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Santa's Wish List @ Po Leung Kuk
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Po Leung Kuk in Causeway Bay provides an invaluable residential care service for children from difficult backgrounds and underprivileged families. In the run up to Christmas 2013 Angels for Orphans asked Po Leung Kuk if the children had a 'wish list' of gifts for Christmas and then set to work to fulfil the list in Elf-like fashion!
Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of everyone who donated, over 250 gifts were collected and given to the children on Christmas Day. Barbie dolls, Lego, backpacks and board games were among the wish list items and the gift of giving was truly alive and well in Christmas 2013!
Thank you again for your generosity and donations and a big thank you to Tree for taking collections and delivering the items ahead of the children's special day.
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Christmas gifts well received at PLK!
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A massive thank you also goes out to everyone who attended the Angels for Orphans Christmas Fairs and purchased the Angels Christmas cards and decorations.
Your support will have contributed in buying Christmas dinner for the children at New Hope for Cambodian Children (NHCC), Sunrise Children (Cambodia) and Bali Kids who also held a New Years Party with the money raised - Thank You!
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Bali kids partying the night away!
Please also enjoy watching this YouTube video of the children at NHCC celebrating a happy Christmas together: http://youtu.be/QdV7UsJppgQ
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Visiting Angels
Sally Visits Cambodia
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The wonderful children at Sunrise 2
One of the highlights of 2014 for me so far was a visit to Sunrise Angkor Children’s Village in Siem Reap (Sunrise 2). I had never been to Cambodia before so when a friend of mine said she would be travelling there on a sightseeing trip, I jumped at the opportunity of joining her, to visit the famous Angkor Wat and surrounding temples and to spend an afternoon with the delightful boys and girls at Sunrise 2.
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We arrived at Sunrise by tuk tuk in the early afternoon, laden with fresh noodles, bananas, carrots (and sports socks!), following a slight detour to the market en route. These were items that Sokheng, the General Manager at Sunrise informed us the children were in most immediate need of. Following a quick introduction to the background of Sunrise and the Australia Cambodia Foundation we were taken on a tour of the facilities.
What struck me straight away was how quiet it was everywhere and it transpired that the reason for this was that most of the children were at afternoon school, although we did watch a group of older children rehearsing a charming show of traditional Cambodian singing and dancing in the theatre hall.
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It was not long however before the silence was broken and the rest of the children returned home from school! The atmosphere changed completely and the village came alive with laughter, chat and what was most satisfying to see, happy, smiling faces. We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out with the children in a very natural way. Some wanted to play football, some wanted to practice their English.
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One particular little 5 year old boy just wanted to hold my hand….and he didn’t let go until dinner time! This will remain a very special memory for me and was an acute reminder of how these are just ordinary children, doing ordinary children things, with their own individual personalities and the same ordinary needs as all children…most importantly, to be loved.
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The little boy who wouldn't leave Sally's side
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At Sunrise 2 the children have good basic facilities and seem well cared for. That said, providing the right environment and basic needs for these children is a constant challenge financially. There is always a long list of items that require expenditure and that is why fundraising via Angels for Orphans is so important to these children. One of the reasons for this trip was to assess the suitability of one of the capital projects Angels for Orphans are hoping to finance at Sunrise, namely, the building of a new playground for the children, a gazebo, so that they can work and play outside, sheltered from the rain and the sun, and a new covered area to park the numerous bicycles and motorbikes used by the children every day to travel back and forth to school.
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There are currently 68 children at Sunrise 2 ranging in age from 12 months to 20 years and it was endearing how the older children helped the younger ones with simple everyday tasks. As we were leaving the children were lining up to have their dinner. The visit to Sunrise 2 was memorable in a number of ways, but one of the lasting ones will be watching them serve each other from one of the biggest pots of rice I have ever seen!
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The children enjoying dinner time!
Write up and photos provided by Sally Laight (Angels Business Co-ordinator)
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Recent Events
Movie Day for a Good Cause
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On 15th of April Jessy Perreton held a ‘movie day’ at Openspace, benefiting Angels for Orphans. The movie called "bébés" is a look at one year in the life of four babies from around the world, from Mongolia with Bayar, to Namibia with Ponijiao, San Francisco with Hatthie and Tokyo with Mari. This movie showed the differences of culture, but reveals how much we all have in common as well. It is great movie for parents but is always well received by children too.
