carpets for communities brochure
DESCRIPTION
Founded in 2005 by the Social Entrepreneur David Bacon, CfC encourages micro-enterprise, which allows the mothers to send their children to school and gives the opportunity to 180 children for them to get education and 41 families to have a more dignified and prosperous life.TRANSCRIPT
Carpets for Communities………………………2
Poipet Commune…………………………………..3
How we do it…………………………………………5
Meet Lin Channa…………………………………...5
The rugs………………………………………………...6
Our impact…………………………………………….7
From labor fields to university………………7
How to get involved……………………………..9
Contact us……………………………………………11
Many children in Poipet, Cambodia are under high risk of child trafficking and prostitution as most resort to begging on the streets or working as child labor to support their families. Equally important, the children are deprived of the education that would otherwise enable them to improve their long-term livelihoods. Their families are in the cycle of poverty and CfC aims to empower families to break this poverty cycle.
Founded in 2005 by the Social Entrepreneur David Bacon, CfC encourages micro-enterprise, which allows the mothers to send their children to school and gives the opportunity to 180 children for them to get education and 41 families to have a more dignified and prosperous life.
cycle of poverty
A family lives below the national poverty line
Children forego school to support their family
As adults, their lack of education limits income
opportunities
In a city whose economy is based on gambling and border crossing for commercial traffic, children grow in an environment of risk of exploitation, prostitution and non-education.
Poipet is the 4th most populous settlement in Cambodia, it’s a key crossing point with Thailand been susceptible to economic crises and even to wars depending on the diplomatic situation between the two countries.
Some numbers about Cambodia according to UNDP Human Development Report 2010:
- 40,9% of the population don’t have access to education
- The average education is 5,8 years
- Per capita income is 1,18 (USD)
- 1.304/million deaths by air/water pollution
Daily in Poipet
CfC targets women with children who leave school to work to support their families. With the money they earn from making carpets, the women can relieve their children from work and send them back to school. Our social workers help families with the transition and partner with school teachers to monitor the children's attendance.
In 2005 no one of Lin Channa’s 7 kids could attend school regularly because they had to work to support the family getting money to buy food and survive. Now all of them have the opportunity to study.
As a CfC’s participant Channa’s avarage income more than tripled from $32 to $178/month from making carpets.
Now she has not only money to survive but to invest. With the extra income, Channa is also able to purchase some pigs, rear and sell them for a profit. She feels confident that she can feed her children, prevent them from illnesses and educate them to their fullest potential.
Securing educational opportunities for the children today translates to improved livelihoods in the future. To sell the rugs providing profits to the families we count with a network of volunteers in Australia working managing retail activities and Market Stalls in 5 states.
The rugs are high-quality, durable floor rugs of all sizes and in beautiful colors. They have a nice design and eco-friendly option for any environment. It offers comfort for your feet and elegance for the room. Made from recycled and reclaimed materials, our rugs are made from off-cuts, including post-production T-shirt cotton purchased or donated from the garment factories in Cambodia. It is also made from Hessian/Jute sacks (used rice bags) purchased from local communities, and cotton thread. They are also easy to handle and can be vacuumed and machine-washed.
180 kids out of labor field and lead to school;
41 families producing carpets and receiving CfC’s
support by social assistance and loans for health and economic issues. Vision: By 2012 we will return 2500 children at risk of exploitation to school by empowering 500 families in Cambodia and in the world. Families average incomes:
- from 63,5 to 125 (USD) = increasing of 96,8%
Hing Premprey and Tout Kimchhean, whose mothers joined CfC, crossed the school borders and are going to university. Education has changed their lives.
Hing Premprey (left), an aspiring businessman, is looking forward to studying Management and Tourism. Tout Kimchhean (right) is eager to start his course in Electrical Engineering.
“I would like to say thanks to CfC and to all the donators for always helping my family.” Kimchhean said.
Carpets for Communities keep supporting their education with a program that provides tuition fees, accommodation, transportation and school supplies for successful applicants.
women can ensure their children education generating profits through the production of hand-made carpets.
41
Gnean Ouch, one of our mothers, making a carpet.
how to get involved Buying a carpet is only one of the ways to support Carpets for Communities and help those families to develop themselves and enable their children to go to school. Here you can find all the ways to get involved:
buying our products
Either a nifty item for your house or a Corporate gift, our carpets can be a perfect choice when you need something innovative, useful, eco-friendly and social responsible. You can use them to decorate environments or present someone.
sponsoring CfC
As an Organization, CfC has a lot of expenses with processes and production inputs.
You can help us sponsoring the whole organization or one of these processes like the cotton supply, shipments, supporting the executive office or the activities in the market stalls in Australia.
donating to the families
Those families can already send their children to school but they still need basic necessities like medicines and health care, money for children transportation and school supplies.
The donated money will be converted into loans to the families and generate more improvement in their lives.
being a Project Partner
Join CfC to build programs that besides the carpets production can improve the development of that community. That is another way to get involved. CfC believes that if we combine our efforts we can make something bigger in a sense of improving our society and change the current world reality.
Website
www.carpetsforcommunities.org
www.facebook.com/carpetsforcommunities
Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/carpets4communities
Luana Norões
External Relations Manager
Mobile: +855 (0) 78 732417 (Siem Reap – Cambodia)
contact us To know more about the project and get involved with Carpets for Communities, access one of our communication channels.
thank you
Planet Wheeler is the current National Executive Team sponsor and makes possible the fulltime work of an international team in Siem Reap - Cambodia.
www.planetwheeler.org
Footprint Photography is the responsible for this beautiful photographic work that illustrates this brochure.
www.footprintphotography.com.au
