Oxford and Cambridge University Development We believe that education can bring about Grants and the Hsin Chong K.N. Godfrey Yeh change. We believe that through building a school Education Fund. I would also like to thank our by ourselves, it becomes more than just a school. volunteers and all those who have supported us The school embodies a commitment to provide a throughout the year. Without your support and chance to learn, empowering all those involved by participation, this dream would not have been fueling confidence in their aspirations and dreams. able to come to life today. Today, we celebrate the establishment of our first village school, located in Prey Run Village, Takeo and currently serving 220 Khmer children. We embarked on this journey with 68 volunteers, who not only constructed this school, but also refurbished the New Futures Orphanage and taught English in two other village schools as well. In return, we were rewarded by the children’s smiles, and in the knowledge that we had taken a tiny step towards achieving universal primary education, one of the Millenium Development Goals. As the founder and chairperson of Project Little Dream, I would be the first to admit that our first year has not been smooth sailing. Our team encountered many challenges and obstacles,
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Project Little Dream looks forward to future projects and expansions, and we will maintain our core values while adapting with the changing needs and abilities of our peers. I am proud of bridging the dreams - and the dreamers - of both our target beneficiaries and volunteers Yours truly,
James Charles Mak Founder, Chairperson Project Little Dream
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Our Objectives • Promote quality education for children living in developing countries Constructing a school, refurbishing an orphanage, teaching classes. • Increase our volunteers’ awareness of poverty on a global scale, providing an opportunity for them to take action on this issue. Participants will benefit hugely from exposure to a different cultural context, developing skills and values from working under challenging conditions. Through the trip, they will learn that they have a bigger part to play as a global citizen.
Visions and Values Equal Opportunity to Education We believe education provides underprivileged children with skills and knowledge to build a better future for themselves. Though this may be a drop in the ocean, it can still create a ripple that will inspire others and benefit generations of children to come. Empowerment with Our Presence
Our projects allow interaction and knowledge exchange between our volunteers and local beneficiaries. Through our volunteers’ cultural awareness and appreciation for local resources, history and background, our beneficiaries will feel recognized, realizing the potential within themselves and their community. We hope to foster an aspiring attitude in our local beneficiaries, who will eventually strengthen themselves through self-appreciation. Enabling Progress, Making a Difference
We hope to enable change by collaborating with local charities and authorities, ultimately contributing towards the Millennium Development Goals. In the process, we will emphasize neutrality and aim to assist, rather than alter our beneficiaries’ developmental direction by enforcing our own ideals.
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Contents Chairperson’s Message 4 Our Objectives 7 Visions and Values 7
About Us 10 Introduction 10 Our Honorary Advisors 10
The Little Dreamers 11 Board of Directors 11
Our Friends 12 New Futures Organization (NFO)
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Our Work 13 Cambodia 2009 13 Results in Numbers (2009/10) 15
Khmer Communities 15 Volunteers 15
Service Projects (2009/10) 16 Project A – Construction of Prey Run Village School Project B – English Teaching Project C – Refurbishment of Orphanage
1. Toilet, Shower and Washing Area for Clothes 20 2. Dining Area 22 3. Garden Area and Adventure Playground 23 4. Tuk Tuk Transformation 25
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Our Volunteers 26 Words from Volunteers 26
Media Coverage 28
Planning the Trip 34 Year 2009/10 36 Volunteer Recruitment 37 Logistics and Programme 38 Income & Expenditure 40 Fundraising and Donations - our 100% Model 41 Methods of Evaluation 43 Web Blog 43 Core/ self evaluation 43 Board of Honorary advisors 43
Tepy and Derek - A Story Behind Little Dream
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Acknowledgements 48 Contact Us 48 Useful Links 48
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About Us Introduction
Project Little Dream was founded in December 2008 by fifteen friends with a common dream – to further education in underprivileged areas around the world. It began with a simple idea, building a school in Cambodia, but also encompassed a complex notion, with different meanings for different people – for a Khmer child, a chance to learn; for a university student, a way to prove that one can make a difference, even at the age of nineteen. As a non-profit-making registered company, limited by guarantee, we are currently applying for charitable status in Hong Kong. The organization was established in order to realize the common dream these Little Dreamers share – to further education in underprivileged areas around the world. On the 12th of December 2009, PLD reached their first milestone, when their first service trip, ‘Project Little Dream – Cambodia 2009’, officially began. Over the next month, 68 volunteers from 6 countries gathered to build a village school from ground up, refurbish an orphanage and teach English to Khmer children. They were rewarded by the children’s smiles, and the knowledge that they had taken their first step towards making their dream come true. Besides providing education to children whom desperately need schooling, the Project will also create a unique learning opportunity for our volunteers. For all of us who have been sheltered from the harsh demands of life and reality, this trip will give us a glimpse and a taste of the bitterness of poverty. Lifting the pieces of brick and shoveling the mounds of dirt, we will learn to cherish every little luxury that has been so generously given to us and likewise, learn to show the same generosity to the many others in dire need.
