So Singapore, So Senhoa

On the 10^th of March 2011 (what? already?!), the Senhoa team paid a visit to Singapore to spread the wonder of our work.

Senhoa was lucky enough to be selected to present at an International Woman’s Day event organized by Accenture, Singapore. We represented the ‘humanitarian’ sector for the one-day, sit-down event at the Marriot Hotel hosting up to 250 Executives from Accenture and BHP.

The objective of the event was to acknowledge the fast-rising empowerment of women around the world, including those in the developing world. We had 25 minutes to take the stage and make known the issue of human-trafficking and what Senhoa is doing about it to our well-to-do Singaporean Corporate counterparts.

Senhoa had a representative from the Field in Cambodia and one from Head-Office. It was a new experience for the Field. For one, being out of Siem Reap and back amongst skyscrapers, taxi ranks and well-dressed people. And secondly seeing the support side of Senhoa- the promotion and jewelry sales!

There was an emotional moment during the set up of the jewelry. Having seen the hands from which the collection has bloomed and then seeing it displayed in a show room in a 5-Star Business Hotel in Singapore… the pride that swelled manifested into tears!

Posing with our display set up with our information booth

Original designs by our girls

The Senhoa collection being displayed by the Accenture team

Fussing over the display. A proud moment.

The Field presented first, addressing the issue of human-trafficking, speaking from first-hand experience with the survivors and our implementation of the program to the most practical standard. The Field spoke about the girls regaining worth by being associated with beauty, provided with the foundations for learning, and being exposed them to a more meaningful world. The audience was completely engaged. There were lots of nods of acknowledgement, head shakes of disbelief, smiles of appreciation. And then HO brought it home with the ‘how you can help’ pitch- by purchasing Senhoa Jewelry! Being glamorous with a conscience. HO was the drive behind the sale of jewelry, eloquently reasoning the benefits of ‘giving back’ whilst still being fashionable.

A moment of pause for personal reflection

The response was positive. The Senhoa information stall was surrounded by women interested in the finer details about the program in Cambodia who wanted to know how else they could contribute to the cause. Every piece of jewelry was touched and tried on resulting in over $4000 of sales! However, the proudest moment was when nearly all of the original jewelry pieces, designed and made by the girls SOLD OUT.

Congratulations, Senhoa! For an immensely successful trip in Singapore. We created awareness to a new audience, we sold lots of jewelry, and The Field and HO were finally able to come together physically to work side-by-side!

Over and Out from,

The Field

Senhoa in India

What’s next for Senhoa?

As Head Office and Cambodia are engaging in the recent exciting events, a pilot program is unrolling to evaluate the prospects for Senhoa to extend its services to more young women in a different corner of the world. Welcome to India!

Today is the halfway mark of the pilot program here in Kolkta, India. Similar to the Senhoa program in Cambodia, Senhoa is bringing to India the income generating opportunities and life skills training to the victims of human trafficking and the young women who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. This pilot is conducted in cooperation with the Women’s Interlink Foundation (www.womensinterlinkfoundation.org) and Made by Survivors (www.madebysurvivors.com).

For four hours a day, ten girls are with Senhoa to learn life skills and the arts of jewelry making. Life skills classes are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. These life skills lessons are taught through engaging the girls in activities such as drawing, acting, writing, and playing various team building games. Thus far, we have discussed topics such as: concept of self, communication skills, friendship, teamwork, and relating to others. After each life skills activity, the girls convene as a group to reflect what they have learned from the activity. The group discussion serves as a great channel for the girls to not only share to their peers what they have learned, but it is also a place for them to slowly learn to open up and express their inner feelings—an essential step in overcoming the tragedy of their past.

Tuesday and Thursday are reserved for skill training in jewelry making. Some of the girls have a natural talent and already mastered the wire wrapping skill to create beautiful pairs of earrings. Yet, there are others who are still struggling to make a perfect loop. They are struggling, but they are still trying—determined to learn this new skill.

One particular memorable moment was when a sixteen years old girl said, “I want to be a tree to bear fruits for people to eat.” This was a respond to the question: if you can be anything in this world, what would you want to be and why? It is this kind of simple and innocent thinking that shows the resilience in these girls. They have lived through such traumatic past, yet they still face the world with a smile and are full of hopes and dreams. And it is precisely for this reason that Senhoa, Made by Survivors, and the Women’s Interlink Foundation hope to join hands to bring opportunities for these girls to realize their dreams.

Jenny Van

As we are on the eve of launching Senhoa’s third collection entitled Pavo: Love, Patience & Strength, I want to dedicate this blog to the person who inspired the collection – our Creative Director, Jenny Van.

Jenny came on board to volunteer with Senhoa at the beginning of 2009. It was yet another serendipitous event (Senhoa is apparently very susceptible to these) where we happened upon each other and connected with a bond that quickly became the heart and soul of Senhoa.

Some women make a statement wherever they go. And a woman of conviction is hard to ignore. Jenny is one of those women. As a jewelry designer and anti-trafficking activist, she has created a number of striking jewelry collections for Senhoa, each one hand crafted by a survivor of human trafficking.

