Lily Foundation tries to bridge the gap between donors and those in need with the help of local businesses. We have a large network and try to connect people with each other. A good example is Panha Sabay and The Sunshine School.
A few years ago, we also donated a water pump through Mr. Savin Philip to Aqua Share. This is a wonderful organisation dedicated to installing water pumps for people who do not have access to clean water or can’t afford it. This year we donated another water pump, and it was installed at a family’s house in a small village outside Siem Reap. We also donated food packages to our former tuktuk drivers and guides to help them through these challenging times.
We donated to Panha Sabay. Which has been used to make dolls out of old socks. These dolls will come in a month with other products for women who have just given birth and are in need of help.
Last year we already had the good news the school could finally be completed. In 2021 this local project, located 10km outside Kampot, could open its doors. Hundreds of children can now once again take advantage of the school’s curriculum. Thanks to the very generous help of our donor from Switzerland, it has again been possible to pay a large portion of the salary costs.
We were able to help a new project in Siem Reap. Kevin Sysyn, a well-known singer/songwriter and the driving force behind ‘Kids Under the Bridge’ for many years, drew our attention to Han’s school in Prey Chas village near the airport.
Over 20 children were taught under Ms. Han’s parents’ house. Not only English, but also drawing, handicrafts and music. She also wanted to offer these children a decent meal every day. With the help of the friends of Lily Foundation we were able to make this possible. Starting April 2021, we are donating a monthly amount for a daily meal for the children. We have decided to continue supporting this wonderful school this year.
Sadly, we also had to say goodbye to the Pepper Hill school in Kampot because the schools have been closed by the government several times due to Corona measures. As a result of this this some families moved and there were no teachers to be found therefore Ms. Kimleng decided to close the school.
However, there were still several wonderful projects we were able to help this year.
As we look back on 2020, it has been a very turbulent year; a year in which the whole world has changed and be turned upside down. Whatever the final outcome of the Corona Virus is, and how long it will continue remains to be seen as, sadly, many places are still in its grip. What we do know, however, is that many thousands, tens of thousands of Cambodians have been thrown back into poverty. It is so distressing to see that many hard-working people with a bright future are struggling again. And now they are at the mercy of government assistance. Many have been left behind with huge debts. No income and with all the consequences that entails.
Here at the Lilly Foundation, we are still trying to do whatever we can to help. The income of Lily foundation comes largely from the kind donations/tips from the guests of our travel agency. From March onwards, unfortunately we have only received cancellations or requests to postpone trips to next year. There have been no fresh bookings for 2020, and unfortunately it doesn’t look good for 2021 either. But we still stay positive. We are, however, very lucky to have a loyal circle of friends who continue to give donations. We have also added a few new donors to the list, which we are of course tremendously grateful for. Thank you very much for trusting us.
For years we have been supporting this wonderful school on The Pepperhill Plantation. Unfortunately, due to government direction, the school has been closed for a large part of the year. We were able to make sure that the teachers got paid and that we delivered extra food packages once a month to the families of the children who go to school here. We also distributed mosquito nets during the rainy season, in order to help protect from Dengue, Malaria and other mosquito borne diseases.
https://web.facebook.com/Children-and-Women-Education-Organization-in-kampot-701767626583284
This beautiful floating village on the outskirts of the largest inland lake in Asia has been hit twice as hard as most places. Since the end of March there have been no more tourists in this village and all boats are chained in the harbour. Sadly, the fishermen are also facing major problems. The rainy season started late and, in the beginning, there was less rainfall than previous years. The fact that more dams were built in the Mekong ensured that the water level remained very low. 80% of the population here is dependent on fishing, and this situation has led to very tough times. This year we gave food packages to the poorest of this village to try to help a little.
Unfortunately, litter still remains a major problem in Cambodia. It is made too easy for the population to discard plastic. The reason: when they buy coffee along the roadside, they get it in a plastic cup, with a straw in a plastic bag. It is the goal of the Lily Foundation to try to make as much of the population aware of this as possible. Together with the staff of, Lolei Travel, Travel Asia A la Carte and Cambodian Travel Partner, 3 travel agencies in Chreav village. We organised another cleanup day. More than 50 large bags of rubbish were taken out of nature again.
This organisation has built several schools in remote villages in Cambodia, and this year they launched a food packages program. Every week thousands of families are provided with rice and other basic necessities. Lily Foundation also made a small contribution to help out for a day and we made a financial donation.
