OEDDO is located in rural Kampot Province, a couple hours south of Phnom Penh. It was formed by a village woman named Vanna (pictured right) who started taking AIDS orphans into her home to raise along with her own children.
In 2003, Vanna’s aunt, a genocide survivor living in the USA, came to Cambodia in search of her relatives. When she found her niece helping orphans, she offered to support her and that was the beginning of OEDDO.
Vanna is an exceptional person. She is very intelligent and has a huge heart. She has created an organization that responds with compassion and love to help people in crisis, especially those who are most vulnerable – orphans, elders and the disabled.
OEDDO has a Center where the orphans live. There are also some elders and disabled people living there. The Center has a working farm where they grow their own rice and have cows, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, and fish ponds. Most of the people OEDDO Is helping live in their own homes in the community.
Another aspect of this very special organization is that it is extremely cost-effective. Vanna, the Cambodian Director, does not take a salary nor does her adult son, Hieng, who helps her manage OEDDO’s programs. Betsy Guinn, the US Director and fundraiser, does not take a salary, nor does the financial manager in the US. One hundred percent of each donor’s gift reaches the person they are sponsoring. Friendship with Cambodia is helping with outreach and fundraising.
OEDDO’s programs include:
Center for Children — Vanna is mother to 50 orphaned or abandoned children living at the center. There are five staff who help her with cooking and maintenance. The children attend public school.
University Students — Ten of the children who grew up in the Center are attending university, seven girls and three boys. Among them are 2 medical doctors and a student getting a Master’s in Public Health.
Cows for College — Vanna wanted to help more children in the community have the opportunity to go to university. She now gives disadvantaged teens who want a higher education a cow to tend. Each year their cow has a calf that is sold for $600. This becomes their savings for university.
Helping Children go to School — OEDDO has distributed over 200 bikes to poor children in the community, so they can go to school. The center also sponsors dozens of children from local families living in dire poverty to stay in school.
Classes at the Center — OEDDO provides free English classes for 145 village children. Computer classes are held for 70 people, whoever wants to come, only limited by the number of computers they have. The Center offers free sewing and furniture making classes.
The Center also pays tutors — to help seniors in high school pass the 12th grade exam and to help the kids who are behind in their studies because they were not in school before they came to live at the Center.
Elder Orphans — Another tragedy of Cambodia’s genocide is the phenomenon of a generation of elders who have no one to care for them. They either lost all their family in the genocide or their family is psychologically damaged and dysfunctional. The Center is now providing food, medicine, and sometimes housing to 46 distressed elders in the wider community, many of whom are sick or disabled. Nine sponsors are currently needed at $25/month or $300/year. You will know who you are helping. You will be their only sponsor.
People with AIDS — The Center drives 42 people living with AIDS to the hospital every month to get their free medication. These people are so poor, that they do not have the money to pay for transportation. The Center organizes classes and social time for them because they are ostracized in their villages and feel very sad and alone.
Disabled and Special Needs — An example of a person who needed help is a woman who broke her leg, did not have the money to get medical care, and when it healed she could not walk. Then her husband left her with their three young children. OEDDO is helping her buy food, get medical care, and find a way to support herself. Another example, is families with children with Cerebral Palsy from birth injuries. OEDDO currently needs sponsors for five disabled women, at $25/month or $300/year.
Building a Hospital — One of the newest programs at OEDDO was to build a hospital to provide much needed medical care in their rural area. The new hospital has 24 beds and an operating room. Of the children who grew up at the center and went to university – there are two medical doctors, three nurses, a laboratory technician, and a pharmacist. All of them want to work at the new hospital.