The HH Team

CHANTY – Director Chanty was a motorbike taxi driver before he started working with Helping Hands. He started working for Helping Hands as a driver and translator when we built the first bridge in May 2006. As Helping Hands grew and evolved he became Deborah's right hand man - now he is our Director and oversees and manages all our projects. "I really enjoy my job because I naturally want to help the villagers because I am from the same background and I really understand how hard it is, what they need and how we can help. I also like the variety in my work - sometimes I am working in the office and sometimes in the villages and I get to meet many different types of people."	DEBORAH – Founder and General Manager Deborah came to Cambodia for the first time as a tourist in 2004. She was so impacted by the experience that a year later she moved to Cambodia and began working with the poor. Deborah works in Helping Hands on an unpaid basis (supporting herself through her photography business).
SOPHEAP – English teacher Sopheap lives in the village of Prasat Char. He is still studying at high school but will finish in mid 2010. He then plans to go to university to study teaching (and of course Helping Hands will support him to do so). "My job is important to me because I really want to help the kids in my village to learn English, and other skills, so that they can find a good job when they are older. It feels very rewarding when the students have understood what I have taught and can answer my questions. I’m also happy to have a job with Helping Hands because my salary means I can continue my own studies, buy a motorbike, help my parents out and help my brothers to study at high school."	SAVANNE – English teacher Sovanne was a motorbike taxi driver before he started with Helping Hands. He started off working for Helping Hands as a driver but it soon became clear his skills were wasted just driving. He did some temporary teaching for us and we discovered he had a real passion for it. He loves teaching. "I like my job because I really want to help the Cambodian children. I know that teaching them English is very important for their future. I also like my job because I get to improve my own English and because Helping Hands has so many good projects for helping the Cambodian people".
THEA – *Medical Co-ordinator* Before coming to Helping Hands Thea was a waiter. Like Chanty and Savanne he started out driving for us but he was so passionate about helping the poor that his role eventually evolved into that of "Medical Co-ordinator" (meaning he's been on a massive learning curve). "I like my job because I can help many people from the villages, especially with the health and hygiene training. I also like it because I can get to see the people I organise medical help for recover from their illnesses."	CHANNA and BORA – *Income Generation Project Co-ordinators* Bora and Channa are sisters. They work part-time for Helping Hands. Channa used to work in a garment factory in the city of Phnom Penh. Bora is studying accounting at university. They both also work for Deborah in her photography business. "We are really happy that we can work on this project because we enjoy helping the poor people because we are also from a poor family and therefore we know how difficult and hard life is for them. We hope that in the future their lives will be much better and not so hard."
SOWANA – *Cambodian language teacher* Sowana lives in Prasat Char village and has been involved with Helping Hands since the beginning. She was always so helpful and community minded that she was an obvious choice when we wanted someone to teach Cambodian literacy to our youngest students. "I am happy with my job because I can help so many children from my village. My husband had been sick for a very long time and I felt very hopeless because we didn't know how he would get better. Then Helping Hands stepped in and organised medical treatment - now he is fine!"	RATHA – Agricultural trainer Ratha is an extremely hard worker - as well as working for Helping Hands two days a week she also works for another agricultural organisation. She is very dedicated and passionate about her work. "I am very happy working for Helping Hands because many of the villagers that have learnt from me now use their land and new skills to grow vegetables that they had not grown before, and they are growing much larger quantities of vegetables than they did in the past."
OODOM – *Cambodian language teacher* Oodom is from the village of Prasat Char and studies English at our school as well as attending high school. Her goal is to go to university to study teaching so we were happy to give her a small job teaching Cambodian literacy to our youngest students. "I like my job because I can make some money to help my family and to pay for my studies. I used to be scared to think about my future plans, but Chanty recently told me that if I stay with Helping Hands they will support me to go to university to study teaching. I was so excited to hear that!"	SAET – *School cook and gardener*** Saet actually asked us to take her three children and put them in an orphanage because she was too poor to look after them. Instead we decided to give her a job so that she could keep them with her and give them a future. "I like my job because I can live with my children instead of sending them to an orphanage. I can also afford to send them to school. One of my sons has epilepsy and Helping Hands looks after his medical expenses - I could not afford to do so on my own."