Community Bakery destroyed by fire in Cambodia
Donation protected
Together we will rise again! Community Bakery destroyed by fire in Cambodia
We are Kristin Bara Haraldsdottir (from Iceland) and Adrian Cowen (from UK)
We came to Otres Village, Cambodia after many years living in New York City, and we fell in love with the people and place.
On the early morning of June 11th Our bakery “Bake and Bake” burnt to the ground.
Thankfully, everyone survived.
This devastating fire came only 6 months after our original bakery and accommodations were destroyed due to Government reconstruction of Otres Village.
Our whole building was demolished and the land taken.
There was no compensation offered to any of the villagers affected.
After four years of working on our bakery project Bake & Bake, we are on the verge of being a sustainable social enterprise.
We are developing a program to produce and distribute nutritional snacks to undernourished children in Southern Cambodia
Our main business is our packaged soft baked cookies that are sold around Cambodia, these are made each morning by our Cambodian staff. Our Cambodia kitchen crew; Srey Roat, Srey Mach, Srey Yura and YeYe - they come in early in the morning before most of us wake up and are done baking by our breakfast time.
The kitchen is full of packaged cookies and our Cambodian manager Mr Sambat arrives and starts to ship out the cookies to our distribution staff, including Cambodian Mr Pach in Siem Reap.
We need help to rebuild from scratch our entire operation and urgently re-hire our Cambodian staff as we have created jobs for several Cambodian families.
We have housed and trained more than 200 international volunteers from the cultural exchange program Workaway. (We provided accommodation and meals for our volunteers)
Our volunteers have handed out a portion of our baked goods to the most needy local families in Otres Village, and to our local school. We try to have each volunteer visit the school at least once during their stay.
Together we will rise again!
Please help us rebuild our community bakery in Cambodia.
Salaries for 6 Cambodian staff for the first 6 months of operation £8,750
Cost of renting, deposit, and refitting building for production bakery, staff and volunteer accommodation £19,440
Equipment for production bakery (Ovens, Stoves, Fridge, Freezer, Mixers, bread slicer etc) £12,960
Replacement packaging and labels £810
Packaging and sealing machine £810
Basic office equipment laptop and printer £1620
2 Transportation distribution motorbikes (second hand) £972
Generator - electric cuts in Cambodia are all too common £567
Total Goal of fundraiser £45,929
Our cultural exchange program and learning opportunities
Some of our volunteer comments on the page after their stay with us tell our story:
"Adrian and Kristin are really good people working hard on keeping their dream alive under a lot of unpredictable pressure that is surrounding them at the moment with all of the developments happening down in Otres."
JAI (Volunteer)
"It was a great experience here. Adrian & Kristin, the owners, welcomed us with a very friendly and warm vibe. Because of the availability of the rooms, we were given a private room -which would be the comfiest room we got during our Workaway experiences- and we definitely felt home. In spite of the fact that there are a lot of constructions and Chinese investments going on , you still have the amazing beach 5 mins walk away from you. We learned how to make some bakery stuff -like the banana bread which we fell in love with- and most importantly we baked pizza for a local school (supported by an NGO) and spent time with local kids. We really enjoyed our time there and we totally recommend this place. Thank you Adrian & Kristin!"
Norbert & Şevkiye Esra (Volunteers)
"This was our first workaway and the sure thing is that it will not be our last as we had an amazing experience... We were planning to stay for a couple of weeks and ended up staying for almost 2 months. We learned so much in such a short period of time. Otres beach is a very special place that is developing rapidly with one of the most stunning sunsets one can see. Working and interacting with the locals was great and we even learned a few phrases in Khmer. Adrian and Kristen are great people to be around and work with and we are very happy to have met them! I am sure our paths will cross again. See you soon!"
Nicolas & Lisanne (Volunteers)
"We cannot thank Adrian and Kristin enough for an experience that has become the highlight of our 6 months of travelling. From attending a Cambodian wedding to having homemade pizza parties- we couldn’t have asked for a better place to be for 5 weeks, and we are pleased to now call them both friends."
Sophie (Volunteer)
"This being our first work away, we were not quite sure what to expect. ..and certainly did not expect such an inclusive, fun environment, whereby you feel you are really part of something.
