Friendship with Cambodia has been active since 1992, initially through collaboration between Bhavia Wagner and Valentina DuBasky. Bhavia and Valentina led a tour to Cambodia in 1994 and were UN observers during the national election in 1998. Since then they have given hundreds of talks, interviews and written articles about Cambodia. In 2002, Soul Survivors – Stories of Women and Children in Cambodia by Bhavia (author) and Valentina (photographer) was published.
On September 27, 2003 Friendship with Cambodia was incorporated as a non-profit organization. Since then, we have provided over $2 million in humanitarian aid to Cambodia. We started a program to help poor rural children finish high school and attend university in Cambodia. We support women’s self-help and micro-credit groups, a shelter to help survivors of sex-trafficking, and we help vulnerable people including the elderly and disabled. We wrote the book Socially Responsible Travel Guide Cambodia and have led seven tours to Cambodia.
Our other programs have included a shelter for street children, a program to help women disabled by landmines, help for people with HIV/AIDS, support for orphans, a fair-trade crafts program, bicycles for students, computer and English classes, cows for college, toilets for schools, building a rural hospital, building a rural library, vocational training, emergency food relief during a flood and during COVID, and income generation projects such as fish ponds and raising livestock.
Friendship with Cambodia was inspired by the charitable humanitarian work of Mother Teresa, Mata Amritanandamayi, Thich Nhat Hanh and Maha Ghosananda. We choose to focus on Cambodia because the need there is so great.
Please join us in our effort to offer kindness.
We are a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are tax deductible.