About five years ago, a new school was started to help educate the children of Kampot and we have been helping this organisation for quite some time and a number of teachers are paid through the Lily foundation. Unfortunately, due to internal problems, it never got any further than the foundation. This year we have big news to tell. One of our donors has intervened and made sure that all parties have come back to the table and come to a solution. In August, the construction workers were able to get back to work to continue with the construction of the school. The school is now almost finished and the students who were first taught under a house on stilts can go to a real school. Lily foundation is absolutely delighted to see that the school is now complete. It was impossible without the help of our good friends Sebastian and Ursula.
We helped a pregnant woman who had to undergo an emergency Caesarean section to save her and the baby. Unfortunately she had no money to pay for the operation. We also gave ad hoc medicines, food and other goods to the elderly in the villages we visited and saw that there was a need. Donate a water well and water pump in Kampong Kleang.
As we wrote in the introduction is that our travel agency has also been hit hard. We paid our staff 100% for the first few months even though there was no work. Well, no new work, just cancelling bookings. After that we continued to pay half of the salaries and the staff only worked 2 days a week, mostly helping us with jobs in the garden. In August, sadly, with no more work to do, we were left with no choice but to lay off our staff. Luckily everyone found other work, and 1 staff member stayed with us because we can now also rent jeeps to Cambodians. A special thanks goes to Doris, Reinelda, Sebastian and Ursula who helped us to support our staff.
Nobody knows what 2021 will bring. But whatever happens, we will continue to help the less fortunate people in whatever way we can. In 2021 we are going to develop a new idea. Instead of just giving, we are going to help locals who want to start a business, but do not currently have the means to do so. These will be small-scale projects, for example if woman wants to make clothes but has no money to buy a sewing machine. Lily foundation will buy one for her, and if she earns money, she can pay it back without interest. Another example perhaps could be someone wants to start keeping pigs but has no money to buy a pig. We make sure he can buy a pig and that way he can start breeding more pigs. With the proceeds he can pay back the loan slowly, again without interest. With the money we get back we can help other people.
We believe that if everyone makes a contribution. to make a difference. the world will start turning again and we will succeed in this together.
As with every year, our special thanks go out to all our donors, friends and family. They contributed money, products or anything else. Without your invaluable help, the Lily Foundation could not help the people we do.
William, Martijn, Pascal, Kees and Ine, Kees’ sister, Hartwig and Jutta, Sebastian and Ursula, Alfred and Catherine, Klaus and Rita, Ralf and Christiane, Franz and Petra, Klaus and Heike, Klaus and Rita, Matthias and Ingrid, Joachim and Rita, Markus and Marita, Dirk and Shima, Gepco and Jaqueline, Wil, Doris, Reinelda, Richard and Aniele, Ronald, and all our guests from Cambodian Travel Partner and Red Dust Adventures. Traveling with us means you are helping the local community.
We wish everyone a better 2021.
Andre and Lily
In 2018 we received many donations from many different areas. These came not only in dollars, but also in the form of practical goods. We are always very happy that many of our guests donate to our worthy causes, so we can continue to help the people who need it the most.
There are many good projects in Cambodia, and the goal of the Lily Foundation is to help them flourish and maintain their motivation to continue. We don’t donate only to projects, but also directly to people who are particularly in need.
A few times a year we visit Trapaing Sangke project in Kampot to plant new mangrove plants together with our guests.
The mangrove forests along Cambodia’s coast support more than 100,000 fishermen and their families. They create a diverse ecosystem that is home to hundreds of species. These forests play an essential role in supplying people with fish. It’s also vital to coastal protection, air quality and biodiversity.
A wonderful project of a community of people that joined together to make a difference and replant Mangroves.
Kampot Mangrove Forest on Facebook
From our good friends Ronald and Vi de Block, we get a few big bags with brand new flip flops. We donate the shoes to the children in CWEOK school and to children in small villages. They are very happy with the new flipflops. Thank you very much Ronald and Vi.
With the help from very good friends from Switzerland, CWEOK build a new school. The building is from concrete with a grassroof. There are 2 classrooms and can accommodate 45 children from the neighborhood. Sebastian and Ursula from Switzerland didn’t donate only money for the new schoolbuilding also they will pay the salary of 2 teachers for the next 3 years. On behalf of all the children we thank Sebastian and Ursula for this great gift.
Thanks to Martin and Doris from Austria!! During their wedding ceremony they had a donation box instead of asking gifts from their guests. With this donation we can do many nice things for the children in Cambodia. The first we did is to build a new kitchen for the CWEOK school. It’s now much easier for the staff to cook for all the children. All the children get a descent meal twice a week.
