Project Happy Feet

Village Taom and the dancing road

2009-01-06T16:46:00.008+08:00

On our 3rd day in Siem Reap, we set off bright and early to the Taom Village. Before we set off, Sister kindly gave us background information regarding the church that was founded in 2006. We were all perky and looking forward to the visit. With the experience we had at the floating village, we were all ready for the day's work.
Before setting off, we took a group picture with Father and the volunteers who will be going with us on this trip.

Sister telling us the story behind Village Taom. The church was founded in 2006 and the village is about 75km away from Siem Reap. Sister gleefully warned us about the 2 hour 'dancing road' journey. Not knowing what she really meant, we happily packed our things and set off.

This church had been slowly restored since it was founded. The church hall has been used as a learning centre. If you look closely, you can even see bullet holes on the facade of the church that were left behind during the Khmer Rouge days.

The church hall being converted into a learning centre. Thom, a volunteer, visited the Village from Monday to Wednesday to conduct lessons for the children. Most if not all the families and children are non-Catholics.

Gaining experience from our earlier visit to the Floating Village, we decided to do a simpler paper craft with the children. So instead of the paper angels, we came up with finger puppets. The instructions are easier to follow and the kids still have loads of fun.

After making the finger puppets, we also played a game of 'London Bridge is falling down'. Because of the sheer number of children (about 300), we nearly had a stampede. Although the children were not familiar with the words and the song, they enjoyed forming a chain and following the rythm of the song.

Of course, while some of us played with the children, others were busy doing balloon sculpting so that each kid can have a balloon to bring home with.

After all the playing and clowing around, it's meal time! Both Deb and I even volunteer to prepare the rice soup. Let's just say, cooking for 500 children and adults under the hot sun with no modern kitchen facilities, was not easy.

After the meal, we were preparing the stationery and arranging the slippers according to sizes to be given away.

Alvin gaving out slippers to a young child. With the help of the Cambodian volunteers, the children lined up in an orderly fashion to receive their slippers. The children were well-mannered and each child would bow and say thanks in Khmer for the gift.

We also gave out stationery to the youths in the village.

Angeline gaving out school uniforms to the youths. These youths were volunteering in the kitchen to prepare the rice soup. They also served as interpreters for us. Most of them spoke very minimum English but we seemed to understand each other. The power of sign language!

After lunch, we embarked on our next project - building and repairing houses. Honestly, none of us had any experience at all and we did not know what to expect. We split into 2 teams and followed the volunteers into the village. Basically, the frames were set up and all we need to do was to help tied the 'walls' onto the frames. Here, Alvin and Manny, nailing the frames to the pillars of the house.

The next step was to tie the 'walls' securely with wires onto the frames. These panels of 'walls' were actually dried leaves that had been sewn together. We even had to make sure that the right side was being put up, lest the rain may get into the house.

This is the current living condition for most families in the village. It looked just like a straw and wooden house from the '3 little pigs' story. All family members stayed together in this one room structure with no lights. There were no room partitions, no shelves for storage. Nothing at all. Just a plain one room where everyone had a shelter over their heads. That's the kind of living condition found commonly in Cambodia.

This was the house that Team 2 helped built. The frames and structure had been completed and we helped to put up the walls.

Working under the hot sun and trying our best to secure the walls tightly on the frames. We were worried that the whole walls would come off after a few days so we made sure that we tied the panels very, very tightly to the frames. Of course, you can see from the pictures that we have all rolled up our sleeves, that's because we did not want to get ugly tanned lines. Ha!

Team 2: Angeline, Deb and Dave taking a picture of the finished product with the family that would be staying there.

At the end of the day when we shared our individual reflections, most shared that they felt a sense of pride when they saw the finished product. Although we were only putting up 2 walls for the house, it was something that none of us had done before. And looking at the families that we built the houses for, we were happy that they could at least have a proper place to stay in for the next few years. We were humbled by this experience. I had never stay in a kampong before and was bought up in a HDB flat where electricity and water are just a switch away. These villagers had to use candles and they had to go to the near by river or well to fetch water. I cannot imagine living in such condition.

