Gifts to Cambodia with love
Giving a gift is a universal way to show someone you care.
New Plymouth’s Jean Williams’ care knows no bounds - nor do her gift-giving efforts.
Jean volunteers for Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a project that sends shoe boxes packed with presents and essentials to children living in poverty, around the world.
‘‘There is a need, a great need,’’ Williams said.
She spends her time persuading local businesses, community groups and church groups to support OCC, as well as organising the items, handmade locally, to go into the boxes.
Jean said there were plenty of New Plymouth helpers behind the scenes making soft toys, or knitting woollen clothes and sewing items to help fill the boxes. ‘‘They’re amazing,’’ she said.
The initiative is run by Samaritan’s Purse, a not-for-profit international relief organisation, and New Zealanders helped fill three 12-metre shipping containers with gifts destined for children in need.
‘‘You’re talking about 10 to 11,000 shoeboxes a container,’’ Jean said. ‘‘The first two containers went to Fiji and the third is going to Cambodia.’’
This month Jean and her husband, Owen Williams, travel to villages in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province to hand out the boxes to children in person. ‘‘That’s going to be somewhat tearful I can imagine,’’ she said.
While this is their second selffunded trip to Cambodia, it’s their first time travelling as part of a Samaritan’s Purse group.
‘‘I know part of what to expect as a country but when it comes to giving out the shoe boxes I would well imagine that going to be very different,’’ she said.
Siem Reap is a popular tourist hub but for its poorest residents, poor nutrition, begging, prostitution, and sex trafficking are a grim part of life.
Every box is checked before it goes into the container and the Williams helped check and pack the boxes too.
Gift suggestions to fill a shoebox include something to: wear, love, something special, something for school, something to play with, and something for personal hygiene, and a $10 donation for distribution.
To ensure the present matches with the child people are asked to fill a shoebox with gifts for a girl or boy aged 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14 years.
For more information about OCC call 0800 684300.