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There are all types of worldwide charities, so you can choose one that will pair well with your chosen field. There are environmentally based organizations, human rights, work with animals, social enterprises and so many more. When you imagine where you would like to be of aid in our world, you can then pursue the option that best suit you. You will have to look at yourself and see what your strengths are and how you can help. This will be important information that you should include in your resume. 

Once you get to the place of working with this foundation, you will then be able to show your potential employer that you care about our world and making a difference. You are demonstrating that you can take action when action needs to be taken! Worldwide charities are making excellent initiatives and as part of a team like that, you will be able to show where you can function well on a team. These are all important attributes, for any job you may be applying for. 

Undertaking volunteer work, in particular, is exhibiting that you have the drive and motivation to do something you care about, even if it is not for material gain. This is something that an employer wants to see. To have the ability to stick to something, even when it is difficult, because you want to make a difference is a person that just about anyone would want to represent or be a part of their company. Involvement in worldwide charities is an indication that you have heart and that you are part of assisting our world, not just talking about it.

All in all, there are so many qualities that those who work within worldwide charities hold. To recap, there is a dedication to aiding a cause that benefits the field of work you are applying for, you must examine your strength and abilities, realizing and appreciating where your attributes are on a team,  that you believe one person can make a difference and that you are willing to do your part and create a better world. These qualities amongst holding strong to your beliefs, self-confidence, compassion, and kind-heartedness are all virtues and behavior traits that employers are looking for. Individuals that can show their values and characteristics emanate natural strength and self-leadership tendencies.  Working amongst others that are involved with worldwide charities, will definitely give you more ideas, as well!

The post Why Involvement with Worldwide Charities will Help you with your Resume appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

Hello to our beautiful Red Road supporters!

It’s been a while since we last checked in. As the world has been so crazy, we have been focused on what we can do to be sustainable in these times: Improving facilities, our product line, and taking care of our staff.

We had to shut the school down when Cambodia requested it of us, so the past few months, we’ve been focusing on improving the farm, volunteer quarters, and getting our moringa skincare line perfected. 

To be honest, it was a bit of a welcomed break, since we have been going nonstop for the past 6 1/2 years!  We’ve had classes every day for the past five years, and it was nice to take some time for maintenance and work on becoming organically sustainable. 

Without the salary of our teachers, we were able to make enough money in sales of moringa, bamboo straws, homemade mango chutney, upcycled glass, and bottle bricks to support our on-site caretaker, Bong Da. He just got two one-month-old ostriches for the farm, so exciting, so cute!

These last few months allowed us to see how close to sustainability we are.

We have created this 3-step skincare line with moringa, 100% pure honey, galangal and turmeric! It consists of:

-A creamy moringa, turmeric cleanser 
-A detox and glow scrub 
-And then of course our 100% pure Moringa oil serum.

All the ingredients are grown on-site with help from our volunteers and local farmers, and it’s so incredible to see what happens to your skin when you don’t use chemicals on it.

Our customers in Cambodia absolutely love the 3-step skincare line, and I’ve seen the skin of our customers, as well as my own skin completely improve! Fine lines diminished, blackheads disappearing, and a beautiful natural glow! We have even gotten in contact with a Danish skincare clinic who is now going to test out our products on scandinavian skin. We are so excited about these new products! It’s such a pleasure to be providing this to our friends and customers!

As of now, we need support from our donors to start up small group tutoring classes and get our products abroad.

We are SO excited about our new product line, for every $150 donated, we would like to send our donors the three-step Moringa skincare line.

We are so grateful to all of you and are very excited about all these beautiful initiatives to be fully self-sustaining!! We are almost there!!! To receive the skincare line, please email Garrett@theredroadfoundation.org with a screen shot of your donation receipt or just reply to this email. 
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IN THE FUTURE

We have some great news about our future projects:
Before the pandemic happened, we had professors from Montana State University out to see our projects to check out collaboration possibilities for this and future years. The dean has approved a certified leadership class in collaboration with the Red Road Foundation!

We also had a professor from Brown University coming who runs a leadership in experiential learning project that supports-get this- Women running experiential learning projects for sustainability and leadership in Southeast Asia!! I know, it’s too perfect!

