It has been a while since I have provided an update on how our Cambodia projects are tracking so I thought I would fill you in on what has transpired in the past few months.

I'm very pleased to be able to report that the brand new well appointed bathroom facilities (complete with showers for the first time!) and revamped kitchen construction project has finally been completed at the Oddar Meanchey (OM) House of Hope. With more than 60 high school students calling this place home, the new infrastructure is making life so much better for these enthusiastic young people who are forced to live away from their families for the majority of the year. This project has been repeatedly delayed due to a longer and stronger monsoon season this year that has prevented contractors from finishing the work. I hope to have some photos to share with you in the near future.

The unseasonably high rainfall of this past wet season has dealt a cruel blow to many of our struggling OM families who still have their backs to the wall as a result of the Covid pandemic. For most, the only available employment is across the border in Thailand, but whereas a blind eye was turned to these illegal workers from the south pre-Covid, now the Thai government are insisting they come with official passports and visas.

With the cost of this being beyond the financial capacity of these families, they have been forced to find other ways to put food on the table while at the same time attempt to slowly accumulate enough money to get their paperwork in order. Many have turned to small rice crops to provide nourishment for their loved ones and hopefully have a few extra bags to sell at the market, but for a large number of them the big wet thwarted their plans with their entire crops lost to flooding. A similar situation is being played out in southern NSW at the moment. So the immediate future for these families is very uncertain and we are hoping we might be able to roll out another emergency food aid program in the coming weeks and months and also look at sponsoring families to get the immigration paperwork they so desperately need.

The other big challenge for our projects presently is the dismal currency market for the Aussie dollar against the greenback (US dollar) which is placing significant strain on our financial resources to underpin the provision of a free education and food to over 1200 kids, keep the OM House of Hope open and operate vehicles among many other things. In relative terms we are getting near on only half the value out of our precious fundraising dollars compared with only a few years ago.

I really appreciate the amazing contributions all our supporters make, but if you have the capacity at the moment to dig a little deeper it will have a massive impact at a real time of need.

In more positive news I'm very excited to be taking a small group to Cambodia in February next year to reconnect with our communities, having not been there for four years. It will be awesome to see the brand new $500,000 Andong slum village primary school especially and we intend to enjoy a big celebration with teachers, students and families. Once we get back into the swing of regular visits to Cambodia I'll be extending an invitation to all our supporters to consider joining us on one of our trips.

That's it for now. Enjoy the sunshine.