The owners, Adrian & Kristin, value your input, give you free reign to implement ideas, whether that be in the kitchen, getting tooled up and enhancing their premises, market stall or snack wagon, or suggesting strategy for increasing sales. You can be customer facing and represent the well liked business to the local community of travelers, tourists and locals alike - all done on a backdrop of being part of the Bake and Bake family and the Otres Community.
Adrian and Kristen are well liked and established in the Community. They have been there for a few years, and were great at introducing us to people, telling us the best spots to hit, whether that be bars, restaurants, events, areas of the beach etc. Mentioning their names always got us a special hello and a friendly face wherever we went."
Kit (Volunteer)
"This was our first Workaway, and we were so glad we came here! There is always something different that needs to be done, so in the 4 weeks you can expose yourself to different experiences and skills, of course baking, cooking, selling during the sun set and even building wood furniture :):):):) Kristin & Adrian, local family with children are super nice and will always put a smile on your face.
We met great people from England, Spain and Korea. We had a really great time and we miss them already ... hope we come back soon !!!"
Pawel & Anna (Volunteers)
"We stayed with Adrian and Kristin for a little more than three weeks. This was our second Workaway experience, and we totally loved it. Since the very first moment we loved the familiar and friendly atmosphere there. They made us feel very welcomed and quickly connected with the rest of amazing volunteers. We mainly sold bakes by the beach and on the street with the snack wagon and also baked in the kitchen other days. It was very exciting to organize the shift with the other volunteers and prepare the daily work. We sometimes enjoyed experimenting with new bakes in the kitchen which Adrian and Kristin were so happy about it. The Khmer staff are also very nice.
Saturdays were an exciting day since we had the night market and some more products to sell.
We also enjoyed living in Otres, that village is very calm and you can enjoy different beaches, and a good variety of restaurants.
We could borrow Adrian's bikes any time and he was also motivating us to learn the manual change ones. Which we learnt quickly and we will be eternally grateful!
We never got bored, there was always something to do there, not only selling and baking but also fixing, building, playing with Biscuit the dog...
We felt part of the family and community and got to meet great people in the village.
We had to leave to continue our trip, but we could easily go back and stay some more weeks since we loved the live there!"
Jordi & Hyekyong (Volunteers)
We are Kristin Bara Haraldsdottir (from Iceland) and Adrian Cowen (from UK)
We came to Otres Village, Cambodia after many years living in New York City, and we fell in love with the people and place.
On the early morning of June 11th Our bakery “Bake and Bake” burnt to the ground.
Thankfully, everyone survived.
This devastating fire came only 6 months after our original bakery and accommodations were destroyed due to Government reconstruction of Otres Village.
Our whole building was demolished and the land taken.
There was no compensation offered to any of the villagers affected.
After four years of working on our bakery project Bake & Bake, we are on the verge of being a sustainable social enterprise.
We are developing a program to produce and distribute nutritional snacks to undernourished children in Southern Cambodia
Our main business is our packaged soft baked cookies that are sold around Cambodia, these are made each morning by our Cambodian staff. Our Cambodia kitchen crew; Srey Roat, Srey Mach, Srey Yura and YeYe - they come in early in the morning before most of us wake up and are done baking by our breakfast time.
The kitchen is full of packaged cookies and our Cambodian manager Mr Sambat arrives and starts to ship out the cookies to our distribution staff, including Cambodian Mr Pach in Siem Reap.
We need help to rebuild from scratch our entire operation and urgently re-hire our Cambodian staff as we have created jobs for several Cambodian families.
We have housed and trained more than 200 international volunteers from the cultural exchange program Workaway. (We provided accommodation and meals for our volunteers)
Our volunteers have handed out a portion of our baked goods to the most needy local families in Otres Village, and to our local school. We try to have each volunteer visit the school at least once during their stay.
Together we will rise again!
Please help us rebuild our community bakery in Cambodia.
Salaries for 6 Cambodian staff for the first 6 months of operation £8,750
Cost of renting, deposit, and refitting building for production bakery, staff and volunteer accommodation £19,440
Equipment for production bakery (Ovens, Stoves, Fridge, Freezer, Mixers, bread slicer etc) £12,960
Replacement packaging and labels £810
Packaging and sealing machine £810
Basic office equipment laptop and printer £1620
2 Transportation distribution motorbikes (second hand) £972
Generator - electric cuts in Cambodia are all too common £567
Total Goal of fundraiser £45,929
Our cultural exchange program and learning opportunities
Some of our volunteer comments on the page after their stay with us tell our story:
"Adrian and Kristin are really good people working hard on keeping their dream alive under a lot of unpredictable pressure that is surrounding them at the moment with all of the developments happening down in Otres."
