A local service club that has spent more than a decade helping improve conditions for children who call a Cambodian orphanage home is continuing its quest for sponsors to help keep the facility operating until government or the local community can support it without outside hands.
The Rotary Club of South Surrey "adopted" the Happy Home Children's Centre in Battambang in 2014 – when it was little more than three tin-roof shacks – and have assisted in substantial improvements there over the years since.
A series of multi-week visits, including one earlier this year, have led to bolstered children's dormitories, construction of a proper kitchen and upgrades to the property's electrical and sewer systems, among other things. Throughout, club members emphasize, the goal has been to help provide a safe environment for the children – many of whom were abandoned by their parents – to learn and grow.
It's an opportunity many there do not benefit from, Brian O'Ruairc noted to Peace Arch News in a recent interview.
"Without an education, the children have no hope in that country," he said.
But, "if they can get up to Grade 9… they have about an 80 per cent better chance of getting a half-decent job."
Even that is easier said than done, however, O'Ruairc continued.
As one example, he described how a 16-year-old boy who arrived at the orphanage a year ago only recently graduated from Grade 2, because he hadn't been allowed to attend school after his mother died. In another case, two little girls came back from school one day and asked the orphanage operator if they could go to a different school, because their teacher was busy tending to her newborn while trying to manage four classrooms of students.
"It's a different kind of world over there, that's for sure," he said.
Fellow Rotarian Doug Baker – who travelled to Cambodia with O'Ruairc this year – speculated that if not for the orphanage, "the kids that we see… they probably wouldn't be alive right now."
O'Ruairc said club members have travelled to the impoverished country five times since adopting the orphanage, using funds raised through the club – including a pair of particularly generous donations – to hire locals to do most of the work that's needed, while also getting the children involved in some of the smaller tasks.
As Rotary can only fund projects and not day-to-day operations, the South Surrey club three years ago established an organization that enabled it to have a greater impact.
The Tiarnan Humanitarian Association is an arm of Rotary that can provide tax receipts for donations to the club's international projects, club president Deirdre O'Ruairc explained.
Named in honour of Brian O'Ruaric's brother – who died in a motorcycle crash at the age of 23 – and one of the O'Ruaircs' twin sons, who died of crib death, money raised through the THA funds the day-to-day operations of the orphanage, including $350/month in wages for Chanthou, the woman who runs the orphanage "like a family home."
"Our aim now is to find sponsors who will help maintain the orphanage until the government or local community can take over," said Deirdre. "We're hoping (that's in the foreseeable future). There's no magic answer to that.
"Our club is very passionate about this, and we will continue until… they're self-sufficient."
The orphanage, with 17 children currently calling it home – and as many as 10 more at any given time, depending on need – needs around US$30,000 annually to continue operating.
"That's for food and clothes and a little bit of maintenance," Brian noted. "That keeps the whole place going, pays for everything."
The club spent between $80,000 and $90,000 to rebuild it, he continued. Approximately half of that came from Rotary Foundation grants, and the rest was raised on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, through donations – including an anonymous donor giving $10,000, then another $20,000 – and various fundraisers.
The O'Ruaircs are hoping that by spreading awareness of the Tiarnan Humanitarian Association and its ability to provide tax receipts, people touched or inspired by the project may consider larger, or even extended, donations.
"Ideally, if we could get a few people who would commit to a few thousand a year, say for three or five years, so we had an idea how much money we would have," said Brian.
"Right now, it's basically $100 here, $100 there. It's a lot of work that way."
Baker emphasized that donations do not pay the way for club members who travel to Cambodia to help with the orphanage project. Any cost of that – from flights to food – is footed by the volunteers themselves.
To contribute to the club’s fundraising effort, contact O’Ruairc at shamrockhome@shaw.ca or 604-250-4806. To donate to the Tiarnan Humanitarian Association, visit thadonate.com or canadahelps.org