Srey Loth grew up in Speu village with her mother and her sister. Her father died when she was six years old so her mother farms to support the three of them so the standard of living wasn’t very high. Donations arranged through the Lily Foundation allowed Srey Loth to continue studying. She graduated high school Srey Loth sat exams and is now studying to become an accountant at the Build Bright University in Siem Reap.
Srey Loth is a real success story for the Lily Foundation and it just goes to show that a small donation can make a huge difference to somebody’s future.
Kimhour grew up in Poum Thmey Village close to Siem Reap. She attends Wat Polang Ka school. Her father works as a bicycle repairman and her mother sells a few things from the front of their house. Since she has been receiving donations from a donor at the Lily Foundation her English has improved hugely as she can now afford to attend the after school classes where they teach English. She has also recently been gifted a new bike which she is very pleased with. The Lily Foundation has provided another great future for another Cambodian Child.
Srey Pich (10) and Srey Rath (13) are two sisters from Sombor Village. They attend their local school and are in grades 2 and 4. They have one brother and one sister.
Back in 2010 the Lily Foundation placed a volunteer teacher at Sombor school who later went on to donate and support both of the girls with their studies. Their parents only make a living from fishing and farming so it was help that was very welcomed by the whole family as they now don’t have to worry about supporting the two girls through school.
Sokhan grew up in Ta-Cuss village and attended the local Ta-Cuss high school. She is one of four children with two sisters and one brother. Sokhan’s family had a poor standard of living until 2010 when she met a volunteer working at a local orphanage who had been placed there by the Lily Foundation. The volunteer has been supporting Sokhan and her family with monthly donations for three years now. Thanks to the donations Sokhan’s standard of living and education have improved drastically with her now capable of high-level English and computer skills, which she would not have been able to achieve before.
Vandy lives in the Slorkram Commune near Siem Reap. She attends Hun Sen High School and is currently in the 8th grade. She lives with only her mother as her father has passed away and she is an only child. Despite it being just the two of them in the family they still had a low standard of living. Her mother works as a seamstress but is limited to how much she can do due to her being HIV+.
Thankfully the Lily Foundation found Vandy support in the shape of a monthly donor who now has being paying for her school fees for two years. This was a welcome relief to both Vandy and her mother as it meant they no longer had the worry about school fees.
Bunheng grew up in the Chong Kneas commune near Siem Reap. He is one of five children with two brothers and two sisters. In his early education he did very well and continued on to the 10th grade happily. Unfortunately his parents could no longer afford to fund him attending school (uniform, books) as they have a very basic income from catching and selling fish. They did want him to attend but they had no choice. His school fee’s only cost $30 a month but it was just too expensive for the family.
Luckily the Lily Foundation heard Bunheng’s story and they found him a monthly sponsorship that meant he could continue attending school and guarantee himself a better future.
Sothorng lives in the Chong Kneas Village near Siem Reap and attends Wat Sway high school. He is one of 9 children with three sisters and five brothers. Unfortunately his mother passed away so his single father was trying to provide for the entire family on a fisherman’s wage.
Despite being a very poor family Sothorng pushed on and studied hard so he could provide him and his family with a better life in the future. Now through the partnership provided by the Lily Foundation Sothorng no longer has to worry about buying his schoolbooks and uniform and can concentrate on his studying. He often writes to his “sister” to show his gratitude.
There’s a school next to our Pepper Hill Farm in Kampot. Here’s sharing some photos we had with the children and their wonderful teacher Kimleang.
Lily Foundation is happy to donate a new water well system at a village here in Siem Reap. We wish the owners all the best with clean water. This will make their living circumstances a little bit better. We also want to thank Mr. Savin Philip and his team for helping make this possible.
337 participants took part in this ‘environment-cleaning day’, and approximately 2,500 kg of plastic rubbish were collected.
Kampong Khleang is located on the northern lake-edge of Tonle Sap Great Lake of Cambodia about 55 km east of Siem Reap town, more remote, but less visited by tourist.
Since past few months, Kampong Khleang community has been facing waste problems especially rubbish from plastic waste. With the lack of initiative and limited management, the local people have no idea on how to overcome or manage their daily waste.
Following a closely listening to the member and tourist suggestions, Cambodia Association of Travel Agent (CATA), aware the important of promoting cleaning day for keeping Kampong Khleang free of plastic waste.