Oh, and what about the 'dancing road'? We finally realised what Sister was talking about. The journey to Village Taom took about 2 hours where 1.5 hours were spent on rocky roads. We were bouncing and swaying inside the van. Despite that, some of us managed to doze off into slumberland. We were very drained and tired at the end of the day but were happy with what we had accomplished. :)

The Floating Village

2008-12-29T10:00:00.008+08:00

We woke up bright and early on our 2nd day in Siem Reap, all ready to go to the Floating Village. Father Heri had kindly lend us a room in the church to store our items - stationery, donated clothes & toys, slippers, art material and so on. As such, before we embark on each visit, we would gather at the Catholic Church of Siem Reap to collect the stuff.

This would be a first visit for most of us to the floating village, Tonle Sap. In particular, we would be visiting Presek Toal Village. There are about 500 families scatter around the river and according to Father, each house has 2 families staying together. Because of the living condition, the houses need to be repaired every 2 - 3 years as the bamboo holding the houses will start rotting.

The children at the village were very friendly and waving to us when we were on our way to the floating church.

This is the typical living condition of the floating villagers.

We arrived to receive a warm welcome from the volunteers and children awaiting at the church.

The children singing a song in Khmer to welcome us. Though we do not understand the lyrics, we were pleasantly surprise.

So in return, we also tried to sing a few Christmas songs to entertain the children. I must confess, we would be better with a few more practices. For future trips, we must be prepared with song books, and perhaps choreograph our actions. :) Right, guys?

This is our first time serving the rice soup to the children. We naturally formed a human chain and with the help of the volunteers, dished out the rice soup and ensured that each child has a bowl of slurpy good soup in front of them.

The children were disciplined and wait in turn for their hot bowl of rice soup. Before tucking in to the delicious soup, all gave thanks and said their grace.

As the soup was very hot, some of us went round to help feed the younger children, lest they hurt themselves. Here, Dave was helping the young girl.

Play Time! We went around giving out coloured papers to the children. Jeff would be teaching the children on how to fold paper angels.

We sat among the children to show them exactly on what to do. Ange patiently folding the paper for the attentive kids to follow.

Language is definitely no barrier here as Terence showed to the children, step-by-step on how to make paper angel. Most kids were delighted with the angels. A lot of the mothers and volunteers who were there, also helped to make the paper angels. We had lots of fun!

Deborah gaving the stationery and exercise books to the teachers-in-charge. We also left 500 sets of donated clothes to the village.

We just couldn't resist taking a group picture with the children. Although we couldn't understand each other, but the smiles on their faces more than make up for the language barrier. We saw kids laughing and running around with the balloons and swinging the paper angels. These are moments that even photographs would not be able to capture but I am sure these memories would stay in all our hearts.

Happy and tired. And ever ready for our next day journey.

Moments of Project Happy Feet

2008-12-28T19:29:00.005+08:00

We are back from our trip! For the next few blogs, I will post up the many photos that we took during our journey. Pictures say a thousand words. We brought back with us many precious memories and we hope we did bring cheers to the kids and youths in Siem Reap.
These children are from the Peak Sneg village. There are currently 170 households with close to 1000 population. The current play centre was built in 2006 with donations from Singapore.

Here we are, trying our hands at balloon sculpting and entertaining the children.

The children proudly waving the balloon creations and having lots of fun.

Deborah trying her hand at cooking under the hot sun. She is frying garlic and spring onions which would be added to the rice soup that would be served to the children.

Terence, under the guidance of the ladies from the village, trying to dice the spring onions.

The rice soup program takes place once or twice a week, depending on the village. The children will be served with rice soup which is a concoction of rice cooked in chicken broth, mixed with pumkin, dried shrimps, dried cuttlefish, garlic and spring onions. It is yummy!

After a delicious meal of rice soup, the children will line up to collect the slippers that we bought. We bought a mixture of sizes and hope that each children receiving the slippers would be able to wear the slippers comfortably.

At the end of each visit, we hope the children had enjoyed themselves just as we enjoyed bring cheers to them.