Our Honorary Advisors Neville Charles O’ Grady Jane Oliver Wilson Chan
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Director of New Futures Organisation Former Co-Chairman of Who-Will Children’s Village Solicitors & Partners, K.B. Chau & Co
The Little Dreamers The founding members of Little Dream consist of 15 students from 10 universities around the globe. They form the executive committee with 4 executive members and 10 directors, whom each head one of the 6 departments, with their respective course of responsibility. Chairperson James Mak Vice-chairperson Denise So Secretary Howe Mao Treasurer Tommy Poon Director of Fundraising Joseph Lam Fundraising (HK) Vivien Tsui Fundraising (US) Godfrey Gieuw Human Resources Clara Chung Logistics Management David Leo Jessica Ng Public Relations Gabriel Pak Public Relations (HK) Hidy Chan Public Relations (HK) Luke Lee Publications & Design Alex Lau Jacqueline Cheung Research & Development Francis Wong
Board of Directors
James Mak Vivien Tsui Hidy Chan Denise So
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Our Friends New Futures Organization (NFO)
- a Cambodian charity based in Takeo, Cambodia
http://www.newfuturesorphanage.com
New Futures Organization (NFO) runs an orphanage, New Futures Orphanage, supervised by Neville Charles O’Grady, a British director, and run entirely by Khmer (Cambodian) staff. It provides shelter and education to a total of 55 children, ranging from 6 to 18 years of age, in a small town, Takeo. The majority of the children in the orphanage are in their teenage years, and the orphanage’s aim is to equip them with the necessary skills and training to find work and support themselves when it is time for them to leave. Sponsorship has already been secured to fund the cost of putting some of the children through college, including medical training. However, a substantial amount of sponsorships and long-term donors are needed to secure the fate many others whose future remains uncertain. We visited the orphanage during our Pre-trip in early August, and were delighted to find an NGO with passion, dedication and foresight. NFO is based as an orphanage, but it is much more than that. First, it reaches out to children beyond the orphanage’s boundaries, supplying books and teachers to schools in the neighbouring 15 districts offering approximately 1200 children who cannot afford to go to normal schools a chance of education. Second, it understands a crucial concept – that the children will leave one day and will have to establish lives of their own. Thus, it has placed heavy emphasis on vocational training skills. Through establishing a social enterprise, a guesthouse run entirely by their own staff and students, not only have they become self-sustaining, they have also provided the children with skills for the future.
1st Pre-trip in Summer 2009 We visited New Futures Organization on 5th Aug and 6th Aug this summer. Four of our members from PLD visited Takeo Town, two hours south of the capital, Phnom Penh, and stayed in the orphanage guest house. Run completely by NFO, revenue generated by the guesthouse is used in operating the orphanage. We were greeted by the generous hospitality and were surprised by the magnitude of the organization in helping those in need in the surrounding area given the very limited resource. They branches out from an orphanage into establishing a vocational training centre, community schools, social enterprise as well as volunteering service opportunities.
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Our Work Cambodia 2009
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Results in Numbers (2009/10) Khmer Communities
Apart from English teaching, our construction work includes building a village school and refurbishment of the New Futures Orphanage. Projects were initiated by pre-trips in summer and the careful planning before our trip in Christmas arrives.