After several meetings with the community and the commune of Kampong Khleang, on Sunday, 6 July 2014, CATA organized cleaning day called “Our Beautiful Village Day” to collect the plastic waste along streets and the villages and to initiative the awareness of the impact of rubbish, particularly the plastic. This social activity is a lead to find solutions for local authorities to solve problems on their own. The endeavour is not only organizing the waste collection, but also to educate and encourage people in the area to get involve.
Despite time constrain, the event has still successfully attached various parties including hotels, restaurants, organizations, and tour agency who are members of CATA, as many as students, teachers, villagers, local authorities and monks. So there are totally 337 participants has taken part in this environmental day (141 people from various tourism operators and 196 from local villager). And approximately 2,500 kg of plastic rubbish was collected.
This is a long term project that CATA has initiate such like propaganda slogans “A CLEAN VILLAGE START FROM US”, “CLEAN COMMUNITY”, “MORE TOURISTS,” and “TOGETHER FOR KAMPONG KHLEANG FREE OF PLASTIC”
July 6, 2014: Here are some pictures from the cleaning project in Kampong Kleang, Tonle Sap, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Five years ago when Lily was in Kampong Kleang with Wil Thijssen, she said “ I want to help this village and clean all the plastic trash.”
Now, 6th of July 2014, Lily and with the help of CATA, hotels, travel agencies, volunteers, students, and local villagers, we are back in Kampong Kleang to make the first step. Cleaning Kampong Kleang Project.
Our thanks go to President of CATA Mr. Ang Kim Eang and Vice President of CATA ( Siem Reap Branch ) Mr. Proen. Without their help it was almost impossible to initiate this cleaning project. We also want to thank Monika Riedl for her financial assistance to start the project.
Also many thanks to following: Kampoul Adventures, Adventure Loop, AsiaVipa, Victoria hotel, FCC, Le Meridien, Smile of Angkor, Raffles Hotel, Royal Empire hotel, Palatte Restaurant, Senses Journeyes, Tara Angkor Hotel, Siem Reap Cycling, Piet and Plony (+Vutha), Cambodian Travel Partner, Jeff La Flamme, Triple A Adventures, Cambodia Jeep, students from the school in Kampong Kleang, villagers of Kampong Kleang, Chief of Kampong Kleang, Euro Khmer Voyages, Kees and Ine, Apex Travel, and many more….
Our sincerest apologies if we forgot to mention anyone.
We made the first step but this project is not finished. This is just the beginning.
The next step is to teach to children in the schools of Kampong Kleang about the waste and plastic problems, and provide awareness to the villagers. We also try to bring all parties together to find the best solutions. We need to involve the Community Chief of Kampong Kleang, Ministery of Environment, Waste Company, local villagers, NGOs and other parties to start a dialog and find a way to tackle the plastic problem in Kampong Kleang.
We reach out to all families, friends, guests and those who love to keep the environment green and free from trash especially plastics.
Project: Cleaning Plastic at Kampong Kleang Village (Tonle Sap Lake)
Kampong Kleang is the home of about 1900 families, more or less 6000 people altogether. This means that when you arrive in Kampong Kleang, you will see stilt houses as far as the eyes can see. More than a village, Kampong Kleang is a small town with its schools, its 3 pagodas, its clinics and everything such a large community requires to function. For those of you who have never seen such things before, it is a truly mind-boggling experience.
They have 1 thing in common with the most other villages in Cambodia. Waste! Especially plastic bags, plastic bottles, etc.
The local authorities don’t know how to tackle this problem and nobody take any action till now.
How it started:
A few months ago when we were together with our guests in this village we talked about this problem and how we can help. Our guests send us some donation to start with this project.
Who is involved:
With help of CATA (Cambodian Association of Travel Agency), and the President of CATA Mr. Eang, there are now also a few more TA involved, especially many thanks to Kampoul Adventures, Mr. Proeun.
More than a cleaning project:
We don’t want to help cleaning the village only but this will be a start of a huge project.
The 1st step is to start to clean the village and raise the awareness to the villagers about the waste problem and the impact of plastic for their environment.
2nd step is to find ways for the local authorities to manage the waste problem in their community. Partners as the chief of community, district chief, department of environment, waste company and the local villagers must work together afterward.
6 July 2014
After a few meetings with the local authorities, CATA, and other volunteers, all set the date for the 1st step.
6 July 2014 we will go to clean the environment in Kampong Kleang.
There will be not only volunteers from Siem Reap but also the local authorities from 10 villages in the whole community of Kampong Kleang and their families will join us. As well as monks, teachers, students will be joining us.
