Please help us raise money to build a school in Cambodia!
The Story
It was a warm day in April 2018. Laura and Justin were sitting on friend and neighbour Alisoun Mackenzie’s deck enjoying a G&T in the sunshine. Alisoun, a Business Coach and Author has done much humanitarian work with young genocide survivors in Rwanda. It’s a topic of conversation that arises at neighbourly get-togethers, as Laura too has spent a lot of time in Africa. Alison mentioned she was about to head up a new project to fundraise to build a school in Cambodia. Alisoun had just met met Duncan, founder of an Australian charity, Classroom of Hope.
Both Laura and Justin were instantly taken with the idea of being involved in helping to build a school in a remote area of Cambodia. And so the journey began.
Laura had been looking for a project in the developing world to get her young daughter’s Olivia and Lilly involved in, as part of her educating them to be strong independent women. Laura travelled extensively around Africa in her late teens and early twenties. These experiences put a lot of life in perspective. Growing up in a western country with all the privileges of education, healthcare, freedom of speech and equal opportunities, it was an eye opener to see the harsh reality of much of the world. What also struck Laura most was the kindness of people and communities who literally had nothing. No money, little food and lived in basic huts without fresh running water, bathrooms, toilets nor kitchen facilities. Laura wanted her daughters to learn about how other people live and learn about different countries of the world as part of her educating them in a way that traditional school education can’t.
“I want them to see different, to not be too quick to judge and to be grateful for who they are and what they have.” says Laura.
Fundraising
Laura, Justin, Olivia and Lilly have a fundraising target of £3,500. They are part of group of business entrepreneurs and leaders, led by Alisoun Mackenzie raising a total of £45,000 to build a school in a remote area of Cambodia. Local Cambodia tradesmen are used to build the school and all materials used for the build are sourced locally. This allows all funds to be ploughed into the local community as close to the school as possible. Classroom of Hope will locate the area in need of a school and instruct the build.
BEN NEVIS Climb Sunday 1st September 2019
Olivia (aged 12) and Lilly (aged 10) will be climbing Scotland's highest Mountain on Sunday 1st September (if it's bad weather then another weekend will be scheduled) in order to raising money to hit our target. Currently (as at 21/8/19) we are at 48% of our target having raised this through the sales of a special LT Candle Coconut, Lemon and Lime which Laura's company produced and 100% of the profits have gone into this fund. A candle can be bought here: https://laura-thomas.com/product/coconut-lemon-lime-charity-candle
Please support Olivia and Lilly and donate to boost their walk!
We're looking forward to going out to Cambodia in January 2020 (at our own expense), where we will meet people living in the community and visit the school during our visit. You can find out more about the project HERE.
All funds raised will go towards building the school and associated community projects. We’ll be paying for my trip to Cambodia ourselves.
Please help us help a whole community of young people for generations to come by giving whatever you can to our fundraising campaign.
Donations are in sterling. If you live outside the UK, £10 = US$13 = €11 (approximate values as at December 2018).
Thanks for your support, it means a lot!
Laura, Justin, Olivia and Lilly xx
About the Charity, Classroom of Hope
Aussie based charity, Classroom of Hope, set up by Husband and Wife duo, Duncan and Nicola Ward, is a non-profit organisation that builds and creates child-friendly schools and funds scholarships. The charity works from a 100% Donation Model. CoH believes that all children have a right to education and it’s their aim to provide this.