In addition to creative design, Jenny is also a jewelry trainer at Senhoa. Most recently, Jenny flew to Cambodia to teach 20 girls, many of whom were rescued from sex slavery, how to become beading artists. Using beads donated by Bead & Button Magazine, the girls practiced the art of wiring, wrapping, stringing, color scheming and much more! After her trip, Jenny shared: “I was so impressed with their fast learning! The girls were very persistent with every task given to them, and they mastered their skills so quickly!”

Based in Huntington Beach, California, Jenny is also the owner of JJ Bead. Jenny’s work has been featured in magazines such as Bead & Button and BeadStyle. Jenny’s designs have been worn by overseas Vietnamese celebrities and featured on Asia Entertainment, Inc. In 2009, Jenny was named finalist in the prestigious Bead Dreams competition, an international juried competition of exceptional bead artistry. Aside from her creative life as a jewelry designer, Jenny also holds a Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Medical Microbiology and Biochemistry from the California State University of Long Beach. Talk about versatility!

People often ask what the point-of-difference is for Senhoa Jewelry. And without a second’s hesitation we always say, “Jenny Van”.

Senhoa’s third collection, Pavo: Love, Patience & Strength, will be launched on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2011.

Sustainable Sewing

Suhr-so-dai! Hello again from Cambodia! Even though it's meant to be Head Office's turn at reporting the goings-on, too much is happening over here to wait another whole 2 weeks!

A month ago now, we had a special visitor scheduled for Senhoa. Leading up to his arrival, I received a bombardment of emails from management encouraging and reassuring me that I’d do a fantastic job at hosting THE Thien Le. I was scratching my head: who?

Thien Le is one of Toronto, Canada’s most prominent designers, specializing in exclusive couture for the individual woman and man. As I read up on him and clicked through his runway shows and collections, I started laughing at my ignorance when I finally Googled him; I, the most un-savvy label fashionista, was hosting, punching and joking around with a fashion celebrity.

Senhoa Head Quarters had used its connections and charm to rope in the Canadian/Vietnamese designer to train the girls in Battambang branch of our partner shelter to make bags and kimonos as merchandise. The Battambang branch of our partner shelter has a sewing vocational training program. Senhoa proposed this small project to provide the girls with training in sewing and pattern making, as well as design good quality merchandise to make and sell in the United States and abroad, and to promote the work of both organizations.

Thien was a bundle of enthusiasm, squealing with delight (‘Oh My God, this is so COOL!!) from the airport in the open air tuk-tuk on which we picked him up. He was so excited to be in a new country to offer his talents to those who can benefit so significantly.

Our special guest was welcomed warmly with songs and dance by the girls which he received both shyly and graciously. Thien was given the tour of the shelter, our office and the classrooms, and see the Senhoa Program in action. I beamed with pride as they animatedly chatted to him about what they’ve learnt so far and how hopeful they are about their futures.

When training commenced the next day in Battambang, Thien dove straight in and showed the girls how to silk screen, how to cut fabric with accuracy, how to utilize fabric sparingly, how to adjust machine tension according to fabric thickness and other tricks of the trade. Thien was deeply impressed by the girls’ keenness to learn and how quickly they picked up his lessons. By the end of the 4-days, the girls had worked together in teams of four to make samples of the reversible Love Rescue Heal tote, and sophisticated kimono wrap.

Everyone cooperated so promptly that Thien even had time to cut and restyle most of the girls’ hair! (‘Wow, seriously, I need to bring over a TEAM to deal with this.’) Even mine! (‘You look like a girl, again!’)

We are so privileged to have Thien generously give his time, pro bono, to share his knowledge with us in Cambodia. This newly developed relationship between Thien and Senhoa has great implications for future merchandising and fundraising to create wider awareness of the Anti-Human Trafficking movement.

Thank you, Thien Le, our Fashionable Friend! We hope to see you again in the Kingdom of Wonder to work some more Wondrous Magic.

Check Thien out at www.thienle.com

With Hugs and Kisses from the Field.

Volunteers Abound

Senhoa continues to astound me with its serendipitous events. The most recent series has resulted with an awesome team of volunteers!

Lets rewind a month. At the time it was only me and my exponentially improving Outreach Worker, Kimang. With the start-up of 3 partnerships, development of a life skills curriculum, lesson delivery, jewelry making, and the well-being of 17 teenage girls, very little time was left to get ‘official’ stuff done. Sure, it was ‘done’…but not ‘officially’. We needed help.
So one day, whilst sipping my 4th coffee that morning, I received a Facebook message (Oh, Hail Facebook!) from an estranged highschool colleague:

‘Hey! Long time no see! I heard that you’re working in Cambodia now and I want to do the same. Know anywhere I can volunteer for 6 months? I’ve got a Bachelors in Business and I’m Cambodian.’

As I wiped the coffee spray off my computer screen, my heart jumped out of my chest and kissed her profile picture.

Welcome, Emily Chhen, to Senhoa Cambodia!

