Green Gecko - a project with a difference?
Liz, Kate and Tania - three names of three amazing people! Along with a range of additional staff and volunteers that see Green Gecko as the family unit that it is. Green Gecko provides whole of family support. They support a total of 32 families - the families of the original kids that Tania and Rem helped. Fourteen years after it began, Green Gecko has seen the original Gecko kids grow up, graduate from High School, enter University and get married and begin families of their own. The parents have learned new skills and are now in a position to financially and emotionally become the backbones of their families once more. This project is innovative in that it does not take new children into the program - it supports the same families all the way through. The anticipation is that the current model will reach the end of its life cycle within the next few years. That doesn't mean it won't exist - it means it won't exist in its current form. We will watch and see how this exciting project continues to morph and change as the needs of the families it supports grow and change.
For a number of years now, our teams have contributed to the Gecko story through financial and physical assistance to undertake projects on the ground. With thanks to the Kerang Agricultural Research Farm (Kerang, Victoria, Australia), each year, a project is funded at the Footprints Farm, which is the sustainable farm managed by Green Gecko. When this farm was on its old site, our teams built pathways to lower the impact of flooding during the wet season, assisted with planting of crops and also with the development of a mushroom house. We will also never forget the incredible chicken house moving experience (but that's another story!!). The move to the new site is an exciting move. It is now on higher ground, so flooding is less of an issue.
Walking onto the site this year and we see - THE NEW MUSHROOM HOUSE! Our group built it in 2017, then carefully pulled it down last year in preparation to move it and in 2019, it has been re-established on its new site. There is a new improvement to the old model - the introduction of a humidifier system. A series of boiler units have been built over a fire pit. The fire will heat the water in the units and the resulting steam will be pumped into the mushroom house to increase the moisture content to ensure good harvests.
However, our tasks this year were not about the mushroom house. They were about constructing the fence along one side of the farm, weeding, preparing for tree planting and creating the garden beds for the next round of seedlings. In Tania's words - "Let's get down to the farm and get dirty!!". The Gecko kids had all finished their homework and were ready to join us, so off we all went. The atmosphere was alive and it was great to see 25 young adults working together to complete the projects.
But enough from me - over to members of the team for their thoughts:
"As a teacher, I really believe that education has the power to change lives. Today I saw this in action at the Green Gecko project. The amazing staff there have worked so hard to help a group of street kids to turn their lives around and, through education, achieve dreams that would never have been possible if they were still living on the streets. Green Gecko have given them an education, taught them and their families life skills, and in doing so, have enabled these families to break the circle of poverty. I was impressed with the passion and dedication the staff have shown towards helping these kids and was pleased to have been able to help in a small way through working in their vegetable garden. The children were friendly and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to practice their English skills on us. We, in turn, were able to practice our Khmer skills, although judging by the gales of laughter from the children when we attempted to speak to them in their language, I'm not sure you could call them 'skills'. It was a fun and meaningful experience that really showed me the power of education and that one person really can make a difference for others."
- Louise
"The house building was great. It was nice to have an insight into the culture of Cambodia. The house building, although we didn't get to build that much, was cool to see the final product of the building. We were able to see the tradition of the villagers passing over the houses to the new owners - that was an interesting experience.
On Thursday, we visited the Green Gecko. There we learnt about the organisation and how they helped the street kids of Cambodia. Afterwards, we went down to a small plot of land which was used to grow different kinds of vegetables, fruits and herbs - this also included mushrooms which was a surprise. There we built a wooden bamboo fence which brought comfort and charm to the small farm. After lunch, we helped construct garden beds for future crops and dug holes to plant papaya plants."
- Cameron
"Green Gecko was an eye opening experience that taught all of us that life is what you make of it, rather than what possessions you have. We felt incredibly grateful as we met the children and learnt about their backgrounds through the amazing leaders Tania, Liz and Kate, and also through the children themselves for some of us. It was amazing to see so many children over the moon about our visit as well as to be graced with their positive energy, even when they haven't had the easiest upbringings. The children helped me to feel extremely grateful for our lives back in Australia, but also impressed us with their ability to smile even when times are tough! Green Gecko is an amazing project, that helps to save and impact the lives of a group of people, in hopes to further positively impact the wider community."
- Bella
"Today we went to the Green Gecko project where we arrived to a warm welcome from all of the children. Firstly, we had an introduction about Green Gecko and the work that has been done over the past 14 years. Seeing the immediate impact that it has on the children was truly inspiring. The holistic approach in breaking the cycle of poverty through improving the children's overall well-being, and providing them with unconditional love and respect and education that may have not been given in theirs for before Gecko is incredible to observe. We really enjoyed working with all the children, building the fence and garden beds in their sustainable farm."