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students benefit from our new-built school in Pre Run Village, Takeo students were taught in our English classes
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children from NFO benefit from our bathroom building project
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children from NFO were using our newbuilt dinning area
Volunteers
One of the goals that Project Little Dream aspires to achieve is to increase our volunteers’ awareness of global poverty and provide them with a hands-on experience working in Cambodia. From July to September of 2009 and 2010, we promoted our recruitment via Facebook and emails. Volunteers recruited had highly diversed and international backgrounds.
p
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volunteers were recruited to participate in our project 2009
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days working and experiencing under the Cambodian sun in Cambodia 2009 15
Service Projects (2009/10) Project A – Construction of Prey Run Village School Project Overview
We hoped to introduce the idea of a community centre in one of the small neighbouring villages in the Takeo province, to provide the villagers with a dedicated community space especially a school. We covered all costs of building, construction expenses and indoor materials. Members who major in architecture were providing an initial design of the building. Our volunteers, with help from villagers and guidance from professional builders and engineers, were constructing the centre – from foundations to the floors, from the walls to the roof. After the construction is completed, the centre was handed over to the village, with NFO helping to monitor its maintenance. This is only one of many such plans of development, and we hope to facilitate the progress of many others.
Rationale
By providing a communal space, villagers can hold gatherings, social events and workshops in a dedicated, comfortable area, increasing their sense of belonging towards the community. Children who previously had to walk two hours to attend school can also have easy access to schooling after farming work in the mornings. For our volunteers, they witnessed a project’s formation, from ground zero to something concrete and substantial, truly bringing out the meaning of ‘building’. They also learned to view things from the villagers’ perspective, and to encourage the feeling of community both between the villagers and with the villagers.
Situation of the Village
As one of the villages that send orphans to NFO, the village is situated about 15 minutes away from Takeo town centre. There are currently around 130 local village children attending their local informal school which is in a farm shed. With the liaison by NFO, the building was built on the land owned by the current teacher.
Construction Plans
With the guidance of the local builders, our volunteers were in charge of the following building tasks. • Laying the foundation sand • Locating columns • Assembling and putting in place the wooden scaffolding • Making walls, roofs • Laying thatch for the roof • Wiring for lighting system • Furnishing
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Project B – English Teaching Project Overview
The project focused on creating a knowledge-based environment for the orphanage. Though would mainly teach English, subjects like natural sciences, arts and crafts, geography was aks taught interactively, with daily examples and games.
Target Groups and Teaching Methods
The two target groups that we were teaching are children within NFO and village school students. NFO children tend to have a good command in English and should understand better when being taught various subjects. Teaching hours start in the mid afternoon up till 6pm with up to 3 classes at any one time, with smallest class of 25 to largest 89. In village schools, English levels are still at an entry level and thus teaching subject becomes difficult. However, arts and crafts or first aid would be wonderful alternatives. Concrete teaching content was designed by volunteers. We were coordinating with locals to teach craftsmanship and design workshops for the children, mainly teenagers. We also teach them to make desks and chairs for classrooms.
Rationale
Though there are some villagers willing to teach in the 15 schools in neighbouring areas, there are certain drawbacks such as inconsistent teaching schedules, curriculum and standards. We helped to improve their speaking and listening skills as well as providing them with elementary textbooks to assist them along the way and beyond. As our volunteers are from different backgrounds and have very different culture from local teachers, volunteers could expand the children’s world horizon as well. As for our volunteers, we hope that by preparing and teaching classes personally, they will form lasting friendships with the children, and take a personal interest in their future. Our participants would also learn about the importance of establishing a path for the children’s lives after leaving their orphanage, by equipping them with the skills needed to support themselves.
Beneficiaries
Apart from the 55 children living in the orphanage, there were also an estimated 180 children attending the village schools we taught.
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Project C – Refurbishment of Orphanage Through various mini-projects, we hope to provide the children with a better orphanage and place to play, learn and grow.
1. Toilet, Shower and Washing Area for Clothes
Before we arrived, the orphanage only had two toilet bathrooms, one for boys and one for girls on separate floors. This was totally insufficient for all 55 children living there and the heavy usage means it is always in poor sanitary conditions and often need repairing. We planned to build a gravity-fed rainwater system (with mains water backup) for four toilet and shower units and a washing area for clothes in a new dedicated area assigned by the orphanage.
