Dalene Salisbury

... educating children regarding HIV/AIDS, child trafficking and the alcohol/drug problems. Saman and her community workers use role-play to demonstrate these problems.

In the year 2000 I had the opportunity to attend a Community Development Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I was in my last year at Deakin University when I chose to complete my Fieldwork Placement subject by going to this conference. It was a great experience to meet and network with like-minded community development students and workers.

By chance I met two very important women and as a result I became involved with Children & Love Association (CLA). These two women, Saman Buth the founder & co-ordinator of CLA and Barbara Jackson (an Australian) who worked as a Community Development Advisor in Vietnam made me aware of the poverty of the families and children in the Prey Veng Province, Cambodia.

From this chance meeting an Australian organisation was formed. It is called Community Links with Cambodia, Australia (CLC). The main aim is to make people in Australia aware of the plight of Cambodians in the Prey Veng Province and to provide assistance by fundraising for them.

CLC Australia has been fundraising for the last three years to assist with the 'Well Project'. My person journey was to find out about how these families survived, so when I had the opportunity the travel to the Prey Veng Province - Mesang District, I jumped at the chance. In travelling to Mesang District I experienced the wonderful work that Saman Buth and her co-workers have achieved. Children & Love Association (CLA) commenced in the Mesang district Prey Veng Province in 1999.

It has a holistic approach to Child Rights, with a strong emphasis on providing families with training agricultural techniques to improve their ability to grow enough food to eat thereby earning sufficient income to overcome the need to leave the district looking for work.

Prior to their participation in the CLA project, family production was mainly concerned with growing wet season rice, maintaining and repairing their house and equipment and perhaps producing rice wine. With CLA's support, productivity has increased dramatically through growing vegetables and raising livestock.

Since 1999 CLA's main funding body has been from Save the Children (UK), which is used for educating children regarding HIV/AIDS, child trafficking and the alcohol/drug problems. Saman and her community workers use role-play to demonstrate these problems. Our CLC Australian fundraising goes towards the 'Well Project', which is run on community development principles.

If anyone is interested in contacting our Australian CLC organisation, my email address is: dalenesalisbury@yahoo.com