Take a look at all our hard work!

At last, the news we have all been awaiting! We have opened our beautiful Daughters of Cambodia shop - phase I of the Daughters Visitor Centre - on March 25th 2010. It has taken 5 months to complete the renovations (should have taken 2 months max, but hey, this is Cambodia). It looks stunning, and we are thrilled with it. Until now, the products we make at Daughters have been exported overseas to wholesale buyers in Australia, the USA, and the UK, but since March 25th these beautiful products are available for the first time in our very own shop. The address is street 178, house 65eo, on the opposite side to the national museum and one block towards Street 19.

The products are made at Daughters centre by our clients - girls we have had the privilege of setting free from the sex industry, and empowering to change their lives. We offer the girls a job in our Fair Trade businesses, primarily The Sewing Room, where we produce gorgeous clothing, fashion accessories and home furnishings. We have at least 60 girls at any one time working with us, and they are my heroes - their courage, their resilience, their ability to take hold of new skills and learn to transform their own lives. From the pit to empowerment, hope, joy, life to the full.

I digress (I cannot help but get excited when I talk about the girls). Back to our shop. The location, it transpires, is divinely inspired; there is little comparable competition on st178 but many tourists and visitors. We are greatly enjoying the experience of doing business with the general public, learning what they like and which products are our best sellers. We had some great advice from Bonnie in that regard (thanks Bonnie, you are right about tops being high on the list!). Most of all we are enjoying having the opportunity to tell people about the work of Daughters and the issues of sex trafficking in Cambodia. Many people, amazingly, do not realize either the existence, or extent of, the problem.

So, sales have been going well and we are working hard on Phase II - the visitor exhibition rooms, the spa, and the Tea Rooms. I use the term 'Tea Rooms' because I am English, but in more cosmopolitan terms it is a Cafe, where we will serve light lunches (salads, sandwiches), a few main courses, lots of home baked goodies (try our brownie, it is the best Phnom Penh has on offer), great coffee, fresh teas using local flavours, delicious desserts (the best pavlova you have ever tasted, outside New Zealand of course), and some original smoothies you will write home about, believe me. The Cafe, which is named Sugar 'n Spice, will hopefully open mid-May. 7am-5.30pm, Monday - Saturday.

The Visitor Exhibition Rooms should be open by the end of April. These are a first in Cambodia, and an opportunity for the public to learn about sex trafficking and to read some of the personal reflections of the girls who have survived, and now thrive, at Daughters. The women's Spa will open at the same time as the visitor centre. The staff and clients involved in the new Spa voted recently about whether the Spa should be for women only. The vote was unanimously in favour. We believe in ownership, empowerment and choice at Daughters.

A word (or several) of thanks to a large number of volunteers for their great endeavours in this project:
• the designers (products and shop); Abbey, Olivia, Jennifer
• the marketing/graphics experts; Lisa, Liz, Lee Anne, Caroline
• skills trainers; Richard, Lois, Olivia, Bonnie, Henk, Maryke, Esther, Lene, Ruth from NZ
• exhibition information & research; Jenny, Sadie, Elisabeth
• photography exhibitions; Jaymie Friesen, Jeremy Maz
• the builders especially Samuel, Pete & Sharon for their sweat blood & toil. Well, hopefully not blood.

A word of thanks also to our donors, The Ratanak Fdn UK and Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc for making this possible.