Community
“Tourism is like a fire. You can cook your food on it, but if you are not careful it can burn our house down” (Anonymous)
Poverty, poor sanitation, inadequate health services and lack of education contribute to 106 deaths for every 1000 live births in Cambodia. These same factors force young women to make a living as prostitutes, of which 35 percent are under 18 years of age. These same factors force young men to work in the rice fields and lose a foot, leg or life to one of the 6 million landmines still active in Cambodia.
Despite Cambodia's critical situation, more than one million tourists came to visit in 2004 with hundreds of thousands of people filing through Siem Reap to see the thousand-year old Angkor temples. By 2010, its estimated more than 3 million tourists will arrive in Cambodia each year!
Still, with the millions of dollars generated by ticket sales and the crop of four- and five-star hotels that pave the way to the busy airport, Siem Reap remains one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia with only 5 percent of the locals working within the tourism industry. Many families live in rural areas without access to safe drinking water and many locals scrape by on an annual salary equal to, or even less than, the cost of one night stay at a four-star hotel in Siem Reap.
Soria Moria is alert to this problem, and is focused on helping these unfortunate people through various means. Unlike many international hotels that remain insulated from the local community, Soria Moria actively supports and encourages the interaction of guests with the neighbouring environment. Guests are invited to connect with local Khmer families in a dignified way with the goal of fostering cross-cultural understanding and intercultural sensitivity through tourism.
Soria Moria places focus on providing on-site theoretical and practical education (training) for young adults in order to facilitate knowledge and skills to secure their own future, which in turn will contribute to the development of the local community in terms of competency and valuable sustainable life skills.
Soria Moria has initiated cooperation with the Norwegian Educational Development Organisation (NEDO), and actively promotes the White Bicycle project, the Love-Card project and the water filter project.
Sangkheum Center for Children
We support the Sangkheum Center for Children in Siem Reap, an education center providing scholastic support and care for hundreds of children in the Siem Reap area. The Sangkheum Center is involved with, amongst other activities:
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Young Adult Training Program - developing resident young adults through supplementary education and vocational training
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Apsara Dancing - teaching children traditional Khmer dance, maintaining this vital Cambodian tradition and giving children an outlet for artistic expression as well as a means to generate income to support themselves through performing in Siem Reap hotels
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Silk Lab - providing training and employment by producing silk handicrafts, which are also used to support the Center
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Iron Workshop - providing training and producing metal crafts
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