THE volunteers from Stitches of Hope charity are returning to Woolorama this year to do some much-needed fundraising for projects in Cambodia.
The organisation’s founder Kay Eva and a group of volunteers attend Woolorama to help keep the gourmet eating areas clean and do other cleaning duties during the show.
The money they raise goes to their many projects in Cambodia.
WA-based charity Stitches of Hope aims to bring hope to Cambodia by raising awareness and providing much-needed aid.
During the last 12 months they opened a children's home for young girls and boys who are orphaned or come from single parent severely disadvantaged families.
These young people now have the opportunity to attend school and learn a skill which they would otherwise never have had.
The home is in need of extensions and improvements and fundraising activities will continue to provide facilities for these vulnerable young people.
A recent addition for the children's home was the purchase of a tuk-tuk to ensure the children arrived safely on the busy roads of Phnom Penh.
Stitches of Hope runs two sewing centres to provide employment for 20 young girls and abandoned women who are trying hard to support their families.
Stitches of Hope bought industrial sewing machines and overlockers to enable the women and girls to provide the local and overseas market with high-quality garments.
In November last year they officially opened a community centre at Chrey Vein, which is two hours from the capital Phnom Penh.
This lovely new building is fully equipped with sewing machines and the local women will now work to provide an income for their families.
The newly-appointed school teacher has 60 enthusiastic students who are appreciative of their new education opportunities.
Since November Stitches of Hope have provided loan funding for three new businesses to open.
These include a beautician business, a clothing store and laundry and a furniture outlet.
Their sponsorship program continues to grow in several different districts of Cambodia and one village, which has 10 women with HIV/AIDS, now has the opportunity to receive their anti-retroviral medication each month due to the generosity of donors.
The desire for the future would be to provide these village women with toilets and fresh water, something they have never had.
The organisation has a large number of sponsors who are willing to give every month to enable the children to receive an education and older women to buy their food and medication and the needs continue to grow.
Plans to improve the living standards and provide a safe environment from the sex trade in Cambodia for the vulnerable young women and boys by giving them education and work opportunities is proving successful.
Stitches of Hope will have a commercial stall to sell some of the items produced by their programs in Cambodia.
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