Our work:
• Laying new piping and surfacing a new concrete base designed for good water run-off into the drainage. • Constructing a raised platform to hold the water tanks for the new rainwater system with basic solar heating to provide warm water. • Building two walls to surround the area, making it self-contained. • Constructing 4 cubicles and installing each with a toilet, wash basin and shower. • Constructing extra sinks in the clothes washing area. • Allocating an area on the roof to fit the feed pipe for the rainwater system. • Installing a lighting system for night use.
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2. Dining Area The dining area was situated at the rear of the building under a very low bamboo structure at an unhygienic location close to the drainage areas. The floor was very unevenly surfaced and was also not a nice place to eat being rather dark with insufficient tables and chairs and surrounded by three walls. We planned to build a larger dining area overlooking the garden with proper covering and lighting, which would be easier to maintain and keep clean, thus improving sanitary conditions as well as providing a more pleasant environment for the children to dine.
Our Work: • • • • • •
Excavating and cleaning up the new dining area. Laying a slightly raised concrete base. Creating a water drainage system to discharge water during heavy rains. Laying mounting points for roofing system, building sidewalls and the roof. Fitting a wiring system. Building new dining tables and chairs in the NFO workshop.
• Tiling floor, painting and decorating.
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3. Garden Area and Adventure Playground The children were lacking an area to play. With a small budget, our volunteers, which included a team of venture scouts, built some lasting wooden structures for the children, such as climbing frames, swings, monkey bridges etc. We also took part in refurbishing the garden area, which involves planting, decorating surrounding walls with murals and making resting benches.
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4. Tuk Tuk Transformation NFO currently owns two second-hand Tuk Tuks that has been converted, modified and decorated in NFO livery by its staff and children. They have painted it, fitted new lights, installed a music system and covered the seats. The Tuk Tuk is being used as a means of transport to take the younger to school, as an emergency vehicle to take the sick to the medical centres, to collect food from the market each day and to serve as an icon to promote public awareness for people to get to know NFO. We bought another Tuk Tuk that facilitate NFO’s daily duties. Just like how the first two Tuk Tuks contributed to NFO, volunteers had a chance to put their own creativity into a second one and benefit the orphanage and its children. The vehicle would be used as a mobile marketing point in Phnom Penh operated by a local person as a social enterprise project to raise funds for NFO.
Beneficiaries By refurbishing and improving the conditions of the New Futures Orphanage, we hope to improve the lives of the 55 orphans living there, and to provide them with facilities that children in Hong Kong sometimes take for granted. Possibly, the refurbishment may also allow the expansion of the orphanage and the accommodation of more children in need. By spending a length of time at the orphanage, our volunteers will be able to place their feet in the orphans’ shoes and experience their lives for themselves.
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Our Volunteers
68 students were recruited as volunteers to accomplish the project. They were selected from high schools and universities in Hong Kong, along with other international participants, mostly from the UK, the USA and New Zealand. Volunteers will benefit from their participation in all aspects of Project Little Dream: Building facilities in Cambodia – Volunteers will travel to Cambodia and construct some of the facilities under the supervision of professional engineers. Educating the local children – During the 4-week trip, volunteers will spend a portion of their time interacting with and teaching local children. (E.g. conducting a lesson on English or on importance of personal hygiene or craftsmanship workshops on how to build bunk beds) Coordinating charity events – Volunteers will play a major role in creating and designing their own fundraising events, Volunteer Fundraising Form, Adopt-a-tile programme are examples of some possible ideas. Given that the trip will only last for 4 weeks, their involvement over the next few months in these preparations for the trip will be the main component of their learning. Our student volunteers will gain: Organizational experience by taking part in the planning of fundraising activities. Hands-on experience in rebuilding a social enterprise and bettering a local community. Enriched cultural understanding among local Khmer and Hong Kong volunteers. Life skills and much more
Words from Volunteers Sheena Wong
Last summer when I first heard of PLD, the name was – as it may be to some of you now – unfamiliar and extraneous. Unsure of what to expect, I decided to give it a go, not knowing that my first Christmas away from home was only to be spent it with a new, extended family, bonded across borders by the same dream. I shall always remember how our arrival was greeted by a village of bright-eyed NFO children and the warmth of being led by the hand into the orphanage. Nor shall I forget the ineffable satisfaction of seeing the fruits of days of hard labour materialising into a playground at the orphanage or a school where it had formerly been derelict land. I learnt how the best reward for a full day’s toil can be found in a child’s laughter; how immense a sense of elation it is to hear the song you taught (having been made up on the spot) sung a week later by a school of eager pupils; how a most treasured present can be a hand-picked flower or a mere bracelet plaited from bits of string and the tears of parting. It had always been easy enough to say that we should not take education for granted, but it really wasn’t until I have physically experienced lessons in a barn – where we could literally point at a real pig whilst teaching animals – that I was properly hit by the gaping chasm between knowing of a way of life and actually living it. The expedition to Cambodia – my first, and certainly not last – has been life-changing in more ways than I could have imagined. To PLD, for introducing me to your family, I am and shall remain whole-heartedly grateful.