Finally in Siem Reap

2008-12-21T09:01:00.000+08:00

After a month of planning, we finally stepped foot onto Siem Reap.

The past 3 days have been really fulfilling, and honestly, tiring. Yesterday, we visited the village of Taom, some 2.5 hours' drive away from the city. The road was bumpy for a whole an hour and a half, and when we finally came back at 6pm, we were drained. Some of us have begun to fall ill, but doing all we can to get better - downing Vitamin C, drinking lots of water and getting rest as and when we can.

We end of each day with a reflection, where each of us will share our thoughts and feelings for the day. And through it, we learn more about the things we've taken for granted - our health, a shelter over our heads, a chance of being educated, a job to sustain us and the close friends around us.

We hope that as you reflect on our trip, you too will take some time this Christmas season to think about how you can share your gifts and talents with the less fortunate around you.

Almost Famous...

2008-12-16T12:37:00.001+08:00

Ha, ok, I just can't help it. We are on 8 DAYS magazine this week! It is a post event write-up and I just can't wait for my brother to come back with his complimentary copy. I had to go out and buy one and had the picture scanned. :)

Thanks again to the friends and supporters of PHF for making the sale a success!

Get Set, Ready, Go!

2008-12-15T14:49:00.000+08:00

4 more days to go before we embark on our Project Happy Feet journey. After sorting out, we tried our best to squeeze the luggages with the clothes and supplies, bearing in mind that we cannot exceed our luggage allowance.

Alvin, Jeff and Ange happily sorting and packing the postcards

Ange showing off Project Happy Feet labels

Deb trying her best to pack everything in!

Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze!

Well, now that most of the things are packed (hopefully!), we are eagerly looking forward to be at the airport at 4am on Thursday for our flight to Siem Reap. :)

Packing Day

2008-12-13T22:12:00.000+08:00

Today, the team spent the whole day packing all things we'd be bringing over to Siem Reap come Thursday.

Meeting at the office at 9.30am, Grace, Mark, Ange, Alvin and myself headed to the nearby Pek Kio market for a hearty breakfast before heading to Tekka Mall (The Verge) to get stationery, bags to individually wrap the clothes and some materials we'd be using for the activities we had planned for the children.

Then we headed to Bras Basah Complex where we got reams of coloured paper for the children to make paper angels and windmills. We hope looking at them will help cheer them up and give them hope this Christmas season.

Then, Mark, Ange and Jeffrey who joined us, headed to Edwin's to get the paper cut into squares while Grace, Alvin and myself headed to Katong to get colouring books from Uncle Bob. When he heard I was heading to Cambodia, he readily gave stacks of brand new children's books. I was really touched.

We then had a much awaited lunch at the famous Katong Laksa store, then headed back to my home where the actual packing began.

While Ange, Alvin and Jeff busied themselves with the packing of the Project Happy Feet postcards, Grace and myself sorted out the clothes again and packed them into the big duffle bags that Alvin got. We were so glad he came up with the idea of those big bags. They were easy to handle and could fit loads of things in it.

We then packed the books, stationery as well as the T-shirts we had specially printed for the youths who will be meeting us to head to the village.

In total we amassed 4 large duffle bags and 1 large soft case luggage. I estimate the total weight to be about 120kg, which leaves the group of 9 with about 60kg more to check in. We all intend to pack light, so hopefully, we don't have to pay for any excess luggage.

At 7pm, we were done with all the packing, and all proud of ourselves for spending the whole day preparing for the trip. :)

Project Happy Feet T-shirt @ SGD15 only

2008-12-11T21:48:00.000+08:00

In an effort to raise more funds, we've printed extra stocks of Project Happy Feet T-shirts that our team will be wearing and giving to the youths while are in Siem Reap.

Limited stocks available only in S, M and L sizes, only in black colour.

Email deborah@caelansage.com if you'd like to make an order.

The Car Boot Sale Raised $777

2008-12-09T20:59:00.000+08:00

No kidding! Sunday's takings for the Car Boot Sale at Playground @ Big Splash raised a total of $777!