Furthermore, we have a new collaboration with The Leap UK, who are gap year experts and are going to be collaborating with us, as well! We have six students booked through them for January to come out and do our internship program!

Last but not least, we have a group of students from a private school in Saudi Arabia who are interested in joining us for our one of a kind expedition next year!

The post New Skincare Line, Retreat’s, & Partnerships appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

I apologize for that.Things have been progressing and we have been very busy! We had a Danish company reach out to us and enter us in a competition that we won and got a freshwater bore well dug, onsite! We can now get water year-round and experiment with new types of farming (aquaponics and hydroponics) that can grow some vegetables that are very hard to grow in this area. Many of our students are very excited to learn about this, as they come from farming families. Also, we had another Danish company reach out to us called Canopy LAB they have an amazing online learning platform with classes in Environmental Leadership, Human Rights, Sustainable Development, Women’s Empowerment, etc.. We have just partnered with them and have an amazing American volunteer with two master’s degrees, coming out to train our teachers in it and implement this into our curriculum! On top of that, a third organization reached out to us, ACE Cambodia a clean-cooking/off-grid energy company. They are coming out to start a solar-powered battery lamp library at our school and to give a presentation on sustainability, renewable energies & clean cooking.

We just got an amazing new board member named Iain Rae, from England. He is helping us develop our new internship program. This is very exciting! It will be the bread and butter project that leading us to full self-sustainability. Our trips will fully fund our school and pay for the eco-construction workshops for locals in the community. What we are doing is starting an internship program for college students to come get credits for Leadership in Sustainable Development and Personal Development. As we have successfully hosted over 700 interns and volunteers, we have decided to make an official curriculum. We have continuously received amazing letters from past volunteers who vouch that working with our program has transformed the way they view themselves and their abilities in our world. This inspired us to bridge the gap between western and eastern ways of life and bring people together in symbiotic relationships.

Click below for High-Resolution Print File

 I am currently in the US recruiting students but more specifically, meeting with department directors at the major Universities between Montana and Austin, to develop a few partnerships for curriculum and project collaboration with our programs. We are working at a grassroots level and blazing the trail for some innovative ways of handling trash and free education, we are a perfect model to have students get involved in implementing new ideas and experiential learning. We are interested in having faculty-led programs that have a long-term affiliation with our school. We have U of M and MSU interested! MSU is developing a Leadership Minor and has expressed interest in pursuing a partnership that incorporates The Red Road Foundation in the curriculum! It is very exciting! I am currently in Colorado and meeting with Universities working on this full time, I often have some financial worries in getting this off the ground. When I came out here, I was wondering how I would be able to afford hotels and renting a car, etc.. It was basically impossible for me, but I had faith that if it was meant to be then my needs would be met. I called my friend, Halladay, which most of you know because she plays music for most of our fundraisers and wrote “Just a Little Love” as a tribute to The Red Road. Before I could even tell her that I was planning on coming to the States and visiting Universities between Montana and Austin, she told me that she had finally finished up her 1960’s bus after two years of working on it and that she was going to take it on tour during the exact time frame and on the exact same route that I was considering for our recruiting trip. BOOM! The Universe provided. So now, we are here on the road. Here are some photos from our trip!

If you are able, any donations will help us to keep everything rolling. We are so close to being self-sustainable! Soon we will not rely on donations at all, but as for now, this is our final push and we need your help! Funds currently go to:

1. Keeping our school running ($800 per month)
2. Finishing the new intern quarters ($1000)
3. Printing/meeting room/transportation costs at the Universities ($500).

Link to Donate Now

Thank for being a crucial part of our journey and thanks for your interest and support! If you know anyone who could benefit from a perspective and priority shift in life, please check out our Educational Retreat.

With Love and Gratitude,

The RRF Family

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Currently in the US we have our Moringa powder for sale. If you’re not familiar with this incredible superfood, it is quite the miracle plant, in fact they call it the miracle tree which is native to India. It can be ingested or apply topically with coconut oil. It is an incredible remedy for digestion problems, skin health, all your daily vitamins that amino acids, Great for skin and nails, energy boosting and immune boosting! If you have not tried any of our organic Moringa powder, please look into trying it out! We see incredible results with this product And all proceeds go to running the school. They come in very cute glass containers and I excellent Holiday presents. (Please contact us if interested in products more info: CLICK HERE)

We are collaborating with an organization called plastic free Cambodia to make posters in the Khmer language that we will be putting up in the village, they are also hosting a workshop at our school for the kids and their parents about the dangers of burning plastic trash and letting a disintegrate into the fields where we grow crops. If I had several very passionate and loving volunteers come out and share their construction skills, teaching skills, sports classes and music circles.

