Happy  New Year to everyone!  We hope that 2012 will be a happy and healthy new year for all our friends, visitors and supporters.  Here in Banteay Chhmar, the year has gotten off to an excellent start.  We already have some very good news to share with you.

Donations

We have recently received two very generous donations.  First, Travelers’ Map of Korea will be supporting the very first community library in Banteay Chhmar! We are very excited about this and we are sure all the students and children will be very happy. Their donation will provide for books and educational materials, a librarian, construction and other start-up costs for the first year. The library will be housed in part of the CBT office. Hopefully, through time, we will find a more permanent site in the commune for the library. Again, the entire community is very thankful to Travelers’ Map.  They have been regular visitors to our CBT for quite some time now, and we hope to welcome our Korean friends for many more years. You can follow the progress of the library here on our website and on our Facebook page.  We hope to start purchasing supplies and preparing the library area in early February.

Kitchen cabinet courtesy of Other Ways Tours

A second donation came from another one of tour operators – Other Ways Tours.  Kim Nou and his staff have provided two first-aid kits and a storage cabinet for our kitchen supplies. Our cooking staff is very happy and we hope we will not need to use our first-aid kits – but better safe, than sorry 🙂

Cassava cutting season! Now is the time when cassava is harvested, cut and dried. It is usually exported to Thailand to be processed as a food additive.