Friends-International Blog

This week has seen Friends Board Members, Program Directors, International Coordinators, managers and staff from across the world gathering together in Phnom Penh at the FI HQ building for our annual sharing meeting. This is a rare opportunity for us all to get together, to share our achievement from the previous year and to look [...]

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James Farley, our Social Work Technical Advisor has shared this case study with us about a good outcome for an abandoned baby thanks to our  Kaliyan Mith Short Term Foster Care Project in Siem Reap, Cambodia. ‘In October 2012 Kaliyan Mith Siem Reap were contacted by Angkor Children’s Hospital (AHC)  regarding Baby V*, a 3 [...]

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Sport is a great way to build confidence in marginalized young people. This  half-time report on the mixed fortunes of our Kaliyan Mith youth football teams in Siem Reap from our man on the touchline, Friends Social Work Technical Advisor James Farley, gives us the lowdown on progress to date… ‘As the Siem Reap 7-a-side [...]

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The Siem Reap half marathon, held in Cambodia each December, is not just a test of stamina and skill for participants but also forms a significant part of the fundraising calendar, with many runners pushing their physical limits to raise awareness and funds for their favorite cause or issue. So it was for FI volunteer [...]

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As our students and teachers were busy preparing for the opening of Marum, we took them aside (very quickly!) to ask them what is was like serving customers during the restaurant’s soft opening and how they think training with Marum will help them in the future. Marum, the new Kaliyan Mith training restaurant, is part [...]

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Today Marum, our new training restaurant in Siem Reap, opens its doors to the public. Restaurants and Friends are inextricably linked – back in August 1994 Sebastien Marot was leaving one in Phnom Penh when he stumbled over children sleeping rough on the street. That was the moment he made a decision to do something [...]

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What does our tagline ‘Together, Building Futures’ really mean? For the young man in this story, it means many others working alongside him to help him shape a better tomorrow for himself… and his family. This is Vuthy’s story. It is not his real name, but everything else in this story is real. This story [...]

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The wait is almost over… all the renovation,restoration, preparation and perspiration over the last few months is about to come to fruition… Marum is nearly ready for business! Marum is the new TREE Alliance training restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia, following in the footsteps of renowned and established restaurants such as Friends, Romdeng, Makphet and [...]

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As part of the 3PC Partnership Programme for the Protection of Children, Friends-International works together with nine civil society organizations (CSOs) in five provinces in Cambodia to strengthen child protection systems through capacity building and coordination with and contributions to national and sub-national child protection responses in Cambodia. Wanchi – 3PC Child Protection Researcher at [...]

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As Friends turns 18 years old today, we join our longest serving staff members who share their memories of joining and working with us over the years… living examples of the truth behind our tagline, ‘Together, Building Futures’, we thank them for their hard work and commitment over the years. Of course thanks also to you, our [...]

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