It has now been six weeks since I stopped working at Human and Hope Association, and I am missing it! I think of the things I (surprisingly) miss the most is the sound of children. I never really appreciated it in the 3.5 years I worked there, but I do now! I suppose the noise of children keeps things interesting and exciting. It is a bit of a transition to working in a quiet office!
Over the past few years I have taken literally thousands of photos at HHA, and I am going to share with you a selection of my favourite ones. They may not necessarily be the best quality, but they all hold a significance or meaning to them.
Scroll over the photos to see why these photos mean so much to me!
I took this photo in 2013, back when Salin and Thai were part-time staff members and still in school. Amazing.
Our hard-working Sustainability Assistant, Sophy, surrounded by the chemical-free vegetables she cares for.
My absolute favourite photo of art class.
This photo screams hope. We provide our sewing students with money saving boxes so they can save their profits to repay their microfinance loans.
This is what our staff do; they go out to the community in search of villagers we can empower.
Our sewing student, Sangorb. She borrowed a sewing machine through our microfinance program, and made profit in the first day of having it. The pride she felt was incredible.
An older brother helping his younger brother how to write in Khmer. They didn't start to learn how to read and write in their native language until a staff member saw them in the village and decided they needed help. They and their sister are very intelligent.
A very candid shot when I happened to have my camera at the right time.
An old one, but a good one. This was when Saney was first getting her sewing business started. She has developed it considerably since then, and even resigned as our seamstress so she could concentrate on her business.
This is from when we took a trip to Trauv Kut for our six-monthly team building trip. I took my camera into the water to get this one!
I took this photo on the first day that HHA was holding classes at our new location. The kids were SO excited, and their energy was just the start of what was to come.
Weekly staff development workshops, a crucial element in our empowerment of staff.
Our very first expert sewing class, who graduated in October 2014.
A student engaged in living values class.
Our graduated sewing student, Chomrong, who became a sewing teacher at HHA this year. She was very scared to take the role, and I gave her a straight talk about it. I am so proud of her.
Two sisters. One studies sewing, the other studies Khmer language.
A student proudly showing off his hands in a hygiene workshop.
Our current preschool class with Sangha the Elephant. When people purchase Sangha, they provide a month of education to a preschool student.
Our former seamstress, Saney, with her daughter. They are showing off some of the products that Saney makes, which has enabled her to almost move out of the poverty bracket completely.
A current preschool student showing off our phonics book. In a year he will learn from it.
Our education team proudly showing off the textbooks that they created themselves. It took them more than a year, in between classes, to make them.
Two of our sewing students taking care of their farm. If the crop fails, they don't get vegetables. We need that sort of accountability and investment by the villagers in our projects.
Two preschool students in 2014. They couldn't read yet, but that didn't stop them from trying.
Our seamstress, Chomrong, proudly showing off an article in which she appeared. I gave her the copy and her three-year-old son always plays with it.
The two participants in our family farm trial with our Education and Community Manager, Salin.
The daughter of one of our graduated sewing students receiving a top student award. I absolutely love that we have a holistic approach to development.
This photo was taken by our Director, Thai. It was taken just before some of our team ventured out on a bicycle ride to the community to tell the villagers about our projects. I love it because all our staff are wearing bicycle helmets (as is the rule at HHA), and have learned not to be embarrassed about it.
These four staff members are currently in our university scholarship program. Two are founding members of HHA, who I have been training up since I first started there.