Wheel here

This is our passion

Increasingly we are all becoming global citizen. We express it in the things we choose, the way we buy. To a certain extent this is a product of the internet age. The moment we become part of the global village, we realise we have to be decent members of that same village. Thats what happened here. It was no big Mother Theresa moment, rather a moment when Svay Savong, a Cambodian, helped us join the dots.

For more see: www.savong.com

Your projects help our project in Cambodia...

As a boutique player we often joke that unlike internationally owned research companies, our profits don’t disappear overseas. But actually they do. In 2004 we became committed to a project in Siem Reap Cambodia; building a school for rural students who – through learning languages such as Japanese and English – have the opportunity to find employment within the burgeoning tourist sector: just about the only employment sector in the region aside from subsistence farms and businesses.

Savong’s School, with a roll of 440 students opened in September 2005 and continues to be our passion. We’re in constant email contact and after heavily supporting the building of the school we’ve largely met the monthly running costs. In 2008 the school built and equipped a new library, and in 2009 opened up a small computer classroom to teach computer skills.

The school also recently Introduced certificated courses for students - recognition for academic attainment. The first exams were held in May 2008, and 160 students received attainment certificates. (See photo left.)

This is the global village at work. Savong, a 27 year old Cambodian, has hooked up with us and others to deliver an education opportunity to 440 students in a rural district. The project keeps our feet on the ground. www.savong.com

Excellent day. That's me wearing a Nielsen shirt and visiting the school in 2006. The students here greeted me with a special lunch - mangos, dragon fruit and fish. A great honour.