Lets help Ly Cha!

Meet Ly Cha:

Ly Cha is just a few months old. His mother is poor and suffered horrific domestic violence to the point where she was unable to care for her little son. He was brought to us and although we ourselves are handicapped by polio or land mines we still loved him. For us Ly Cha gives us the opportunity to see a child grow and develop and to learn how to be responsible for a child. We find many hours of pleasure caring for him in our world where we have known so many hardships. Children bring joy to all who love them and we are experiencing that joy. We have adopted him! It makes us happy to feel that we are doing something for someone else. He is our pride and joy!

There is one thing we have learned though in this experience so far and it is that: ‘While our hearts are big our purse is small!’. We do need help ourselves and maybe there are some who could just spare a few dollars a month to help us? Tell your friends, your relatives the organizations you belong to because we know that this is going to be ongoing until Ly Cha has finished his education.

You could make a commitment to help and if you ever come to Cambodia you would be welcome to visit us at CHA ( Cambodian Handcrafts Association) Number 28 Street 330 Boeng Keng Kang 3 Phnom Penh. There you will meet us as we go about our work making handcrafts and maybe you will see Ly Cha if he is awake! On our display shelves you will see the beautiful work that we do in spite of our handicaps and you can even see us working in our workshop. You can take home a souvenir made right here by us.

You may even meet two other children we have taken in from poor families. Thida who is 11 years old and Nita her sister who is 8. They go to school and we find the expenses we incur gradually increasing to the point where we just need to ask for help. We love our children but our income is such that we can’t support them but with your help we can.

We believe that it is in their best interests that these children who are born in Cambodia remain here. As our country develops there are wonderful opportunities opening for the youth and with an adequate education they will be able to fulfill the potential that they have right here in Cambodia. It is the steps between now and the completion of their education that we appeal to you to help us with.

Our Organization:

CHA The Cambodian Handicraft Association for Landmine and Polio Disabled is a local NGO set up in 2000 by a group of Khmer people and registered as a charity with the ministry of Interior.

We produce a range of beautiful silk goods of exceptional quality made by remarkable Cambodian disabled people. Some have been injured in accidents after meeting with one of the many land mines or unexploded ordinance left in the country by years of war.