President of the Tewantin Noosa Probus Club, Joy Fenty, announced that our the club’s guest speaker for August was Tewantin Solicitor, Roslyn Simmonds, who is also a Director of KNGO Australia.

Roslyn told us that KNGO Australia (Khmer New Generation Organisation Australia Limited) is a not-for-profit charity which was founded in Noosa in 2014. Its aim is to improve housing, living conditions and enhance the lives of children and youths in Bospo Village, on the outskirts of Battambang in rural Cambodia, where extreme poverty is rife. In an effort to break this cycle of poverty, families are encouraged to send their children to the KNGO school for supplementary education in Khmer literacy, maths, English and IT studies. Children and youths are awarded scholarships to help them develop vocational, critical thinking and computer skills. They are given ample opportunity to speak English with their tutors in order to perfect their pronunciation and to improve their chances of obtaining sustainable employment. Scholarships have also been awarded to seven young women to train as dental assistants. KNGO has completed its one hundred and fifty third house, delivering safe shelter, clean water and electricity to families in urgent need.

Joining Roslyn at the Probus meeting, was Judy Malzard, a Director of KNGO Australia, who has spent time working as a volunteer at the Bospo Village School.