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Janice Fung 馮巧欣 在NFO服務的九天，我看到孤兒院的孩子物質上比農村家庭的小孩豐富,有玩 具玩、有上學的機會，還可以開聖誕派對，收到各地義工送的聖誕禮物，然而 這卻是因為他們不幸的家庭遭遇才得到的。再說，我們可以給予的幾乎只是物 質。關心和愛我們可給予的很少,亦很短暫。 相信每個做義工的人都問過、動搖過,自己去幫他們是對的嗎?還是給他們更多 希望和更多失望? 世界上有千千萬萬窮人受苦的人我們又幫得幾多? 我們在柬埔寨之旅中亦掙扎過,但再三回想仍覺得是值得的。我們確實無法幫盡 世上所有不幸的人,或許很多時連自己的處境亦控制不到。我們可以做的,是張開 自己的眼睛和心,見識更多,和不同的人一起分享和經歷, 這樣不論助人者和受助 者都有更多空間去了解和反思自己的處境, 最重要是明白一切幸福和不幸都是 相對的,正如我去幫柬埔寨的小朋友,卻是靠其他比我更富有的人贊助旅費。明白 自己的處境,明白世事相對的本質,才慢慢學會知足和珍惜。 在柬埔寨,我們尋夢, 也發現現實。
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Media Coverage
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蘋果日報 Apple Daily - 港聞 [12 Sep 2010]
HKU Medical Faculty News - Vol.15 [Sep 2010]
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星島日報 Sing Tao Daily - Education [6 Jan 2010]
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MRRM [Oct 2010]
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Planning the Trip
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3. B EFOR E T R IP P R EPAR ATION
Year 2009/10
3.1 T IM ELINE
Time
Activities
2009 M ay
Establishment of our status as a limited company
June
Preparation for Pre-trip
July
First Pre-Trip to Cambodia Confirmation of supporting authorities in Cambodia Confirmation of project location Start recruitment First Stage of Recruitment 15th : Deadline for recruitment
August
September
Second Stage of Recruitment2 15th : Deadline for recruitment 21st : Briefing for Volunteers
October
Second Pre-trip to Takeo, Cambodia
November
Fundraising Activities by Volunteers
December
Charitable Status confirmation Pre-departure Briefing for Volunteers The Trip
2010 January
Notes:
3.2
Targeted donations cumulative (HKD)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Phase I: $ 35,000
Phase II: $ 75,000
Phase III: $ 160,000
Financial Report for Audit Debrief Session
Refer to 3.2 Fundraising and Donations, pg.11 Refer to 3.3 Our Volunteers – Recruitment, pg. 12 Refer to 3.4 2nd Pre-Trip (October 2009), pg.14 Refer to 4. The December Trip, pg.17
F UNDRAISING
AND
D ONATIONS
Our income will mainly come from sponsorships from various institutions. There are 3 phases in our fundraising timeline. Fundraising Timeline (See 5. Budget, pg.32 for detailed breakdown) Phase I: Phase II:
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Administration and Pre-trip Costs Basic Construction Costs
– $35,000 HKD – $40,000 HKD
Volunteer Recruitment
One of the goals that Project Little Dream aspires to achieve is to increase our volunteers’ awareness of global poverty and provide them with a hands-on experience working in Cambodia. As such, we wish to ignite this spark of passion in many more through recruitment of volunteers to join the team. From July to September, we promoted the project via Facebook and emails. Applicants were required to elucidate their motivation and their opinions of developing countries in two essays along with their applications. The campaign was very well-received, and after two stages of recruitment that followed, we successfully recruited 34 volunteers whose backgrounds are highly diverse and international.
