Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sala Bai




For the past several months we've had the pleasure of working with the Cambodian non-profit Sala Bai

This organization provides life changing education to young & poor Cambodians who otherwise would have a very small chance of being gainfully employed and a very high chance of being at risk for sex and labor trafficking.  For a little economic perspective: the students they accept into their program are coming from families (families!) that survive on less than $30USD per month. 

How the program works: Sala Bai is a free hospitality school based in Siem Reap. Over the course of one year they train students in one of four different specializations within hospitality. After graduation 100% of the students find employment. This employment places the students squarely in Cambodia's emerging middle class. It's an incredible track record and the people in charge of running the organization are wonderful as the place itself.

Where we come in: 
To showcase the transformative elements of the Sala Bai school Mike, Scott and I documented one of their student's, Khatna, from her rural floating village, through the school's program and onto employment at the (lovely) Heritage Suites Hotel. 
We documented this story in film and video with the aim of helping to share and expand the work that Sala Bai does.

The Debut: 
We debuted the film earlier this month to a very receptive audience at the Hilton Hotel Singapore in honor of International Women's Day.
Khatna, our main character was in town for the screening as well as Sala Bai's director Emmanuelle DeThomas, and the films' trusted translator Sokly Sour. This tireless threesome went on and screened the film with UNIFEM numerous times during their short trip to Singapore. 

Launching:
All of these efforts launched a new fundraising initiative for Sala Bai. To find out more about this initiative visit: touchsalabai.com

TBC...
Our  documentation of Sala Bai and the Touch Sala Bai initiative are the work of the very committed Sam McGoun. More on Sam in the coming weeks....