Meet Hun Pitou a young girl from Siem Reap in Cambodia.
Born into a rural rice farming life, with very limited prospects
Example donation card the comes with every purchase
ABOUT HUN PITOU
Like nearly all students from Salariin Kampuchea, Hun Pitou is from a small disadvantaged farming village.
Her family would make very little money, not enough to pay for all their children’s needs.
Salariin Kampuchea offers access to education for those who otherwise would not have access to building a brighter future.
THE SCHOOL
Salariin Kampuchea is an organisation that operates two schools in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It aims to deliver high quality education, not only by providing free English classes to over 200 children but equipping young adults with new skills that will equip them for higher education, vocational training and future employment.
The Life Skills program aims to engage students in important personal and social skills, provide advice on different career opportunities and to research work experience options, investigate vocational training schemes or jobs together with professional help and enable the young adults to become responsible and self-confident citizens.
Harnessing Opportunities through Play and Education (HOPE) is a registered charity based in England and Wales which provides financial support for Salariin Kampuchea’s Life Skills program and other projects in Cambodia per-dominantly that supports young adults. They also act as Vurchoo’s local link to Salariin Kampuchea, offering their services free of charge.
HOPE’s mission is to give the children of Cambodia a proper childhood and the young adults of Cambodia a better future through play, education and development, in order to harness opportunity and positive change. They would also be happy to talk to you directly about their work.
Donations to Salariin Kampuchea will assist in sustaining their ongoing work with children and youth from disadvantaged families in Siem Reap. This means the money is invested in people’s education, as well as fair and socially ethical working conditions.
More specifically, your donation will be spent on maintenance costs, books, teaching materials and any major expenditures or investments (e.g. new school block).
It is also worth noting that almost 50% of Salariin Kampuchea’s yearly income is directly invested in training, further education and fair salaries for the staff. This, we believe, is important because the teachers, educators and people working at Salariin Kampuchea are key for the students to learn, grow, gain knowledge, build self-esteem and develop their plans to build their future and, not least, contribute to the long-term sustainability of the communities they live in.
HUN'S VILLAGE
Hun Pitou attends Salariin Kampuchea and her sketches were of her village, where the focus and life line is rice. Rice is essential in Cambodia and a normal greeting in the local language Khmer is ‘Have you eaten rice yet?.
I used this as the inspiration for the Hun Pitou range, using rice grains to capture the essence of Cambodia.
As Hun Pitou’s drawing dictates, nothing is as it seems, nor is anything perfect.
You will find that the rice grains and other aspects in the collection are not uniform shapes.
You will also find one unique silver rice grain in one necklace. This is to remind us of (the) individuality that can be found in simple objects.
The pendant and drop earrings show an elegant rice grain leaving its husk. This is symbolic of the passage to adulthood we all take and that Hun Pitou is now going through with the help of Vurchoo and Salariin Kampuchea.