Senhoa Blog

The time has come to say, “Farewell!” to Senhoa’s very own Office Manager. After 6 months of working tirelessly with Senhoa’s Field Staff to organize structure in the office and in daily field activities, Michelle McCutcheon-Schour will be moving back to the States to continue her exploration of careers in NGO management. With tons of travel experience and working with vulnerable populations cross-culturally, Michelle has provided both international and local staff with a wealth of knowledge that we will carry with us as we continue to develop our programs.

Presenting the winning team at Summer Camp with their cake-prize!

Leading a Strategic Planning meeting

Taking care of some finances

Thank you for all your hard work, Michelle! We will miss you greatly!

Love,
The Senhoa Team

In early March, with a full team of Senhoa staff and volunteers and partner organization’s support, we held a fun week of Summer Camp! The main purpose of this 4-day event was to create a safe space and a sense of connection between the girls who will be starting the Jewelry and Life Skills Program at Senhoa. We wanted to introduce them to Senhoa’s programs and whathe idea of what it means to, not only work with other people in a team-building environment, but also what it means to work on yourself on a personal and individual level.

Our Volunteer Summer Camp coordinator, Luckyna Chea, worked closely with Country Director Deb Ly and the rest of the volunteers and staff, to strategically design the events in a way that integrated education, mindful play, team-building activities, and life skills.  As we do it here in the field, everyone helped to put it all together; from coordinating with our partner shelters, brainstorming effective games and activities, running around Siem Reap to find random ingredients to make Play-Do and Chia Pets, designing daily chore agendas and ensuring that everyone knew where they were supposed to be at a given time, finding the most beautiful hair and clothes accessories to equip the girls for the end-of-camp fashion show, and staying up all night creating a video that recapped the weekend for the girls to watch on their final day.

Recruited new volunteers

We wanted to take a moment to welcome our two new volunteers! Jenifer has been working with Linda, our Jewelry Program Manager, and Hannah has been working with the Outreach Director, Kimang, to facilitate the Life Skills Curriculum. They have brought their skills and energy to the projects and have been a wonderful asset to our Program.

Welcome to the team Hannah Nguyen and Jenifer Thai!

Sen-cerely,

The Field

In the past few months, there have been many exciting changes here at Senhoa!

Senhoa partnered up with Kamonohashi

Senhoa is great with making contacts. Recently, Senhoa Cambodia made friends with Japanese NGO Kamonohashi to help young women vulnerable to trafficking.

The Kamonohashi Project is a human-trafficking preventative initiative that provides income generating opportunities by means of weaving traditional grass mats in their rural-based factory. However, they found that the young women they employed were difficult to engage due to their lack of education and understanding the importance of work ethic.

That’s where we stepped in with our Life-Skills Program! As a new duo, Kamonohashi helped Senhoa identify young women in their commune and enrolled them into our Lotus House and Life-Skills Program.

Senhoa held an information session at the commune meeting hall. We ran family assessments. We ran medical assessments to ensure all was in working order. We introduced them to a new life the in Lotus House and now we’re seeing them enjoy what Senhoa has to offer!

We hope for the young women of Kamonohashi to learn the value of work ethic, responsibilities, critical thinking so upon graduation with Senhoa they can return to their village better equipped to take on employment position with the Kamonohashi weaving factory. We want the young women to earn a decent income for themselves and their families and avoid the trap of human trafficking and the dangerous lure of the commercial sex industry.

Senhoa moved into a new office

In February, we moved into our new home! Check it out.

Lotus House Field Trips

On our first Lotus House field trip, our superstar volunteer Jenifer Smith and Dara took our Lotus House girls on a field trip to West Baray.  It was a trip for all the girls to get familiarized with the staff and each other. We all biked to West Baray, brought our own food for a picnic and swam in the reservoir.

On our way to West Baray

On our second Lotus House trip, we took the girls to Phnom Khulen. Phnom Khulen is in Siem Reap Province and is known as the mountain of the lychees.  We took the girls to the temple and the waterfall.  One of our former service user also came and talked about her experiences and how she is doing now. This was good support for the girls to give them an idea about what happens after their year at the Lotus House.

Phnom Khulen

Cheers to a new year!

With Lots of Love and Kisses,

The Field

Happy International Women’s Day!

In honoring women around the world, Senhoa has launched a new jewelry line called EVER AFTER: The Bridal Collection. Each piece from this collection is a perfect gift for a perfect woman. To view this exquisite collection, please visit http://senhoa.org/bridal/

Have a joyous day with the beloved women in your life!

Sen-cerely,

The Senhoa Team