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Welcome to Cambodia
Many travelers cite Angkor Wat, one of the great wonders of the world and the symbol of the heart and soul of the Cambodian nation, as one of the highlights of a visit to South East Asia. However, few tourists venture beyond the glory of the temples into wider Cambodia to discover other aspects that make up this diverse and captivating country.
Cambodia is a country rich in culture, nature, history and tradition. However, it has also been devastated by recent wars. Although tourism has grown dramatically in recent years, much of Cambodia still remains in poverty. Increasing numbers of visitors can also have negative environmental and social and cultural consequences and typically these impact the poorest of people.
Stay Another Day Cambodia presents a wealth of remarkable initiatives which not only provide ideas for a richer travel experience, but also the opportunity to contribute in some way to improving the welfare of local people.
Cambodia Landmine Museum & Relief Facility
Opened in 1999 to raise awareness of landmines in Cambodia to both tourists and locals alike, the Landmine Museum provides training, education, livelihood support and for child landmine survivors, a home and school. Travellers can learn more about landmines and UXO as well as historical information on the country's tumultuous past.
Handicap International - Belgium
Every year, landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXO) from the recent civil war kill or maim more than 500 Cambodians. Handicap International-Belgium provides a range of support activities to the disabled, many of which are landmine victims. It has established rehabilitation centres and community outreach and sport projects and runs programs to prevent disabilities.
Sala Bai Hotel and Restaurant School
Each year, Sala Bai offers 100 disadvantaged students from across the country hospitality training. In addition to training, students receive accommodation, a bicycle, meals, uniforms and manuals and a four-month internship. The fact that over 95% of the students get a job in less than three months after graduation is a testament to the school's success.
Mekong Blue
Mekong Blue is a silk weaving centre employing vulnerable women and producing silk products, often regarded as some of the finest in Cambodia. It has received the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for scarves in both 2004 and 2005. In between touring the Center and browsing the products, travellers can relax at the café, enjoying Khmer and international dishes.
Artisans Angkor
Established in 1999 to help young people find work in their home villages, the self-financed Artisans Angkor's aim is to revive traditional craft skills. It has so far created over 1,000 jobs for both artisans and non-craftsmen in rural Cambodia. A visit to the workshops will take travellers from raw materials to splendid craft-wares.
Cheung Kok Ecotourism Village - AMICA
For those traveling through the province of Kompong Cham, a must-see place is the Cheung Kok Ecotourism Village, developed with support from Assistance Médiation Internationale (AMICA). Travellers can visit the village and take part in activities to experience village life. Profits from tourism go towards re-investment into long-term projects.
Chambok Community-based Ecotourism Site
Lying at the border of Kirirom National Park and boasting a beautiful 40-meter high waterfall, Chambok Community-based Ecotourism site is the ideal place for a day (or two) away from the city, only 2 hours drive south of Phnom Penh but offering a wide range of outdoor activities and attractions.
Centre for Khmer Studies
The Center for Khmer Studies support emerging Cambodian scholars, writers and artists, who almost disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime. The Center boasts the largest specialized public library in Cambodia outside Phnom Penh, in the tranquil, restored Wat Damnak. It also prints books, research and reference materials.
Veterans International - Cambodia Rehabilitation Program
Veterans For America (VFA) is an international humanitarian organization that addresses the causes, conduct and consequences of war through programs of advocacy and service for victims of conflict around the world. VFA operates in Cambodia as Veterans International (VI).
M’Lop Tapang
A charity dedicated to reintegrating street children back to society, M'Lop Tapang currently reaches over 600 children through a range of support services, outreach programs, a drop-in center, community shelters and a mobile library. Travellers can enjoy an evening of entertainment by the children, from traditional Apsara dances to Chai Yam drumming.
Cambodian Rural Development Team
Since 2004, Cambodian Rural Development Team has introduced alternative employment opportunities to over 1,000 families in return for their support of local conservation projects, which include the critically endangered Mekong River freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins in Kratie and Stung Treng, and the protection of tropical forest biodiversity in Mondulkiri.
