YA LEUM.19 -How do I find non-profit organization around the world

How do you find non-profit organizations around the world so easily? — Perhaps, the most common question I was asked.

Some know my sense of responsibility towards the society. I have chosen to walk the path of facilitating people and organizations towards decisions that promote positive change.

I value a lot to work with local organizations because they know best their communities. Each community has its own dynamics and rules, and as a foreigner I must adapt what I can do to their reality, because ultimately I am still a guest.

I have a preference to work with individuals or small/medium organizations, because it is easier to do profound work, therefore, more sustainable.

In Cambodia, there are plenty of non-profit organizations doing an incredible work in almost every sector of social development.

Cambodia has been living in a difficult situation since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Most of the population lives below the poverty line, with barely any education, many homeless and with restricted access to food and health. The situation is complex and quite chaotic, giving space to attract people with dubious intentions. However, it is evident the relevance of such organizations for the further development of the country.

The staff of most organizations work on voluntary basis, giving some uncertainty to the sustainable development of the project. Organizations survive mostly from private donors, covering only part of the operational costs. Something common in all non-profit organizations I have been.

Since there are so many non-profit organizations, unfortunately it is common to encounter also fake ones.

Usually, it works best for me to ask recommendations to other travelers. This time, I was not so convinced with the references, so I did my own research on Facebook.

I typed “Cambodia non-governmental organization”, “Cambodia children”, etc and many organizations came up. From there, I did a more intensive research looking at the website, pictures, comments to get me a feeling if the organization was real and trustworthy. I reduced my selection to the two ones that seemed a fit for me. Among the two left, I selected the one with less facebook likes. I assumed they were a small organization, therefore looking for more people to collaborate in their activities.

I contacted CLO — Children Legacy Organization. CLO is a non-profit charity providing free education, food program, student sponsorship and community development to help students and people in and around the Lolei village, 14km from Siem Reap.

In 2011, Sovannarith set up CLO as the volunteer founder, organization still running until today.

This man touched me profoundly with the story of his life. Someone else who changed my way of looking at things.

Thank you brother Sovannarith.

When Sovannarith was young, his family urged him to become a monk because it was the only way out from poverty at the time. He denied strongly, because, although he is a Buddhist, he had a dream to become a teacher.

Sovannarith’s family could not afford his education, so he started working since early age to help with the expenses and further with his studies. Later, he started working in a hotel and while cleaning the rooms, he would write in a small paper all the English words he would hear and then ask to the guest their meaning.

One day, his boss asked him what he was doing, and he shared his dream. The boss supported him by not just allowing him to continue doing that but also to give him an hour free of work to study English.

Later, he joined university and became an English teacher. After many years working in a school, he decided to help his own community and started a school just outside of his house.

Slowly, children of the villages around Lolei started showing up at the school and nowadays, 120 children show up everyday from far away villages to learn English with him and other volunteers.

It is incredible to watch how the kids can write and speak so well! Let us not forget Sovannarith is an English teacher himself.

The day I arrived, coincidentally, a former student passed by to say hello to everyone. He shared with me how grateful he was to have learnt English with Sovannarith:

“In the beginning, I just wanted to learn English to text my friends, but then the teacher said:

- I just teach you if you find the right motivation; I stopped showing up to the classes. But then I understood what he meant, so I came back because I wanted to have a good job. Now, I am the manager of a shop in Siem Reap. These kids do not know yet how important it is for them to learn English in our country. “

That touched me deeply.

I nodded humbly and held my tears.

We were 8 volunteers from all over the place, including two girls I met in Koh Rong.

The school days were busy because there were loads of classes. Everything was well timed, and the kids knew exactly which class they belonged to.

Class 1,2 from 9am — 10am; class 3, 4 from 10am -11am and so on until 4pm; mandarin lesson in the evening and help with the homework for the elder students. The volunteers used to organize the classes, walk around the village, and play with the kids. Sovannarith was usually busy between teaching, preparing the food program, and organizing the volunteers.

His wife prepared the food like a real chef and everyone got together for mealtime.

Recently, he had to change the school to his own house because the temple of the village wanted to use the room for other activities.

Therefore, Sovannarith’s house is the center of everything: school, accommodation, meals, resting and so on.

In the weekend, the volunteers decided to stay to help further with the project. Besides the classes preparation, there were operational tasks, such as: the food program preparation, posts on social media, defining the crowdfunding campaign, etc.

I sat with Sovannarith to discuss ideas for the project and how we could implement them sustainably. The situation is difficult — he runs voluntarily the school all week long and works most of weekends as a tuktuk driver to run the school. There is no support from anywhere, besides some individuals that donate to the project.

Those donations hardly cover the running costs of the organization, so before thinking about new ideas we must guarantee these costs are secure.

However, before that, there is a biggest concern to address: everyone serving CLO must have access to basic needs such as drinkable water, food, health, and education, before helping anyone else.

And that is not yet assured for everyone.

Between working in the school and the 1-on-1 sessions with Sovannarith, the days were emotionally challenging.

A non-profit organization does not come from a solely idea of supporting a community, but from bottomless stories of empathy and awareness of our interdependence as society. We do not exist without earth and the other beings, so we must recognize our connection and hold responsibility for the outcome of our actions.

That level of awareness and comprehension about the others and the planet was the biggest lesson Asians and South Americans taught me.

A volunteer asked me how I cope emotionally with working with so many people and non-profit organizations facing such hardships through their entire lives

I did not give a satisfying response, because I did not know what to say.

But now when I think about it, I figure my drive is connected with the sense of awareness that everything we do, we are, we act, affect the flow of the well-being of society. I do not know if I am doing good, but surely I am doing the best I know.

I had a beautiful farewell at CLO: all kids came to say goodbye, all volunteers were around and Sovannarith hugged me emotionally and said “ Thanks sister Patricia for all the talks, I hope you come back and stay with us. I will keep working here. I just hope I am doing the best for them. I really think I am doing the best I can. They must have the same opportunities as other kids”

Everyone came to my tuktuk to say goodbye, for some last pictures, to hug Sovannarith’s family and make jokes with the volunteers.

I stepped on the tuktuk direction to Siem Reap. There was noise and fun on the background as the kids were playing and running around.

I waved them until I lost sight, and as I reach the next curve to continue the ride, I burst out in tears, my first time since I arrived.

Maybe, that is how I cope with this work.

July, 2017

Patricia Assis