Cambodia House is a not-for-profit retail and wholesale business established in 1999 by Mary Read, proprietor of Reads of Woollahra, after being involved with a number of disadvantaged groups in Cambodia since 1995.

With 36% of the population earning less than US$1 per day and 80% of the total population earning less than US$2 per day it is no surprise that Cambodia is one of poorest countries in the world.

Further, the legacy of land mines in Cambodia is one of the worst in the world, with an estimated 4 to 6 million remaining unmarked around the countryside. As many as 40,000 Cambodians have lost limbs due to mines, which claim an average of 40 to 50 victims a month.

The non-government organisations Cambodia House works with employ and support people from the least privileged sectors of society including survivors of land mines, people with disabilities and the urban poor with the aim of helping people develop sustainable, marketable skills creating supplementary or alternative sources of income.

Our goal is to support those groups in establishing and developing export markets for organizations producing traditional handicrafts, preserving Khmer arts and crafts in Cambodia.

In doing so, we expose the people we work with to a global market place and the skills necessary to participate in a modern world, whilst providing them with income generation, encouraging independence and a sense of self-fulfilment.

Our achievements to date

• Cambodia House has channelled over $300,000.00 back to Cambodia through purchases of products made by the people we work with.
• We have established a scholarship fund with the Lavalla School for tertiary education and training for adolescents with disabilities in Cambodia.
• In 2004 we began a yearlong Handicraft Industry Development project in order to develop and diversify the skills and product ranges of the organizations involved, as well as their understanding of overseas markets.
• We have continued to increase the number of organisations we work with, exposing export possibilities to a greater range of groups producing traditional crafts and therefore expanding the work we are able to achieve.
• Two years running Cambodia House has funded members of NCDP in their only overseas trips to attend Trade Fairs in Thailand. In addition in May 2004 key members of a number of groups involved in the Cambodia Handicraft Industry Development Project participated in an exposure trip from Cambodia to Vietnam visiting similar handicraft organizations, retail outlets and workshops.
• Through our donation based in-store gift-wrapping service we have raised more than $5000.00 towards the Maryknoll HIV/AIDS Project in Cambodia. All money raised go towards HIV/AIDS Education programmes, home care support, a medical clinic, income generation training, financial assistance to children with HIV, families who have a member with HIV, and children who are orphaned by AIDS, as well as privation of mother to child transition.
• Thanks to overwhelming media support we continue to raise public awareness about issues facing Cambodia, preservation of traditional handicrafts and socially responsible ways of doing business.