We have a care-taking family that has been working with us for two years and does an excellent job with helping our volunteers, maintaining the farm, picking the kids up from the school, pumping the water and helping with general overall overseeing of the project. This year they got a bonus, there is a portion of our land that we have signed over to them, and we are supporting them to start beekeeping there. This will give them an opportunity to grow and make some additional income additional to what the Red Road can provide. They are excited to learn the new skill set and feeling very proud that they will have it to pass down to their children. They do not own any land at this time, they simply live on site at our school and take care of everything. This new opportunity and bonus that they have received for their hard work the past two years has meant more to them than we can describe in words.

Thank you for your continued support.

The post Sustainable Free Education Center Update appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

Finally!!! The Red Road Foundation‘s drinking glasses are available for the first time in the United State. These glasses are being sold exclusively at Bellingham Public Market by TERRA Organic & Natural Foods. By purchasing them, you support the sustainability of our Free Education Center and join us in our mission to support the Khmer people- as they as they rise from the ashes of genocide- to revive the light of their culture, artistry, and education. So, raise those glasses! Cheers to being the change!

Garrett Ginjah

The post New Products for Sustainability and Project Funds appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

While working with a charity organization, you and your team may decide that the best possible future for it is to become sustainable. When you know all the hard work that goes behind raising funds and keeping staff consistent, it may seem like the only way to truly make long-term goals happen. Well your right. Based on my research and the few companies that actually create social and economic sustainability all have one thing in common. They invest in the locals and their ideas to get them to a place where they can work and profits can go into sustaining the project. This will involve you supporting local business that is capable of succeeding in the area. As the business you set up for your charity organization begins to make profits, it goes directly into running current programs within the charity organization. It is then that the charitable organization can exist without the dependence on fundraising efforts and when you leave will remain sustainable.

The first thing you will want to examine is the resources in the area of your charity or organization. The number one resource is people with small businesses, then look at problems that you can help solve. Are there things that could be recycled, do people have much extra time on their hands to make craft products, is there something you could grow or raise at the project site that would be able to thrive? It is important to see what types of things that locals are making, maybe even enable and empower family businesses by exporting or marketing overseas for them. The fee or percentage you charge for that service, will be able to help fund your charity organization. As you also, empower local small businesses, it will be clear to see, that as you grow, they grow and vice-versa. When you raise the quality of life for those around the project, you raise the livelihood of the charity organization.

Next important thing to consider is production. You will be able to employ local people and increase trade knowledge in your area which is powerful. Having local people on your team who are working to aid the project is very important for sustainability. To be adopted into a community as a project for the people and by the people is very impressive and will gain high regard among locals.
Another thing to look at is what is easy to assemble and what is not. You may not be able to easily acquire certain things for packaging or refining products. You will need to look at if it is more lucrative to sell raw products or to create a product on site. This will depend on your market base and where you foresee your clientele being the greatest.  There are so many options and opportunities for how you can advance your charity organization to being self-sustainable.

With all things considered, whichever direction your new business takes, will need to be one that is the lowest cost to the organization and can empower and employ local people. We always need to remember that all is interconnected. When looking at the area your charity organization exists within, you will be able to brainstorm what assets and resources are available. Start small and let it grow naturally. By doing this you will allow the business idea to grow and morph into the most beneficial to the charity organization and those who live near and around it.

Take a look at what new projects we have going! Also please reach out, I’m always happy to help and collaborate!

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Our first contact was with a friend, Pon, who is working in foster care here in Kep. He showed us our first few plots and explained the different ways we can go about pumping water, wells, solar panels, building structures and so on..

In Cambodia, they sell in hectors which is just over 2 acres. This plot was one hector and in a farming community.

