Snow Daze Promotion

On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, The Siem Reap Pig Project participated in the Kennedy Club Fitness Snow Daze Business Fair in San Luis Obispo, California.

Below are some of the items offered for purchase to support the current project in Siem Reap, Cambodia, building the first toilets for Tepaday Village.

Whole Black & White Peppercorns from Kampot Province, Cambodia in a handmade palm leaf basket woven by the villagers who benefit from the proceeds. (approx. size: 3" x 3" x 3") Because the baskets are handwoven, no two baskets are alike. Cambodian pepper is some of the most aromatic pepper in the world, once used exclusively by French Michelin chefs.

$5.00 per basket

Pig-in-a-Basket in a handmade palm leaf basket woven by the villagers who benefit from the proceeds. (approx. size: 1.5" x 1.5" x 3") Because the baskets are handwoven, no two baskets are alike. Inside each basket is a small pig to represent the piglet that you can help purchase for a family to raise for additional income opportunities.

$10.00 per basket

Handmade Palm Leaf Ornaments in 4 fun styles to choose from! (approx. size = 1.5") Colors and size vary because the ornaments are handwoven, therefore no 2 are alike.

$3.00 per ornament

Contact Nikki at onlyincambodia [at] gmail [dot] com to order one-of-a-kind Cambodian products today!

Here's a preview of products that will be available in 2009!

Handwoven Cambodian Silk Drawstring Satchel

Handwoven Market Basket in Kratie Province, Cambodia (home of the Irawaddy dolphins!)

Handwoven Sandals from locally-grown Water Hyancinth in Kratie Province, Cambodia (home of the Irawaddy dolphins!)

Giving back to rural villages

giveaways originally uploaded by Nikkster

In February and March of this year I had the privilege of returning to Cambodia for a visit. I wanted to do more than just be there and so I had organized some small donations to give to selected needy families of two villages outside of Siem Reap.

The first village, Tepadey, is Da's father's home village. We had previously donated large bags of clothing to about 50 families last year and had been working to get a community well dug. This village doesn't have much in the way of income-generating opportunities as their main occupation is rice farming. The dry season is a pretty hard time of year as there is little to go around and very limited water supply.


Even monks needs instruction some times, originally uploaded by Nikkster

I was able to find some wind-up, solar-powered radios and some wind-up flashlights that need no batteries. It was fun giving them out and showing the people what to do with them. The monk was particularly fascinated by the new-fangled contraptions.


Receiving their gifts, originally uploaded by Nikkster

We selected 2o mothers with children of school age to receive a school bag filled with hygiene products and school supplies. In addition to that, I brought out some bubbles to entertain the small children. It was so fun to be able to hand off the bubbles to the children so they could make their own.


Chasing Bubbles, originally uploaded by Nikkster