Change Lives in rural Cambodia!

Just a few weeks ago Lili said goodbye to me. She is 15 years old. Her parents don‘t have enough money and had to send Lili and her older sisters to Battambang, 380km away from her village in order to work in a casino.

That's the end for Lili's school time, even though she was eager to learn and doesn't want to leave.
Every year spent in school equates to about a 10% increase in future income, which means that in addition to the emotional stress of being ripped out of her social network, she is severely loosing out economically and will have to work much harder the rest of her life to make up for it ...


Changing lives in rural Cambodia with sustainable agriculture:



Stories like Lili's are not uncommon in rural Cambodia. This is where Cambodian Youth Action (CYA ) or more precisely the CYA Learning Center in Kampot Province is trying to help. 
CYA is a non-profit NGO and dedicated its work to three main goals:
Education. Environment. Community development.
We believe in the power of global citizenship and the ability of anyone to contribute to a better world and try to achieve our goals with the help of volunteers, like myself, from all over the world.


The CYA Learning Center is located in Russeydom village in the rural area of Kampot Province.  Here children get access to free English education while getting to know a wide variety of cultures by interacting with the foreign volunteers. Additionally they are educated on environmental issues, health and concepts like human rights.



For the community of Ruseydom Village, which is mainly made up of poor rice farmers, CYA tries to establish further income opportunities, like manufacturing soap infused with leaves of locally grown Moringa trees.  

picture 1: soap manufacturing    picture 2: young Moringa trees

We plan to expand our work for the community by combining all our three main goals. To do this we want implement the permaculture concept into our project. We want to work together with nature rather than against it. The idea is to design an agriculturally productive ecosystem while maintaining its sustainability and resilience. Permaculture is a holistic idea and very much about creating and preserving sustainable environments but never looses the focus on the human beings affected by it.



Our vision is a village filled with people who can provide healthy food for themselves, that can strive and be more independent from growing rice, while being aware and engaged in protecting the environment.

The community will be educated about the philosophy of permaculture and its benefits. The farm will be environmentally friendly and bring the idea of sustainability to the center of attention in the village. Furthermore the farm will help developing the community, as it provides additional income for the families. This will allow them to invest more into their children's future and it will give them a blueprint to adopt sustainable agriculture themselves.



In order to do that we need your support!

So far we have began composting in order to produce natural fertiliser..

... and we have identified the area for our future field:

However, to start farming we require tools, materials for fences and protection and the initial seeds. Part of the plan is also to get the villagers directly involved in maintaining the permaculture-farm.
For their work they have to be compensated, which is why your  donation will also be used to pay fair wages to them for the first months, until we can harvest and become self-sufficient.

We want to introduce new ideas to our community and serve as an inspiration. Be a part of that inspiration and witness how much an idea can transform a community and give dozens of children like Lili the right back to choose their own path.

Thank you !