High Schoolers unite! Emily, my new right-hand girl

Meanwhile, it was still a good 4 weeks until Emily’s arrival. We were still juggling 8 people’s jobs between us. Then on the 3rd of January, I was at brunch hosting some supporters from Australia describing to them the jet-speed progress of Senhoa.

‘We really want to find a way to help. What do you need?’

‘Honestly, the biggest thing we need now is man-power.’

Nearly as soon as those words left my mouth, my phone vibrated and I excused myself from company. (Normally I wouldn’t be so rude, but I felt a sense of excitement behind this call) It was from Jenni, the missionary worker for our partner shelter with whom I work very closely.

‘I just got a call from Youth With a Mission and they have 3 girls who want to volunteer for 2 months and they want to start tomorrow!’

I looked up to the clouds as they parted with beams of sunlight radiating through.

Haaaaaalelujah!

Thank you to Katie (Canada), Taylor (USA), and Joy (USA) for literally being angels sent from above.

Now with so many sets of hands and brains, our weekly schedules look like this:


By having the roles more spread out, it:

Opens me to develop more comprehensive curriculum and lesson plans, answer emails more thoroughly, attend more meetings with partner NGOs and other associates, train staff and volunteers, record in more detail the progress of the girls, and most importantly more time and brain space to plan out the big picture for Senhoa in Cambodia.

Allows Kimang to build stronger relationships with the girls and their families, dedicate more energy to learning Khmer, English and how to teach lessons.

And all this is supplemented by Marvelous Emily who will be in charge of administrations and accounts.

Phew!

So far it’s been an absolute pleasure having new team members on board and it’s given us a great taste for more! We’re still on the lookout for more volunteers to donate their time and services to the worthy cause that is Senhoa. Please don’t hesitate to contact info@senhoa.org if you are interested in our projects in Cambodia.

Over and out, from The Field

Senhoa graces the stage of Asia Entertainment, Inc.

Greetings from Head Office!

What better way to end a landmark year at Senhoa than with a spectacular fashion show?! We were so proud to see our sparkling Senhoa pieces modeled in front of over 4 million overseas Vietnamese. That’s right- 4 million viewers!

Let’s start from the beginning. A few months ago, we had the chance to meet with the Executive Producer (EP) of Asia Entertainment, Inc., an overseas Vietnamese music production company. We asked if we could design a couture collection that we could showcase in Asia’s upcoming, wedding-themed show. Jenny Van, Senhoa’s Creative Director, was set on task to design the top-secret, couture line in conjunction with style advice from the Executive Producer of Asia (a fellow fashion and accessories lover). Our Marketing Director, Thi Nguyen, located nine beautiful models to walk the runway for Senhoa. Threw it all together and TA DA! We had a show!



The extravagant couture collection was created using semi-precious gems like Green Amethyst, Swarovski crystals and Swarovski pearls. On the runway, Nha Khanh designs complimented the ethereal elegance of Senhoa jewelry. The fashion show was featured as part of a musical performance by Trish (also draped in Senhoa), a legendary Vietnamese pop singer. We want to say a special ‘Congratulations’ to Trish who recently married her prince charming, decked out in a Vera Wang gown and…..drum rolls…… Senhoa jewelry!

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you, to Jenny Van for her amazing work. Senhoa would not be what it is without her creative genius. To our Marketing extraordinaire Thi, for coordinating the fashion show. To our models, who volunteered their time to grace the runway for Senhoa. To Trish for her tireless support of Senhoa. And to Asia Entertainment, Inc. and Nha Quyen, for allowing us this incredible opportunity.

Please check it out!

Asia 67: A Spring Wedding is out now and available at www.trungtamasia.com.

Crowded House…of LOVE!

Picking up from where HQ left off; the girls are in! On the 29th of November, three of the seven Senhoa community girls moved into the official CCPCR Lotus House. The joy and awe in their faces at their new home was priceless.

The discovery of this perfect place of residence happened a month ago when CCPCR’s manager, Mr. Thy made a trip specially from Phnom Penh for the house hunt. We had arranged with a realtor familiar with our needs and requirements to meet Mr. Thy and took us on a whirlwind, one-day search. Bing, bang, boom it only took 3 houses to find the perfect sanctuary for girls in transition.

The realtor showed us a two-story house a stone’s throw from the conveniences of town. Boasting 5 large bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, 4 communal areas, a kitchen and its sink, we decided unanimously that it was more than well enough equipped to house up to 15 young, hopeful women.

Leading the way for the House, we are very proud to have on board, Nary Ny, the newest member of the team taking on the role of Project Manager and Social Worker for the Lotus House. Nary has extensive experience working within the realm of humanitarianism, ranging from Shelter Manager to Child Rights Promotion Coordinator to Program Manager. Highly qualified (clearly!) for the position, Nary will support the young women in the house, helping them transition from rehabilitation to sustainable freedom.

The very presence of all these women under one roof has already lifted the vibe of the house, instantly turning it into a home. This new home for many is still under development in terms of furnishings and décor, but it will only be a matter of time. The girls have already reported sleeping better, breathing easier, and a growing feeling of self-worth.

Thanks for joining us again!

With love from,

The Field

PS. Pictures soon!