OVER 80 members and guests turned out at the final meeting of the Hawks Nest and District Probus Club for 2025, where they heard about the local efforts improving lives in Cambodia.
Jan and Owen Holbert, both long-standing members of the Tea Gardens/Hawks Nest community, shared their many years of involvement with Romdoul, a remote village in Cambodia.
Jan and Owen met at teachers’ college in Sydney.
When Owen was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in his 40s, they resolved to travel as much as they could.
“We saw China and Tibet, but when someone told us that Cambodia would be too hard for Owen’s condition, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull for us,” Jan said.
“We got to the Siem Reap area, and learnt that you had to be careful about ‘pop-up orphanages’, [which] round up kids and try to scam visitors into giving donations.
“So we did our research and contacted ‘Trailblazer’, an organisation set up by an American couple.”
The Holberts soon found a village to pour their energies into: Romdoul, some 40km off the tourist route outside of Angkor Wat.
They then formed a group of like-minded people called “Australia for Cambodia”.
“The villagers were drinking dirty water and had no toilets to speak of, and the kids needed school uniforms – and a school – their classes took place underneath a house,” Jan said.
Through their efforts and with the support of relatives, locals and former students, life in Romdoul has improved immensely over the last decade.
“Close to 200 water filters have been donated and put in, all labelled with the name of the person/group that donated [them].
“They consist of various-sized particles and sand filtration, and were utterly necessary as the village used to lose kids to dysentery and diarrhoea.
“Regular donors are not just local, but also in Newcastle, and [there are] even some expats around the world.”
“One 9-year-old girl collected cans all around Wallsend to raise enough money to build a classroom.”
That classroom has since been extended into a building with concrete rendering, a metal roof, and tiled floor, a kitchen for kids’ breakfasts and a storehouse for rice to feed them.
Other improvements paid for by associated donations include around 85 push-pull wells for drinking water, several septic systems and toilets, a seed fund, the delivery of a useful horticulture course (which has resulted in a sizeable crop), a cow, treadle sewing machine, and basic footwear and school clothes.
By Thomas O’KEEFE
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