In the process of exploring the Kep Province, we met a great man BK. He took us to a property 30 minutes from a place in the next Province up, Kampot. This is a much bigger town with better access to building supplies, medical attention and volunteer recruiting. He was insistent that he help us find land for the local discount. He has many resources amongst the community and has already drawn upon many of them to set us up with land owners, transportation, a moto ( The Red Road Foundation’s first asset) and construction workers/ discounts.

He found us a hector of prime land for farming, in a village with no school, where there is access to water from the mountain and next door to the chief of the commune. This land is absolutely GORGEOUS!! Our favorite so far. It will cost us the local rate of $4500. There is a man up the road who can prepare it for farming at the price of $600. This is a great option for us.

We’ve spent the last two weeks in Kampot, Cambodia. We moved up here after finding the magnificent piece of land that we’ve posted above. We have learned that Kampot is a glorious place. The infrastructure here is really taking off and there are numerous people who live here from all over the world. At first the town didn’t seem so impressive, but now we have found rapids, waterfalls, hidden temples, gorgeous river beaches and mountain caves. The villagers are truly the happiest people I have ever seen with the least amount of material goods that I have ever seen. They are a true inspiration. Our dear friend BK that I spoke of earlier is truly helping us on the legal matters, getting local deals and land finding. In the mindset of not jumping for the first wonderful piece of land we saw in Kampot, we have been searching properties and different areas all around Kampot to see what is available. Because of the growing amount of resorts and guesthouses, along with a two million dollar hospital they just built it makes sense that land prices are rising. We found many plots around town and into the mountains but the prices are sky rocketing up to $30, 000 to $50, 000 for a hector because so many westerners are looking to buy here. We went down to the local Land Management office and talked to the man who is in charge of land sales, land development, GPS coordinates of land and hard titles to property. Funny enough, he told us our best option is the original piece of land that we fell in love with. It is thirty to forty minutes from town, but it is in the middle of two glorious villages that are truly filled with beautiful hearted people who love to smile as we drive through. We put a $300 deposit down on the land, we met our neighbor who works at an orphanage in town and loves our idea, we discussed the matters with the Chief of the Commune and got our papers stamped that we are residents of the village and opened bank accounts!! We have a meeting coming up that will have our Site Manager, Chief of Commune, Land Management Director, Owner of the Land, Our Communications Director and myself. This will be a big meeting for us and we should get all the information we need and be on the same page with everyone after this. Following the meeting we will arrange a meeting with the governor and tell him of our plans. Progress!!! 🙂 I love it! Not to mention, my Khmer is coming along quite nicely, as I learn a few words everyday. 🙂

The post Documenting Our Story – Part 1 appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

We’ve been getting dirty on the farm this week. The back breaking labor has begun. We had a neighbor recruit some local help, when we showed up it was mostly women and kids. We didn’t want to send them away, so we worked side by side, took many breaks and cut it into a half day. There are so many women who want to work and ask us to come, but at this point we need some man strength to prepare the land. Though we have promised these lovely women work in the future, with preparing moringa goods. The village is lovely, we are constantly being invited to eat rice with everyone’s families and our land is oh so fertile! The rainy season is creeping in and bringing so much greenery. We start construction this week and we go out tomorrow to scope the land with our contractor. The village is excited and looking forward to our community development project. 🙂

It has been quite a past two weeks over the Khmer New Year!! The Khmer people have been preparing for and shutting down their businesses for a week of getting together with the family and having a great time! We’ve been experiencing the New Year with our adopted Khmer family and it’s quite fun! Last night was filled with singing, dancing and eating.

As for this week, its time that everyone is back at work. We have our bore well driller coming out, we start construction of the Khmer house at the beginning of May and we will be preparing for planting. We have been filling our brains with all types of information about lucrative and healing plants to grow, options for solar panels and planning how to efficiently attain sustainability and bring the necessary knowledge and resources to town without offending Khmer culture.

We’ve been learning about PermaCulture, visiting farms, calculating start-up costs of varied crops and learning about Khmer culture. We are having emails and calls from volunteers who want to help and we thank our incredible donors for getting us on our feet. We’re Moving Mountains, one boulder at a time!

We have been learning that the kids who go to the government schools are still unable to pass the entrance exams to get into University. They are lacking in areas of science and math especially. We want to develop a school program to give the kids who already go to school a well-rounded education where they can attend a second study session after they go to school in the morning. We will also be developing a program for the children who aren’t going at all.