- Zazney, Tahlia, Jessie and Emily
For a number of years now, our teams have contributed to the Gecko story through financial and physical assistance to undertake projects on the ground. With thanks to the Kerang Agricultural Research Farm (Kerang, Victoria, Australia), each year, a project is funded at the Footprints Farm, which is the sustainable farm managed by Green Gecko. When this farm was on its old site, our teams built pathways to lower the impact of flooding during the wet season, assisted with planting of crops and also with the development of a mushroom house. We will also never forget the incredible chicken house moving experience (but that's another story!!). The move to the new site is an exciting move. It is now on higher ground, so flooding is less of an issue.
Walking onto the site this year and we see - THE NEW MUSHROOM HOUSE! Our group built it in 2017, then carefully pulled it down last year in preparation to move it and in 2019, it has been re-established on its new site. There is a new improvement to the old model - the introduction of a humidifier system. A series of boiler units have been built over a fire pit. The fire will heat the water in the units and the resulting steam will be pumped into the mushroom house to increase the moisture content to ensure good harvests.
However, our tasks this year were not about the mushroom house. They were about constructing the fence along one side of the farm, weeding, preparing for tree planting and creating the garden beds for the next round of seedlings. In Tania's words - "Let's get down to the farm and get dirty!!". The Gecko kids had all finished their homework and were ready to join us, so off we all went. The atmosphere was alive and it was great to see 25 young adults working together to complete the projects.
But enough from me - over to members of the team for their thoughts:
"As a teacher, I really believe that education has the power to change lives. Today I saw this in action at the Green Gecko project. The amazing staff there have worked so hard to help a group of street kids to turn their lives around and, through education, achieve dreams that would never have been possible if they were still living on the streets. Green Gecko have given them an education, taught them and their families life skills, and in doing so, have enabled these families to break the circle of poverty. I was impressed with the passion and dedication the staff have shown towards helping these kids and was pleased to have been able to help in a small way through working in their vegetable garden. The children were friendly and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to practice their English skills on us. We, in turn, were able to practice our Khmer skills, although judging by the gales of laughter from the children when we attempted to speak to them in their language, I'm not sure you could call them 'skills'. It was a fun and meaningful experience that really showed me the power of education and that one person really can make a difference for others."
- Louise
"The house building was great. It was nice to have an insight into the culture of Cambodia. The house building, although we didn't get to build that much, was cool to see the final product of the building. We were able to see the tradition of the villagers passing over the houses to the new owners - that was an interesting experience.
On Thursday, we visited the Green Gecko. There we learnt about the organisation and how they helped the street kids of Cambodia. Afterwards, we went down to a small plot of land which was used to grow different kinds of vegetables, fruits and herbs - this also included mushrooms which was a surprise. There we built a wooden bamboo fence which brought comfort and charm to the small farm. After lunch, we helped construct garden beds for future crops and dug holes to plant papaya plants."
- Cameron
"Green Gecko was an eye opening experience that taught all of us that life is what you make of it, rather than what possessions you have. We felt incredibly grateful as we met the children and learnt about their backgrounds through the amazing leaders Tania, Liz and Kate, and also through the children themselves for some of us. It was amazing to see so many children over the moon about our visit as well as to be graced with their positive energy, even when they haven't had the easiest upbringings. The children helped me to feel extremely grateful for our lives back in Australia, but also impressed us with their ability to smile even when times are tough! Green Gecko is an amazing project, that helps to save and impact the lives of a group of people, in hopes to further positively impact the wider community."
- Bella
"Today we went to the Green Gecko project where we arrived to a warm welcome from all of the children. Firstly, we had an introduction about Green Gecko and the work that has been done over the past 14 years. Seeing the immediate impact that it has on the children was truly inspiring. The holistic approach in breaking the cycle of poverty through improving the children's overall well-being, and providing them with unconditional love and respect and education that may have not been given in theirs for before Gecko is incredible to observe. We really enjoyed working with all the children, building the fence and garden beds in their sustainable farm."
- Zazney, Tahlia, Jessie and Emily
Comments
Our time spent on the Footprints Farm was tonnes of fun. Many laughes were shared as we dug holes, made and prepared new vegetable beds, weeded and finished the fence. Cambodia and Darwin share many similar tropical fruits and vegetables. I do hope the holes we dug for the Paw Paw trees eventually feed many!
The Green Gecko Project is a great example of how N.G.O s can work closely with local Cambodians to achieve incredible things....