Riverkids and Microfinancing

Last October, 5 families with the Riverkids Alexandra community were selected to take part in our microfinancing scheme and out of these 5, 2 have agreed to be part of our microfinancing project, making paper flowers.



We still have lots of kinks to work out with regard to tracking and basically how we should manage microfinances, but we really hope this will take off.

Get Ready! girls at Hosea

3 of the graduated Get Ready! Girls will be starting a small business of their own selling handmade little girls' clothes and accessories.

To hone their entrepreneurship skills, they took part at a Family Day fair at Hosea, a NGO in Phnom Penh on 11 Dec.

the Riverkids booth.

Showing off their dresses!

Preakdey , the Education Coordinator posing with the cigarette wrapper necklaces.

Quick list update!

• We are gearing up for the first graduation of our Get Ready girls on 15 November. Parents are invited, certificates printed and best of all, we have already found a job for one girl, a business plan for three more, two back at high school and the rest being sorted out!
  
  
• The Hosea consultation has been gruelling and eye-opening. We are doing great operationally, but because we've grown so fast and organically, we don't have systematic structures for decision making and planning. Basically, we need to record down what we're doing so someone else can step in and takeover if needed, and we need to clearly link projects back to child trafficking and put in more monitoring/status reports. Doing it now will save us a lot of time later, and it is pretty simple. I have learnt what a logframe is!
  
  
• All our finances are now going to an external accountant, and we will get January-September's records first, then quarterly detailed statements. Huge relief as it was the most painful part to do because I had to triple-check everything. Now I can concentrate on checking Cambodia accounts to reality and have all the spreadsheety parts done much faster.
  
  
• I am really happy with our spending in Cambodia so far. We need to bite the bullet and hire more social workers, someone to do paperwork only, but all our new expenses - like the weekly boarding house - have been covered by specific donations. We're keeping at our costs.
  
  
• We were very lucky to negotiate rent with the landlord of our current Family House for the house adjoining that they also owned. This is going to be where the weekly boarding and Get Ready classes take place because there's way more room and privacy. The teenage girls boarding will have their own room to share! Also it's got a really nice big kitchen for us to prepare meals and add cooking lessons on. The RJC students going up are going to do up the boarding rooms so the kids feel comfortable and welcome, and help us add boards and posters for visitors to explain what's happening.
  
  
• We have met with several different NGO groups over the past two months, and in every case, people have been WONDERFUL. There are 'turf' problems when your work overlaps or you disagree on methods, but overall, in the past seven years in Cambodia, I've found the vast majority of people working in aid to be open about sharing ideas, resources and advice. We could not have gone this far without so much help. I hope we can be as helpful for other groups. Part of this might be that we usually work only with ground-level staff and small groups *g* like us!
  
  
• The two most likely new sites have been identified and this trip, we'll be firming up plans and a timetable for opening.
  
  
• Volunteers! Karen's interviews will form the basis of our microfinance, starting with three girls and about four adults. Then we have a sewing workshop group in December, more tentatively planned after, football and field trips, volunteers locally for the Riverkids shop and more. A Swedish lawyer is coming for three months to help train and put in a better child and family case management system. I met with a couple who volunteered recently and the best part was hearing their ideas for further work and suggestions.
  
  
• In Singapore, we've been selling Riverkids Shop at local fairs with a good response. We've sold close to US$5000 at them, and we're looking forward to a busy holiday season. DHL have given us great rates for express shipping, so this year, please shop with us!
  
  
• That's all I can remember right now. I leave on Wednesday for the graduation and some big meetings, and maybe this time I'll be awake enough at the end of the day to post!
  

from Karen - a volunteer with Riverkids

Hi Everyone, here's an entry from a volunteer from Singapore who went up to Phomn Penh to help up with our plans of implementing a micro-financing programme in the in the Alexandra community. Here's her story:

This is me, Karen, contributing my very first blog entry to Riverkids Project.

Long story short: stressed out company employee seeks a little time off from work, and then shelves all ideas of a relaxing getaway to join some amazing people on a volunteer trip to Phnom Penh.

The actual low-down: I read about the Jimmy and Dale’s story last year, contacted Jimmy to discuss about Riverkids and the possibility of my volunteering. Unfortunately, I was buried in my work and never got round to doing that. Couple months ago, I chanced upon a writeup on Jimmy and Dale and Riverkids Foundation in the papers - again, and it’s like THE SIGN to me. I was already thinking of taking a break from work, and I thought “What the heck! I should really go do this. If not now, then when?” And then came a chain of emails and a meeting between Dale and me, and it was decided that I would take on the micro financing programme assignment. This would entail interviewing and assessing the families of the Riverkids Project Community. Within 2 weeks or so, I was on my way to Phnom Penh via Siem Reap.

Visiting the slum area where the families of the Riverkids live was a real eye-opener for me. Slums aren’t alien to me as I’d previously seen a number in certain parts of India, The Philippines and elsewhere. However, this felt different. Different because I was not a “spectator” (to put it crudely) viewing from the bus or train or tuk tuk. This time, I went right into the slums to meet with its residents.

In all honesty, I was initially overwhelmed with disgust and guilt. Disgust at the filth and poverty surrounding the kids and their families, and guilt for what we have in Singapore and taking for granted all too often. For 3 days, I found myself balancing precariously on makeshift wooden planks and making my way from shack to shack, interviewing the families. And I couldn’t have done this without the help and company of Sok Lee, a Riverkids Foundation staff, who helped me with the interview translation and made sure I didn’t fall into the river (which I almost did once or twice! No kidding!).

Before I went to meet the families, I must have had like a gazillion thoughts (alright, this is an over exaggeration) swirling in my mind. Seriously, I felt like an intruder, invading the privacy and space of the families especially in the beginning. Yet the mothers of each family greeted me kindly and wore smiles, albeit weary ones, on their faces throughout our interview. And the children reserved their brightest smiles for me! I couldn’t speak nor understand one word of Khmer but it was just amazing how a few of the ladies just opened up and talked and talked while Sok Lee kept up with the translation. And I… I just frantically scribbled away on my notebook.

Going through my notes each night in the quiet of my guestroom, I realised that despite the different sad stories of each family, they were all looking for the same thing – opportunity and the access to it. And in a way, I believed that when they spoke to me in their own language, they were hoping for someone to believe in them, to give them a chance.

Looking back, I have come to admire a people. In a country pushing hard for development yet still grappling with the aftereffects of the horrific Khmer Rouge era, I see strength. I see dignity. And I see hope. In the slums and on the streets of Phnom Penh.

This is my story.

And to the following people who made my stay totally unforgettable, thank you:
Dale, Angeline, Eleanor and baby Sarah, Sok Lee, Heli, Preakdey, Sophon, and the rest of the staff and children of Riverkids