We have been having many interactions with the local people. We have been looking into well options, began meeting potential families to site mange the farm and getting quotes on building the security/ family home for one lucky local family. We have been incredibly fortunate and have felt the Divine workings through the people who have come together to help our project.

The family we are living with have grown to become our family. We eat dinner with them, teach each other our languages, charade stories and go on walks around the premises where the head of the household will point out the new things growing and how big the fish are getting! It is a beautiful set up and what is even more special incredible is that they want to be apart of our project. It just so Divinely happens that the family’s original roots are in Kampong Chin!! They are very well-known through the community and loved by many. 🙂 The first time we took Wana, the head of the house, out to the project site, we stopped at the neighbor’s house who has been helping us out. As soon as the two saw each other they had a long embrace and a huge smile!! They have been childhood friends. It really gave me goosebumps to see how things are coming together. The family has been coming out and introducing us to the locals. It is really a beautiful thing to be associated with a family that is held is such high regard in this community. The icing on the cake is that Wana is a professional and amazing contractor! He will be working along side of us as we begin to build.

As time is passing and we are learning about the culture, place and people, we are seeing our plan morph into what the community needs and figuring out what approach will be most effective. I thought we would come out and get set up right off the bat as a safe home, I am now seeing that the way to be most influential and beneficial is to delve into the sustainable farm and the community aspects of the program, as we need a strong backbone to foster youth. We are starting to hire a few local people to work along side of us and get to know local people. Our first priorities are to get a Khmer house built, find a suitable family who will work alongside of us on the farm, get a well dug and the trees planted in May which is the first rains. We will continue to fundraise, as we need a well dug, Khmer house built and trees planted before the wet season in June. Once we get this rolling in the next year, we will take a few years to sink our roots in the community, build up the community through knowledge and resources and then, be able to employ local people to make moringa products that will, in turn, fund the project itself. When we get to this stage, a few years down the road, we will have produce that we sell to local restaurants and resorts, products we make/sell and then we have a community who is benefiting from the work and the moringa itself. By this time we will have strong bonds in this community, a community that is one of the poorest in Cambodia and has high risk of children being taken for the trafficking industry. When this happens, I estimate five years down the road, we will be in a prime position to bring kids into a safe home environment. This will ensure that our children will be raised alongside local children, we will be sure to have the funds to support all their needs and it will reinforce our philosophy that it takes a tribe to raise a child. Through having patience, we will be able to provide for the needs of the community, the community will thrive and therefore we will thrive. This project will be handed down for generations as a center for healing and knowledge. Our hopes are that the knowledge and wisdom that was slaughtered in the genocide, will begin to be reestablished and trickle into the surrounding communities… 🙂

As for now, we continue to fund raise, it’s so important we have a community well dug and a Khmer family living on site and ready to start farming at the start of this rainy season May/June. Fundraising will take place again across the US and the UK in June, July and August. This will allow us to return in September and start to build a community center/ school for all residents of Kampong Chin, along with becoming sustainable enough to support a safe home.

It has been quite a past two weeks! We have broken ground, started clearing the land, meeting local people and establishing connections for Our Community Program. We’ve met several Good Hearted People who want to help our project and have been working on collaborating with them, whilst bringing a dream team together. It’s an inspiring project to be apart of and see the curiosity and excitement multiplying in the villagers and in ourselves.

As we’ve been progressing, there have been many lessons we have become aware of and are learning. Patience is of the most prominent of them. We’ve been seeing the importance of establishing ourselves in the community, gaining trust, sharing resources, bringing knowledge to the community and getting our farm sustainable enough to foster children. It is a long-term project, things will evolve in their time. As for now, it is a beautiful journey that we feel blessed to be apart of. We are working in such a monetarily poor village, but WOW, are they rich in their hearts. It always such a joy to drive through town and share the smiles, waves and nods of approval. I feel us starting to sink our roots down.

The post Documenting Our Story – Part 2 appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

This experience has been hands down, one of the most incredible, rewarding, encouraging and uplifting experiences of my life! What beautiful people we had living together in harmony, with inspirational talks, swimming in rivers with the locals, learning Khmer culture and coming together for the good of the whole!

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