February 2017 Dream Journal Cambodian Community Dream Organization   We're off to a great start this New Year with new projects, a London Marathon & lots of on-the-ground progress. Enjoy this month's highlights!       International Women's Day   Global Giving project Empowering 100 Girls to help reach their full potential.   Because of the low level of literacy and education in Cambodian rural families teenage girls have nowhere to turn for good information and advice on health and hygiene, nutrition, puberty, domestic violence and human trafficking prevention, and other important topics. We are working with nursing graduates from the Angkor University in Siem Reap, who provide twice weekly sessions to our teenage students in Tapang School. Having a sympathetic ear and advice and clear information will give the girls confidence and help them blossom to their full potential.   The Empowering Girls is part of the Global Giving Girl Fund project and we need to gather many donations between 1-15 March. Please rally your friends to help. Matching funds given on International Women’s Day on 8 March. Mark your calendars.         UK Marathon to Benefit CCDO UK   Chris 'Bunny' Warren, 25, is running the Virgin London Marathon for CCDO UK in April 2017. Chris’ day job is as a DJ and music producer, taking him all over Europe. Chris is also a part-time sailor in the Royal Naval Reserve, a part of the British Navy. He is based at HMS FORWARD in Birmingham. We are all proud of his dedication and are cheering Chris' fundraising effort and wishes him every success on the day. If you were or are a runner or wish that you could be, show your support for Chris!   Please donate all monies raised for CCDO UK through the Virgin Money Giving Marathon with Reference 850698.             On the Ground Report     Team in Action   Smooth Transitioning   Once again, our Founder Jenni Lipa flew to Cambodia for an intense and very productive visit to our operations. She is pleased to report that our CCDO team on the ground is operating smoothly, thanks to the diligent oversight by our Executive Director, Luisa Gentile. Jenni was joined by Scott Brown and Colin Fleming, who are the Trustees of CCDO, UK, as she visited the schools. Carol Duster, USA Board Member, helped form the Dream Team and we accomplished so much together and worked on future fundraising strategies.   Our CFO, Andrew Ng and Board Member, Paul Christakos, visited for a week to ensure that our financials and accountability was transparent and our financial procedures are kept up to date.                                                                   Ordinary people can do extraordinary things that make a difference in the world, one child at a time.         We are proud to announce a smooth transition and handover of school infrastructure and management to our school directors. We have also completed the Breakfast Program handover - with the agreement signed-off by both School Directors. This means that Kiriminoun and Tapang are now held responsible and accountable for the end-to-end breakfast program delivery , including food purchase, breakfast cooking and serving, menu selection, expenses management and reporting. As CCDO, we will keep a role of trusted donors and advisers, who will closely monitor and evaluate the impact of the program.    It is a solution which is paying-off in terms of cost efficiency and accountability and the schools are empowered to take responsibility for their own actions. These are the first steps to ensure self-sustainability.     Visitors & Volunteers A return visit to Cambodia by our Board Director, Carol Duster, who is very much hands on with our Education department means a busy month for acquiring many new skills for our staff as well as much fun for the students. Carol brings her enthusiasm and joy to the teachers' workshops and into the classrooms. Her magic bag with games and materials and laminated slogans to give to the children, makes possible a big step forward in Language Acquisition. It empowers them to have a positive attitude and enhanced vocabulary.“How are You?” now produces answers such as “Excellent”, “Happy”, “Wonderful”, “Excited”...long gone is the answer, “I am fine, thank you!” Her husband, Mark Duster (again volunteering as a Cardiac Surgeon at Angkor Hospital for Children), gave a lecture to our scholarship students on the medical career opportunities open to them.   A big THANKS to Alexandra Baumrind and Kevin Reardon, longtime supporters of CCDO. They paid a return visit to see their wells and the activities at the schools. They had not been for 5 years and noticed a huge difference. Their $1,000 donation will help with our education fund. A visit by 6 students of Yangon International School in Myanmar, led by their teacher, Wendy Krakauer was a special treat for our advanced English learners. The grade 11 students, gave up a day of zip lining, instead opting to visited CCDO and making a donation of time and money. The connection between the young people has been instantaneous and deep and the international students hope to keep their friendship with the Cambodian students alive through a Facebook group.       Cambodian Community Dream Organization theccdo.org       Cambodian Community Dream Organization is a non-profit organization © 2017 CCDO. All rights reserved.