We have 4 new businesses that have become available to be funded! Touch Mom, Chea Vanna, Koul Pow and Moen Mean all have developed their business plans and are ready to be funded!

That means that in addition to the 11 families that have already been funded, we have 15 more to be established! See them all here.

The Gone Cyclin’ crew have completed the 400km ride from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap! They arrived around midday yesterday, with some of the CfC executive team and Dave joining them for the final 2 legs from Phnom Penh. They are filming a documentary which they will use to raise funds for Carpets for Communities. Visit their website to find out more: www.gonecyclin.com

The team are now traveling to Poipet with our CEO Kylie and Founder Dave where they will see more of the CfC operations and visit some of the families to get an understanding of the reality our families live with.

Thanks again Gone Cyclin’ for all the work you are putting in to raise funds for us! You are doing an amazing job!

It’s with great sadness that I inform you that Naren Chhut, our office manager for the last two years, passed away on Monday.

As many of you know he has been very sick for the last few months and was unable to find sufficient treatment in Phnom Penh or Vietnam, where he was with his family seeking treatment when he passed. We believe that he died of liver and or kidney failure caused by chronic Hepatitis C and complicated by Typhoid. Both of these diseases are relatively common in Cambodia and it’s a sad reflection of the state of the country that he was not able to find treatment.

Naren worked extremely hard for CfC, putting in huge amounts of overtime and even sleeping in the office to keep it safe before any staff lived there. It was only a few months ago that while riding on the back of his motorbike coming back from a field visit that he told me his amazing life story.

It is typical of so many of the Khmer people, being displaced by the Khmer Rouge and fleeing to Vietnam as a youngster; but Naren’s story also shows his courage and character. After reaching Vietnam he was imprisoned under suspicion of being Khmer Rouge and later conscripted to fight against them in a Vietnamese unit. He later deserted after being forced to shoot a Vietnamese officer from his unit in order to protect a Khmer girl from being assulted.

After that he worked in a stone quarry and moved around before meeting his wife and settling in Poipet, where he worked for Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre before joining CfC.

He leaves behind a wife and two children. His wife is a chronic diabetic and having lost a leg is unable to work in most jobs. He was dedicated to looking after her, spending nearly all of his salary on her treatment each month.

His was a life largely defined by the protection and support of women.

In the Buddhist tradition he has been cremated in Vietnam and his family will return with his ashes for a 7th day ceremony in Poipet on Sunday which we will be attending.

The saddest part of his passing is that he leaves his wife behind with the debts from his illness. Heng let me know that he was very happy to receive the $750 that we raised for him while he was sick and I’m sure that he passed knowing we would do everything we could to support his wife.

If you would like to make a contribution please do so here: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/15133

David Bacon.

Almost as soon as we reached the $3000 mark, thanks to a poker night that raised $740 and some additional donations, we have now reached the $4000 mark! This has enabled a further 3 families to be funded that we are now working with on establishing their businesses’! Our social worker in Poipet is working tirelessly with the families to get their business plans ready to keep up with the donors! With 11 mothers now funded, there are still 15 families that we are working with. Visit and share our entrepreneurs page to donate for these families! Or if you would like to run a poker night or any other event to help raise the additional funds needed contact us.

Long awaited, the latest container of new carpets has finally departed Cambodia, and is scheduled to arrive in Melbourne on the 29^th of June.

We are planning to store the carpets within our own shipping container, but are yet to secure a site for the container.

If anyone knows of a suitable location within striking distance to Melbourne (the closer the better) please let us know. The external dimensions of the container are: length 6.1m, width 2.5m, height 3m.

We now have 6 of the families that have taken out partial loans and we have now started supporting them in establishing their businesses’. Above is a picture of Soung Seangeay’s sewing business that she is doing with her older daughters. This is an exciting time in our organisation as we take the next step in providing these women self-sustaining income. We still have 5 women that are ready to start their businesses’ and will start them as soon as funding is provided, and a further 15 that we are developing business plans with.

When market stalls get cancelled and sales are down we throw a party! Carpets Parties are great fun and sell lots of rugs. You just invite some friends round and do it your way (dinner, a movie, a few beers whatever works) and we’ll turn up with the rugs a talk or video about CfC and lots of energy. We really need to boost sales this month to get enough back to the women… Anyone interested in hosting one?