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The event started at 2.30 pm and everyone enjoyed free drinks and popcorn before getting ready for the movie! Some children and parents laid down on the carpet, while others sat on chairs. Everyone enjoyed this wonderful moment full of laughter and emotion.
We all laughed on seeing Ponijiao’s first dance and Hatthie trying to escape her first yoga class. We shared their first smile, their first “mama" and their first steps. The children really enjoyed the movie, making funny comments and asking questions about what was happening on screen. It was a very nice afternoon spent together.
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After the movie a small documentary about the Sunrise Children’s Village in Cambodia was presented to illustrate Angels for Orphans' action. People were happy to donate and buy items from "Angels for Orphans", raising around 4000 HKD in total for this event. It was a good opportunity for everyone to ask more questions and get to know a little bit more about the work of Angels for Orphans.
The children had a little paint on the bag contest, just check out the picture to decide who's the winner.....!?
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Finally, Sapna Hemrajani presented her book "Smart Mama" which includes vouchers and exclusive discounts on children's group activities, retail, fitness, spas, restaurants and bars, all in one. 10% of the book's sale will be kindly donated to benefit Angels for Orphans.
Overall, the event was a great success with everyone leaving around 5pm with a smile on their face!
Write up and photos provided by Emilie Clairet
*Angels for Orphans are looking for a new sponsor for the reusable bags featured above. If you would like to discuss sponsorship with us, please get in touch!
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We held the second Angels Zumbathon on Saturday February 15th 2014 at the Hong Kong Football Club. Motivated by a team of brilliant Zumba Instructors, eager participants and volunteers strutted their stuff and sweated it out for up to four hours. This year the event was a sell out with over 250 participants, some experienced Zumba-lovers, others novices, but all bringing energy and smiles to create a wonderful atmosphere.
The event had great support from the Zumba Instructors, huge thanks to Kin Ho, our Zumba Angel, who pulled together the biggest line up of instructors ever, from all over Hong Kong and all the top studios including California Fitness and Fitness First - the Instructors led a fantastic assortment of everyone's favorite Zumba tracks.
Thank you to all the Instructors who gave up their afternoon to join us, a huge effort had gone into everyone's routines, and they were an essential part of keeping energy and motivation levels high.
The wonderfully energetic Zumba instructors:
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Thank you to all the participants for making the event the huge success it was. We raised over US$17,300!
Friends and family from all over the world were incredibly generous in showing support by sponsoring many of the participants. A special thanks goes to Alice Freeman, our top fundraiser for the event. As a show of appreciation she was given some beautiful pearl earrings kindly donated by Hodel of Switzerland.
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Thank you also to the Hong Kong Football Club for providing the venue and equipment, to St John's Ambulance volunteers, to Practicus our main sponsor as well as all the very kind companies who donated prizes for the top fundraisers and the lucky draw prizes:
Cipher, Lacoste, Savvy Style (Colour me Beautiful), Hypoxi, The Feel Good Factor, Benefit, Absolute Skincare, House of Style, Dance Trinity, Posture Plus, Goodwill Collective, KOH Coconut, Nude is Rude, Zumbawear SEA, Genie Concept, Nike and Ozzie Cozzie.
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A large portion of the funds raised at the Zumbathon will go to the Sunrise Angkor Children's Village in Siam Reap, Cambodia. The money will be able to fund the Playground project in full which includes new playground materials, a bike shed, a gazebo area for reading and also repair of traditional dancing materials. The remainder of the funds raised will finance a Doctor's salary for a year at Bali Kids.
We can't thank you all enough for contributing to this very successful event! All of the money raised will be put towards incredibly worthwhile projects.
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Vacancy - Help Wanted!
The Angels are urgently in need of administrative support to assist with answering general enquiries. This is an unpaid position working two hours per day which can be working from home.
If you or your company are able to help please get in contact, we need your support!
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Like Us!
Don't forget to like us on Facebook and help us get to 1000 likes!
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Thanks to our Key Sponsors:
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If you wish to donate, sponsor one of our projects or make a difference as a volunteer please contact or connect with us using the social follow buttons below.
Thank You!
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