Program:
07.00am Departure from Siem Reap and drive to Kampong Kleang (45km)
08.15am Welcome in Kampong Kleang. Presentation.
09.00am The total group will be divided into smaller groups and will go to different locations giving the awareness to local families with small conversation short but understandable then all will work together to pick up the plastics with the villagers.
12.00 Return back for Lunch with the communities.
13.30pm We will return back to Siem Reap.
The organization will take care of transportation to and from Kampong Kleang, bottle of water, bags for carrying the garbage, hand gloves, facemasks, lunch
This will be a great day for everyone and together we can make the environment better in this beautiful village.
How you can help us?
Donation is much appreciated
Participate on July 6th, 2014
How to contact us?
If you want to join us or you have any other questions send us an email.
info@cambodia-travelpartner.com (Cambodian Travel Partner)
Tel: 070 579 121
Saving Kampong Kleang is saving the villagers, and a part of the world!
Thank you for your time and we hope to see you all soon!
Lily and Andre
Message from Pak:
On behalf of my family, thank you for your donation of $300 received this morning. The donation is precious for my family at the circumstance like this.
Your donation will go to treatment for my father who had an accident. This will help relieve the pain he is going through, and hopefully he will get better soon. Thank you so much again for the support and monetary assistance.
I have also attached my father’s photos to prove that we received the donation actually.
Last, wish you and ones who a part of this donation healthy, lucky and happy.
Kind regards,
Pak
November 20, 2013: A very strong typhoon happening in the Visayas region in the Philippines has claimed thousands of lives and wiped off entire communities. We extend our condolences to all the families affected. And today Lily Foundation has donated $150 to Yolanda Typhoon victims in the Philippines c/o our good friend, Vivien de Block, who is going to send the amount to a friend who is making trips delivering aid in the form of relief goods in her country.
Oct 20, 2013: We visited the families next to Kong Much Pagoda here in Siem Reap and gave away supplies to 32 families. They all can’t say thank you enough to all the donors and all friends for the donations and effort of bringing the goods amid the floods. Thanks all for great work! We wish you all have a nice weekend!
Floods hit the Siem Reap once again in October 2013 so the Lily Foundation appealed for donations and help from people to deliver relief goods to very badly hit villages.
With the generosity of people from countries such as Holland, Malaysia, Beligum, USA (Boston) and the UK we managed to raise over $1,000. Thank you so much!
We were able to provide 25 families of the Lvea Commune of Steung Village with a set of 5kg bag of rice, 12 bottles of water, and cooking ingredients for each household.
We are not stopping there, we still aim to help 30 more families with the money raised.
To donate please go to: http://www.cambodia-travelpartner.com/en/lily-foundation
Thank you for visiting our Lily Foundation website.
My family and I believe that tourism sometimes creates and destroys at the same time. In many parts of the world everybody may have seen the erosion of a culture. Here in my country for instance, we saw big hotels being built where once small communities in bamboo hut dwellings existed. We feel that as members of our community, we must be responsible for what we bring. Over the years, we have worked very hard in keeping our small family businesses thriving and feel the need that as we grow, the other members of our community also grow with us.
Here is how it all started…
The entire time I have been working in the tourism industry which is over a decade now, I have always found it important to give people a special gift. I thought that if people wanted to visit Angkor Wat, they could go with any of the many other tour agencies which could do the same job, same itineraries, same roads, same places. However, I wanted to do things differently and make it special for each of our patrons. I wanted to give my heart in every tour, every guest, every itinerary. Something different, something special in each and every tour. And for many years, my husband and partner in all these (Andre) and I have welcomed so many good people who had loved the tours and travels with our team which more often than not made them sad to leave Cambodia. Almost all of our guests from every corner of the world became our friends. We keep in touch, most of them keep coming back for a different tour or just to visit.
Because of the success and happiness of gaining new friends and new endeavors we celebrate, no matter how small, and try to give back to the community. For many years we have been helping local organizations in all sorts of ways. And we love what we do helping other less fortunate folks. It is also a joy to see that when we organize activities to reach out to people in need, members of the local community whether expatriates and locals alike are happy to become part of these somehow. We will continue to do our best in contributing something to improve the livelihood of these people we reach out to.
Over the years, we have seen a lot of children who were part of our free learning programs growing up to become successful individuals. We have seen the smiles on many faces of families who have seemed to never in their wildest dreams receive kindness from a fellow human being.
And we enjoy giving where so many others have taken. We will keep on giving through Lily Foundation and with the help of our kind and generous friends, family, and anyone who wish to be part of what we do.
Lily Lim