Whistlerites spearhead drive to help poor villagers in Southeast Asia

December 21, 2007

Heather Clifford and Kelly Foran first had the idea for what became Christmas in Cambodia last spring, when they attended a function at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel that included a presentation about the work being done in the Third World by Hope International Development Agency.

Clifford, who works at Whistler Real Estate Co., and Foran, of Teddy Bear Daycare, sat at the same table as a young woman who had worked on the Peace Boat, whose website says its mission is “building a culture of peace around the world” through education, advocacy and cooperation.

The woman sent the Whistlerites a slide show about a village in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia. The village, Prey Omal, is near the central Cambodian city of Pursat and many families there are barely surviving, Clifford said.

“Instead of going to school the children worked in the garbage dumps. The water they drank was brown,” Clifford said.

Beginning last July, the two women sought to engage not only their peers but also children in Whistler, including those at the daycare. “We did a presentation in August, and afterward we had each of the children tell us what they had seen — and they got it,” Clifford said.

“They saw that the kids didn’t have toys or shoes, and had to live in squalid conditions. We then asked the kids what they thought they could do.”

What “they” — both the adults and the children — did was organize a garage sale and fundraiser with items donated by local families, along with some items such as lift tickets donated by Whistler Blackcomb. That August event raised some $2,500.

Clifford’s husband Jason Kawaguchi, also a realtor, was in the process of selling the Whistler home of a family from Thailand who was moving. The family heard about the effort and, instead of transporting the home’s contents overseas, offered to donate the items for sale to help the Christmas in Cambodia effort.

“They said, ‘This is wonderful and we can’t take all this stuff. You can sell it.’ We raised about $3,000,” Clifford said.

Finally, various Whistler realtors donated about $2,000, bringing the total to more than $7,000, which Clifford sent to Hope International Development Agency. Late last month, Clifford received a package in the mail with photos and details on some of the families who benefited from the locals’ generosity.

Most significantly, the money helped build a well, from which several rural families could access clean drinking water by walking only a short distance.

According to the information supplied by John King, manager of fund development for Hope International in New Westminster, the families received training in the maintenance of the well, in home gardening and nutrition.

Of one family with four children, he wrote, “They used to cut wood in the forest, worked their rice field, and climbed palm trees for coconuts for businesspeople. The children could not go to school, as the whole family was needed to work. They got their drinking water from the Pursat River, borrowing a cart or bicycle to carry it. “Today, because of the well, they have a new home, and two daughters are able to go to school, as the family sells vegetables and fruit almost every day. They also have bought some chickens to raise.”

Clifford said she and others involved in the Whistler project felt they gained something as well.

“Even when you feel like you’re a nobody in this great big world, something like this gives you a realization that together, even though you’re just one small group of people, you can prove that you do count and can make a difference.”

Do those involved have similar plans for the future?

“Oh, the brain, she never stops a-thinking,” Clifford said with a laugh. “I think a lot of people feel compelled to do something. You might be sitting down with friends over a glass of wine, or just chatting over coffee, but that’s where ideas are formed.”