Angkor Hospital for Children
Providing full service, life saving paediatric care for 300 to 500 babies and children per day and over 100,000 visits per year, Angkor Hospital for Children is funded entirely by grants and donations. Designated by the Ministry of Health as an official teaching hospital, it also trains local health care professionals, working to improve available health services in the rural communities.
Weaves of Cambodia
From five women making silk products in 1998 to employing over 40 rural artisans currently, Weaves of Cambodia is a dynamic community enterprise located in the provincial capital of Tbaeng Meanchey. It employs land mine survivors and disabled individuals, putting special emphasis on women and their families, to produce world-class woven fabrics.
Phare Ponleu Selpak
Originating from simple drawing workshops at a refugee camp on the Thai border, Phare Ponleu Selpak (meaning the brightness of art) now has over 1,000 pupils, providing social and educational help to children through the revival of Khmer culture. Travellers can enjoy circus performances, participate in drawing workshops and tour the center.
National Centre of Disabled Persons
Run by disabled people for disabled people, NCDP's five projects directly benefit 1,800 people every year. The Retail Outlet project supports the disabled artists throughout Cambodia in all aspects of handicraft production. In NCDP's main outlet in Phnom Penh, travelers can either browse the offerings made of Cambodian silk or for something unique, make your own home wares.
Epic Arts
Encouraging the belief that every person is counted, Epic Arts was set up to nurture and highlight the abilities of those usually termed as disabled by society. It organises arts workshops to promote the integration of disabled and able-bodied people and stages performances by Cambodia's first professional disabled dancers.
Isanborei Craft Hut
Isanborei Craft Hut was established to revive the ancient art of craft making using traditional materials, reduce poverty, and encourage the conservation and development of the monuments of Sambor Prei Kuk which are older than the famous Angkor Wat. Travellers can check out the variety of local products available for sale at the Hut.
The Starfish Project
Starfish is a unique grassroots project operating in Sihanoukville and neighboring provinces, assisting families and individuals to become independent through housing, community and water projects, and medical and livelihood assistance. It also has a number of businesses, including The Starfish Bakery Café run by disabled Khmer people, to support the project.
Krousar Thmey
Krousar Thmey (New Family) gives material, educational and social support to abandoned and orphaned children, street children and victims of trafficking. It has created a Khmer version of Braille and sign language, and adapted vocational training for students with sight and hearing disabilities while its centres provide a much needed home for the children.
Tonle Tourism Training Center
Tonlé Tourism Training Center is the first project of the Swiss not-for-profit association Tourism for Help, which has been working in the field of sustainable tourism since 2004. Located in Stung Treng since February 2007, the center aims to provide disadvantaged youths with training in tourism-related fields so that they will gain employable skills.
Pour un Sourire d’Enfant
We provide food, health care, accommodation and education to underprivileged children working and living around a Phnom Penh garbage dump. We run a school offering formal and non-formal education, a Hotel school and attached vocational school, and the main centre on the way to the killing fields, incorporates a handicraft shop, spa and training restaurant.
Friends
Founded in 1994, Mith Samlanh (meaning best friend) provides services to over 1,800 children through three main projects: ChildSafe, DrugSafe and the Street Children Network. Travelers can experience a host of activities run by former street youths - dining at three restaurants, visiting three retail outlets or pampering themselves at The Nailbar.
Paul Dubrule School of Hotel and Tourism
Set up to ensure that young Cambodians have access to a new world of opportunities, students at Paul Dubrule learn both theory and practical skills required for the hospitality industry. Travellers can stay at the Training Hotel, enjoy local and international delicacies at the Training Restaurant or learn how to prepare famous Cambodian dishes.
Angkor Association for the Disabled
Angkor Association for the Disabled assist landmine survivors and people with disabilities around Siem Reap, by raising funds to purchase carts or tricycles equipped to carry postcards, books, etc. Income from sale of the products keeps the cart owner away from a life of begging. Future projects include craft training, literacy training, and TV and motorbike repairing.