JAI (Volunteer)
"It was a great experience here. Adrian & Kristin, the owners, welcomed us with a very friendly and warm vibe. Because of the availability of the rooms, we were given a private room -which would be the comfiest room we got during our Workaway experiences- and we definitely felt home. In spite of the fact that there are a lot of constructions and Chinese investments going on , you still have the amazing beach 5 mins walk away from you. We learned how to make some bakery stuff -like the banana bread which we fell in love with- and most importantly we baked pizza for a local school (supported by an NGO) and spent time with local kids. We really enjoyed our time there and we totally recommend this place. Thank you Adrian & Kristin!"
Norbert & Şevkiye Esra (Volunteers)
"This was our first workaway and the sure thing is that it will not be our last as we had an amazing experience... We were planning to stay for a couple of weeks and ended up staying for almost 2 months. We learned so much in such a short period of time. Otres beach is a very special place that is developing rapidly with one of the most stunning sunsets one can see. Working and interacting with the locals was great and we even learned a few phrases in Khmer. Adrian and Kristen are great people to be around and work with and we are very happy to have met them! I am sure our paths will cross again. See you soon!"
Nicolas & Lisanne (Volunteers)
"We cannot thank Adrian and Kristin enough for an experience that has become the highlight of our 6 months of travelling. From attending a Cambodian wedding to having homemade pizza parties- we couldn’t have asked for a better place to be for 5 weeks, and we are pleased to now call them both friends."
Sophie (Volunteer)
"This being our first work away, we were not quite sure what to expect. ..and certainly did not expect such an inclusive, fun environment, whereby you feel you are really part of something.
The owners, Adrian & Kristin, value your input, give you free reign to implement ideas, whether that be in the kitchen, getting tooled up and enhancing their premises, market stall or snack wagon, or suggesting strategy for increasing sales. You can be customer facing and represent the well liked business to the local community of travelers, tourists and locals alike - all done on a backdrop of being part of the Bake and Bake family and the Otres Community.
Adrian and Kristen are well liked and established in the Community. They have been there for a few years, and were great at introducing us to people, telling us the best spots to hit, whether that be bars, restaurants, events, areas of the beach etc. Mentioning their names always got us a special hello and a friendly face wherever we went."
Kit (Volunteer)
"This was our first Workaway, and we were so glad we came here! There is always something different that needs to be done, so in the 4 weeks you can expose yourself to different experiences and skills, of course baking, cooking, selling during the sun set and even building wood furniture :):):):) Kristin & Adrian, local family with children are super nice and will always put a smile on your face.
We met great people from England, Spain and Korea. We had a really great time and we miss them already ... hope we come back soon !!!"
Pawel & Anna (Volunteers)
"We stayed with Adrian and Kristin for a little more than three weeks. This was our second Workaway experience, and we totally loved it. Since the very first moment we loved the familiar and friendly atmosphere there. They made us feel very welcomed and quickly connected with the rest of amazing volunteers. We mainly sold bakes by the beach and on the street with the snack wagon and also baked in the kitchen other days. It was very exciting to organize the shift with the other volunteers and prepare the daily work. We sometimes enjoyed experimenting with new bakes in the kitchen which Adrian and Kristin were so happy about it. The Khmer staff are also very nice.
Saturdays were an exciting day since we had the night market and some more products to sell.
We also enjoyed living in Otres, that village is very calm and you can enjoy different beaches, and a good variety of restaurants.
We could borrow Adrian's bikes any time and he was also motivating us to learn the manual change ones. Which we learnt quickly and we will be eternally grateful!
We never got bored, there was always something to do there, not only selling and baking but also fixing, building, playing with Biscuit the dog...
We felt part of the family and community and got to meet great people in the village.
We had to leave to continue our trip, but we could easily go back and stay some more weeks since we loved the live there!"
Jordi & Hyekyong (Volunteers)
Fundraising team: Bake & Bake (4)
Martin Cowen
Organizer
England
Adrian Cowen
Team member
Kristin Bara Haraldsdottir
Team member
Katherine Auleta
Team member