What was most fulfilling was the fact that we all pulled in our efforts to make this a success. We'd like to specially thank our mothers, friends and relatives who chipped in to donate items to be sold - bags and bags and more bags, little knick-knacks, my own coke collection, jewellery, shawls and shoes.

When we collected all the donated things, we realised we had a lot of bags to sell! Here they are all laid out ready to be named, priced and tagged.

Thanks to Grace for letting us use her home to prepare all the stuff to be sold... Thanks for letting us mess up your home, Grace! :)

The sale officially started at 1pm. But stalls were all set up when we went there at 10.30am. Skipping breakfast, we joined the crowd and set up our stall.

Ange, myself and Grace all smiley and set to serve customers at 11am.

We tagged the bags like that. The stall beside us thought we were professionals at such flea markets!

Our specially designed Project Happy Feet postcards for sale. All 8 designs in a pack were sold at $10.

Grace all happy that sales were good!

At the end of the day at 8pm, we were tired, sun-burnt and hungry (cos we skipped lunch too!). Our heads were throbbing with pain, perhaps from the lack of water and the heat from the sun. And as we sank our teeth into the much awaited burgers at Carl's Junior, there was a sense of achievement and a feeling of joy. That the hours spent preparing for this sale to raise funds for the children in Cambodia was worth every effort.

Thanks to all our customers who kindly patronised our stall. We wouldn't have raised so much if you hadn't bought from us!

Car Boot Sale was a BLAST! :)

2008-12-09T09:42:00.000+08:00

The whole team ready to sell our items

Ange and Deb in front of my car and all our donated items to be sold.

Laying out the items to be sold. Notice the variety!

Thank you all for coming and supporting the Car Boot Sale at Playground @Big Splash last Sunday. The weather was fantastic! It was bright and sunny and all of us got sun-burnt. We raised close to $800 from the sales of bags, coke collectibles, shoes, travel memorabilia, toys and so on. All the items are generously donated by families and friends.

We had a good time and were delighted with the many friends we made at the sale as well. Upon learning our purpose for doing the car boot sale, many bought things from us and were supportive of the cause. Despite being sun-burnt, our hearts are warmed by your geneorsity. Thank you.

We also lauched our Project Happy Feet postcards at the car boot sale. The design was creatively done by Deb and the printing was fully sponsored by Edwin. There are 8 designs in a pack and we are selling the postcards for $10 per pack. All proceeds go to Project Happy Feet. If you are interested to get the postcards, please contact Deborah at deborah@caelansage.com

Car Boot Sale - Playground @ Big Splash

2008-12-05T01:14:00.000+08:00

That's right. Project Happy Feet will be at the Celebrity Car Boot Sale this Sunday, 7 December between 1pm and 8pm at the Playground @ Big Splash.

All proceeds of the sale from our boots will go towards Project Happy Feet. Look out with our PHF icon on our cars!

What you can buy...
Dresses from Victoria Secrets, branded shoes, fashion bags, accessories, CDs, gift sets, comics, Coke collectibles and a whole lot more!

Come support us!!

Raising More Funds

2008-12-05T01:07:00.000+08:00

It has been a week since we've actively spread the word about Project Happy Feet, and I must say I am thankful that the response has just been tremendous. Big or small, each donation is deeply appreciated and I'd like to tell donors that you've not only touched the lives of the children who will benefit from your donation, you have also touched all of us at Project Happy Feet. You have encouraged us, and made us feel that the extra work we're putting in is all worthwhile.

A big thank you!!

Feedback and Questions from our Friends

2008-11-27T21:53:00.000+08:00

We thank our friends who have come back with feedback and ideas on how to improve our website, and to make information clearer to them.

We have updated our "How You Can Contribute" page so that it gives you information on how to send your contributions to us.