Volunteer Support The recruitment process was a success and came to an end in mid-October. The next step which was to prepare our volunteers in psychological and practical terms for their tasks in Cambodia was to receive a comprehensive volunteer information pack. In the booklet, volunteers were informed of the specific arrangements of the whole project. This included i) preparation before the trip such as VISA application, insurance purchase and vaccines and relevant health precautions; ii) the itinerary during their stay, projects they will be involved in as well as meals and accommodation arrangements; iii) follow-up after the trip. Also, a general information on the background and environment of Cambodia was given to enhance the volunteers’ understanding of the country and address their safety concerns. While most volunteers are able to cover the expenses of the trip with their parents’ support, we strongly encourage them to fundraise their own participation fee. For, the fundraising process will without doubt reinforce their dedication to the cause when they approach and explain their goals to potential donors. The process also demands creativity and relies heavily on their organisation skills. Hence, particular emphasis of the briefing session was put on the procedures of fundraising for their own expenses. The committee believes that what distinguishes one’s opportunity to serve the global community should not be one’s financial endowment but one’s commitment and dedication to helping, caring and empathizing with those in need. Therefore, we responded generously to requests for financial assistances from volunteers who were in economic hardships. In total we have planing to grant five thousand as subsidies. Besides equipping volunteers with information and precautions prior to the trip, the the constant communication provided opportunities for volunteers to express their concerns and meet those who are embarking on the same journey with them.
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Logistics and Programme Food and Accommodation
NFO will be providing our volunteers with breakfast, dinner, and the flexibility for them to try out authentic Cambodian delicacies and snacks during lunchtime. Volunteers will be accommodated in two major guesthouses, one within the NFO complex and a neighboring one situated across the road. Each room will have 2-3 beds with its own bathroom and toilet and volunteers are expected to hand wash their laundry themselves. There will be no air-conditioning or hot water, however a fan is available and should keep comfortable under Cambodia’s winter months. Volunteers are expected to follow strict guidelines on gender separation and not venturing out after lights out.
Transportation
Walking, bikes and motos (‘tuk-tuks’) are the most common ways to get around Takeo town. Within the town, it should cost less than 500r per motor ride. A bus is available between the bus stop near ‘Total’ garage in Takeo town centre (next to the entrance to the market) and Central Market bus station in Phnom Penh. The bus ride costs approximately 9000r and takes about 2 hours. It leaves every 2 hours or so. The last bus from Phnom Penh to Takeo leaves at about 15:00.
Sample Itinerary
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Income & Expenditure Project Project Little Little Dream Dream Ltd Ltd
(for the year ended 31and May Income Income expenditure and2010) expenditure account account for the foryear the year ended ended 31st May 31st May 20102010 Fund-raising Fund-raising eventevent (7/8/2009) (7/8/2009) Participating Participating fee fee Donation Donation from from pre-trip pre-trip teamteam Individual Individual donation donation
NotesNotes HKDHKD 47,900.00 47,900.00 268,059.05 268,059.05 28,408.35 28,408.35 32,600.00 32,600.00
Operating Operating Income Income Company Company establishment establishment costs costs Administration Administration CostsCosts of theofservice the service Trip - Trip Cambodia - Cambodia 20092009 Fund-rasing Fund-rasing costs costs
1 2
(4,878.88) (4,878.88) 1 (2,534.40) (2,534.40) 2 (395,383.87) (395,383.87) (541.60) (541.60)
Operating Operating costs costs
(403,338.75) (403,338.75)
Operating Operating deficitdeficit
(26,371.35) (26,371.35)
Net interest Net interest
(6.79)(6.79) (26,378.14) (26,378.14)
Subsidies Subsidies from from Scholarship Scholarship Grants Grants
35,000.00 35,000.00
Retained Retained surplus surplus NotesNotes 1 Administration 1 Administration Printing Printing Service Service charges charges Error Error before before 19/09/2009 19/09/2009
2 Costs 2 Costs of theofservice the service Trip - Trip Cambodia - Cambodia 20092009 Breifing Breifing day day Pre-trip Pre-trip Project Project A A Project Project B B Project Project C - Medical C - Medical RoomRoom Project Project C - Playground C - Playground Project Project C - Toilet C - Toilet Project Project C - tuk C -tuk tuk tuk NFONFO maintance maintance fund fund FlightFlight Transportation Transportation (except (except flight)flight) Accommodation Accommodation FoodFood Equipment Equipment First-Aid First-Aid Financial Financial aids aids Participation Participation fee refund fee refund