Samatoa
Created in 2004, Samatoa Cooperative is a community group that specialises in producing silk apparel. Our desire from the start has been to re-introduce the unique quality of natural Cambodian silk using the knowledge of skilled weavers and tailors. Samatoa offers a wide range of quality products made from natural Cambodian silk. We offer tailored, ‘made to measure’ silk clothes in 24 hours.
Camory Premium Cookie Boutique
Founded in 2006, Camory brings a local twist to cookies. We infuse local agricultural products such as cashew nuts, sesame seeds and local spices into our cookies. By doing so, we hope to introduce visitors to Cambodia's agricultural produce and their untapped potential as ingredients in quality products.
Singing Tree Cafe
In the growing hustle and bustle of downtown Siem Reap, the Singing Tree Café provides a welcome and memorable experience – a large and serene garden café where you can relax, surf the Internet for free or read while we serve you a delicious selection of light, wholesome and nutritious meals.
Rehab Craft Cambodia
Run by and for disabled Cambodians, Rehab Craft Cambodia is a not-for-profit, non-religious, non-government organisation providing long-term and sustainable employment opportunities for Cambodians with physical disabilities. A fair trade organisation, it produces and markets quality handicrafts made by disabled artisans. Travellers can tour the workshops and see producers at work.
Artisans Association of Cambodia
AAC is made up of over 30 handicraft member organizations who work with disadvantaged Cambodians to bring back the once prosperous traditions of weaving, woodcarving, pottery and handicraft production. Their products - found in outlets throughout Phnom Penh and provincial towns - combine unique traditional methods with attractive modern designs.
ART+Foundation
Art+Foundation is a German Foundation in Cambodia. Established in 2003, we firmly believe that the performing arts, in particular classical music, have the potential to shape and change our world through creativity, the sharing of common values, learning and communicating.
Bunong Information Centre
The Bunong Information Centre (BIC) is a non-profit venture located within “The Middle of Somewhere” café. Replete with authentic Bunong décor, it is located along the main road in Sen Monorom near the market.
Smateria
Smateria is a small handicraft workshop and store which designs and sells fashion accessories and costume jewellery. Here, local artisans shape various materials into new forms and ideas every day. All of our products are made from basic materials. Some are recycled and all are sourced locally.
The ChildSafe Project
We are developing a child protection network to prevent all forms of abuse, especially sexual abuse, through carefully selected, trained and monitored ‘facilitators' consisting of taxi drivers, hotels, tourists and non-locals. Members sport the ChildSafe logo and travelers can purchase ChildSafe products and help children go back to school instead of working on the streets.
Sangkheum Center for Children
The Sangkheum Center for Children is a joint project between the Italian NGO Progetto Continenti and the Khmer Angkor Development Organisation (KADO). In the Khmer language, Sangkheum means ‘hope’. Since 2001, we have provided hope for over 274 orphaned, abused or neglected children.
NYEMO
NYEMO aims to provide vulnerable women with the necessary means to regain their dignity and participate actively in the development of their country. Every year, around 800 women who are abused, trafficked, sick, affected by HIV/AIDS and/or abandoned by their families or husbands receive support from us, in addition to around 700 orphans and vulnerable children.
Sahmakum Teang Tnaut
Sahmakum Teang Tnaut links community architects and designers to housing and infrastructure projects in informal, resource poor and marginalized communities who are willing to help themselves. Travellers are encouraged to get involved in the projects, make donations or just relax at the Epic Arts café in Kampot.
Meta House
Meta House firmly believes that contemporary art is crucial to the development of any society and is working hard to fill a gap in the arts scene in Cambodia and offers a unique intercultural and interactive forum for artists on three and a half floors. Travellers can enjoy international art house cinema and films and meet and participate in workshops with local and international artists.
Rachana Handicrafts
Rachana Handicrafts is a local, non-profit organization involved in the production and marketing of handicrafts and has developed a number of income generating activities for women and the disabled. Travellers can visit Rachana's workshop to see how the handicrafts are produced, or stop by at the retail shop to browse the products.