Where your contribution goes to
Some have asked how we would be using the funds collected. We are happy to let you know that 100% of the funds we raise through this call for contributions will go towards the cause. This includes:

1. Purchasing slippers, school supplies and school uniforms for the children & youth
2. Purchasing raw materials to repair houses
3. Offering scholarships to children & youths to study in a city school
4. Providing food for children
5. Improving the infrastructure of the learning centres
6. Paying for teacher's fees at the learning centres

We are committed to ensure that none of the funds raised go towards any other costs besides those that will benefit the children and youths directly.

Acknowledging your contributions
For transparency, names of all our donors and the respective amounts will be listed on our website within a week after you have made your contribution. If you require a receipt, please indicate when making your donation. We will arrange for the Jesuit Community in Siem Reap to issue this to you. However, we will be able to forward you the receipt only after our return from Siem Reap on 23 December 2008.

If your name is not listed in our list, please contact us at deborah@caelansage.com.

Once again, we thank you for your feedback. We're improving our website every day to provide you with more information and news of our fund raising efforts, so stay tuned!

I am touched and encouraged - a personal note from the Founder of Project Happy Feet

2008-11-25T21:37:00.000+08:00

I must say I am very touched and encouraged.

When the idea of Project Happy Feet was mooted some a year and a half ago, I was highly enthusiastic and charged. I had grand plans. I wanted to do so many things for the children in Cambodia that I felt I could take on the world.

But like all busy people, life took over and somehow the grand plans I had took a side step. Challenges that I thought could be easily overcome at first became big hurdles I used as excuses to not start the project.

And so, life went on.

Then two months back, I looked back at the blog I started during my previous trip to Siem Reap. My conscience pricked me, and I remembered how friends came forward so readily when I first spoke to them about Project Happy Feet. With that, I spoke to my team at Caelan & Sage and asked if they were willing to make a trip to Siem Reap this year for their annual staff retreat, and instead do some community work. They all agreed without thinking too much. All were just so excited to be able to bring joy to the less fortunate this Christmas season.

One by one, all did their part. From designing the logo to developing the website, to borrowing cars just to collect clothes, to sorting and packing clothes and thinking of activities for the children, each one of them did their part. Then the call for contributions began.

I was skeptical at first. I thought if we could just bring joy to the children in any way, it would be enough of an achievement.

And so, in less than a week after the word of Project Happy Feet was spread, I am heartened, encouraged and touched. That despite the financial crisis, people are still so willing to lend a hand and play their part for the less fortunate.

For all of you who have contributed and are intending to contribute to our cause, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You have made many many 'Happy Feet'!

Deborah Chew
Founder - Project Happy Feet

Contributions Pouring In...

2008-11-24T13:19:00.000+08:00

Project Happy Feet would like to thank our friends who have made their contributions through Friends of Project Happy Feet.

We so far received contributions from the following:

Huang Zongren - $100
Shuyi Tan - $100
Joyce Zhuo - $100
Dawn Ho - $50
Weiwei - $50
Li Caifeng - $20
Hazel Tan - $10
Alex Zhuang - $10
Gee Wah Mui - $10
Parry Tan - $10
Glenn Chew - $200 (who specially requested that the amount be used for 100 pairs of slippers for children)

For a full listing of donors and sponsors, please visit the "Donors" page on the website. We'll do our best to update the page the instant we receive your contribution but do forgive us if we take a little longer than usual. Oh, and if we missed out your name, please give us a little nudge. We know it's important to give acknowledgment so help us keep our word :p

Thank you for the bottom of our hearts. We thank you for making many "Happy Feet"! :)

The Start of Project Happy Feet

2008-11-23T15:27:00.000+08:00

Our first efforts have started. Grace and I took an entire day sorting out the clothes we had collected from Peggy Lee, a friend of Fr Heri.

When we first unpacked the clothes from 7 big bags, we thought the sorting would never end. But bit by bit, and picturing the children in the pretty clothes made us just go on and on.

And finally, after 7 hours, we had them all sorted out.

Grace sorting out the clothes. We had to guestimate the age of the children the clothes would fit.

That's me folding the clothes so we can pack them nicely into bags to be given as gifts to the children.

Now that that's all done, our next efforts is to raise funds! Watch this space to stay tuned on our efforts!