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376,967.40 376,967.40
8,621.86 8,621.86
HKDHKD 1,577.80 1,577.80 914.60 914.60 42.0042.00 2,534.40 2,534.40 HKDHKD 817.30 817.30 28,408.35 28,408.35 33,422.37 33,422.37 2,471.48 2,471.48 347.62 347.62 5,135.95 5,135.95 47,309.19 47,309.19 11,540.17 11,540.17 10,696.15 10,696.15 170,730.56 170,730.56 5,882.08 5,882.08 24,156.88 24,156.88 25,976.60 25,976.60 3,524.33 3,524.33 1,477.60 1,477.60 1,600.00 1,600.00 21,887.24 21,887.24 395,383.87 395,383.87
Fundraising and Donations - our 100% Model
Project Little Dream follows a strict guideline set by ourselves to operate our organisation only under the conditions of scholarships, grants and private donors.
Sponsorships + Private Donors
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>
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Operating Costs of Project Little Dream
All donations received from fundraising events and from the public goes to the projects in Cambodia
100%
Public Donors
Costs of Construction and Education Projets
All participation fee received from was spent on volunteers, extra was refunded.
100% Volunteer Participation Fee
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Volunteer Expenses
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Methods of Evaluation Web Blog To give donors and the general public alike an idea of what the actual work is like, progress of the team will be regularly updated on our website. We are committed to ensuring that donors are confident with our capability to deliver results, and that prospective donors are willing to learn more about our project and thus contribute to our cause. A public forum, serving as a medium for the general public to voice their opinions on our progress and outcomes, will also be created on our website. Relevant parties to our project will be able to suggest and comment freely on any aspect of our work.
Core/ self evaluation
Performance indicators – Benchmarks
Rigorous benchmarking will be performed on a monthly basis. At each benchmark, performance will be evaluated by: • Completion of specific tasks and activities in our Implementation Plan. • Amount of donations accumulated, divided into 3 phases.
Outcome measurements – Impact analysis
The impact of the project will be evaluated in close consultation with NFO in terms of: • Efficacy in promoting a better learning environment. • Incremental value added to the vocational training process. • Sustainability of facilities. The project will be deemed successful upon positive conclusion of the impact analysis.
Board of Honorary advisors
A board of advisors, comprising professionals and experts at the local level from diverse backgrounds, will assist us to identify potential ways of improvement throughout the planning process, and to assess the effectiveness of the outcomes in the evaluation process. Specifically, university professors, chartered accountants, lawyers, and organizers from local NGOs will be invited to join our board of advisors.
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Tepy and Derek
- A Story Behind Little Dream
Imagine an earth. Google Earth rotating before you, if you like. Take a deep breath, click and zoom in on our story.
Cambodia. A small fishing village, 10 miles from Takeo Town, far away from all the tourists that descend upon Angkor Wat every year. There, in a corner of the village, lives a girl named Tepy. She has two older brothers and a younger sister, and her mum and dad make a living by farming and raising fish in the pond behind their home. It’s a secluded home, and she rarely gets to see her neighbours. The family’s yield and income is unstable, and Tepy has learnt the feeling of hunger stabbing at her stomach, though she tries to conceal it from her parents’ worried eyes. One painful day, however, her parents realize that they cannot care for all four children, and Tepy and her sister are sent to NFO, while her brothers remain at home to help. It takes a while to settle in the orphanage, with the 55 boys and girls who become her new family, brothers and sisters ranging from 5 to 19 years of age. They live on two separate floors, living, playing and sleeping in the same room. There are no beds, and each floor has one single cubicle serving as both toilet and shower. Despite this, Tepy is very grateful for a home, for the food on the table, and for the chance to go to school, and she vies with other children to grab a spot at the front of the classroom every day. Her brothers are not so lucky - since they have to help farm and take care of the family animals, they cannot spare the time to make the 2-hour walk to attend school.
