Where it all began. Kirilly Crawford (left) travelled to Cambodia with friends here she is with some of the children who inspired her to take action
Working at Atlas Espresso has meant Kirilly Crawford’s fundraising for Happy Days is off to a good start
South-East Asia is one of Australia’s favourite tourist destinations with thousands flocking to the region every year however, many of it’s countries are some of the poorest in the world. For Kirilly Crawford seeing the poverty and under development of Cambodia in January 2011 changed her life.
The 25 year old barista from Devonport, now based in Hobart, is on a three month mission to raise enough money to help change the lives of children living in poverty before she returns to volunteer.
Despite how overwhelming the problems of poverty, slavery and corruption is in Cambodia, she says the people are hopeful and she was inspired by this.
“There were kids in the street just begging for money and yet they seemed happy. I came back and couldn’t forget it. I decided to do something because I thought about all the things we worry about in our lives, that aren’t even a factor in theirs,” she says.
Cambodia suffered greatly under the rule of the Khmer Rouge and due to this half the population are under the age of 18. However, Ms Crawford sees the country’s youth as a huge opportunity for development through education and training.
“These children deserve a chance to have an education and after what I saw, I wanted to help with that,” she says.
Now with the help of the Tasmanian Community, Ms Crawford hopes to raise $5000 through her fundraising initiative Happy Days with all funds raised going to The Happy School Project in Cambodia run by Australians for Cambodian Education (ACE).
ACE is a non-profit, non-government, voluntary organisation whose vision is exactly what Ms Crawford aims to do – ‘support the right of a child to learn, play and believe in their own future’.
The Happy School Project is located in the Phnom Penh and is constantly affected by flooding. Consequently it is in desperate need of relocating. Ms Crawford says that even though she is a world away in Tasmania she wanted to hold a fundraiser to help the school and get the Tasmanian community involved along the way.
“Music brings people together, so I’ve decided to hold a concert with all door sales donated to The Happy School Project. I’m also putting the call out there for a business or politician to match dollar for dollar all donations made by the public,” she says.
The generosity of people and businesses is already showing down south with the Brisbane Hotel and four local Hobart bands including The Lawless Quartet, Lincoln Le Fevre, Stone Troll and Lizard Johnny donating their time to support the cause. Now, Ms Crawford is hoping to call on her hometown to get behind the kids.
“People’s generosity is amazing we have almost hit $1000 just through donations at Atlas Espresso where I work. If we reach the target of $5000 it means helping with the relocation and supporting around 70 students for a quarter of a year,” she says.
Ms Crawford will travel to Cambodia in October this year to directly donate all funds raised and volunteer with The Happy School Project.
Happy Days at the Brisbane will be held on Friday August 24. Entry is $10. For more information or to donate please contact Kirilly Crawford on 0427 147 991 or [email protected]
‘Young people, Working together to end global poverty’ – http://theoaktree.org/
• The link where you can donate direct to the charity:
http://acecambodia.org.au/what-can-i-do/donate-now/