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Hong Kong. Now, zoom out, shift over, and focus on the familiar sight of Hong Kong, a bustling city with towering skyscrapers and roads so busy the lights blur into a streak at night. Here, Derek lives with his dad and mum in an apartment on the 21st floor - his dad makes a comfortable income as a businessman and his mum is a housewife. Derek just graduated from high school. He’s supposed to be experiencing the ‘best years of his life’, but he’s not sure of what lies ahead. Certainly, he’s never known what it’s like to go hungry, or to be desperate for a chance to go to school. People like Derek often hear about poverty, about children starving on the streets somewhere in the world. He’s participated in flag-selling on weekends, and remembers donating money to sponsor the education of a little boy in China some years ago. But, really, what does one know about poverty? About having to leave your parents and your home, because food is scarce and your parents have to send you away so you’ll survive? How can Derek, far away in Asia’s world city, know about the hardship and the heartbreaks that Tepy’s had to go through? 1600 km apart. Tepy in Cambodia, and Derek in Hong Kong. Two dots on the globe, two people so similar but so different, on the same earth but worlds away.
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How do you connect these two dots?
We could send money. The 1600 km is nothing for a simple bank transfer. After all, with all the money we save from airplane tickets, we could build more schools, help more people, help people in a far more efficient way. A skeptical person could say - frankly, is this merely a feel-good trip to massage the egos of a bunch of spoiled teenagers? What a waste, what selfishness, how impractical of you. We could go there ourselves. We could bridge the 1600km. We could make the two dots one. Derek, leaving Hong Kong to live in Cambodia for a month, to experience Tepy’s life for himself - to take the path she walks to school every day, to see for himself the torn rug she uses as her bed. He could construct a new bunkbed for her room, he could help build a new community centre in her village so that her brothers can go to school as well. On the most basic level, both methods provide material and monetary benefits to the Khmer community, and will improve the lives of people. But we can aim for more. For the assurance that our money is going to the right place - by going there ourselves and providing dedicated manpower. What we lack in experience, we can make up by eagerness to learn and enthusiasm for the project. For the distinction of delivering the results into Khmer hands personally, of going all the way and being rewarded by smiles at the end of a hard day’s work. Finally, for the satisfaction of accomplishing something concrete and whole, to watch the building grow brick by brick and children playing on monkey bars in the adventure playground. Not only is Tepy’s life changed, but Derek’s as well. We dream of leaving our home, of putting our own two feet on the soil of Cambodia and saying together, “We’re here, and we have a dream. We can make a difference.” Who are we benefitting? The Khmer children? Our participants? Ourselves? The answer is all of them, and this answer brings with it both advantages and disadvantages. We may lose on practicality, in efficiency, but we gain much more in ways that are unquantifiable, in passion, in inspiration, in the very act of touching Khmer’s hearts with our own, and being touched and changed similarly in return. At the end of the trip, the community centre will have risen from an empty piece of land on Google Earth, to a building filled with happy voices standing proudly in a village. Smiling up at it, squinting in the sun, stands not only Tepy, but Derek as well, hand in hand. That is the Little Dream.
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Acknowledgements Project Little Dream would not be possible without the unfailing guidance and support from our advisors, donors and the following sponsors Hong Kong Society of Oxford and Cambridge University Development Grants Hsin Chong K.N. Godfrey Yeh Education Fund
Contact Us This report aims to provide a general overview of our work in the year 2009/10. It is therefore by no means conprehensive. Should there be any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would love to hear your comments, suggestions and questions. James Mak, Chairperson, james.mak@littledream.org Gabriel Pak, Director of Public Relations, gabriel.pak@littledream.org
Useful Links Project Little Dream Official Website www.littledream.org New Futures Organization www.newfuturesorphanage.com
Registration & Number: Certificate of Incorporation 1343559 Tax-Exempt Charity Ref. No.: 91/10714
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27 sunsets. 68 volunteers. 264 khmer children. 3500 bricks. a dog named whisky. one little dream.
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