Anyway Foundation Update March 2009

Greeting everyone! I have an update. The orphanage is looking even better. The maintenance man is doing a truly unbelievable job and mostly alone. The area around the pond is full of plants, vegetables, more fruit trees. All the land behind & beside the new building is all cut and a garden has been planted. They will have enough vegetables to feed all and some they can sell for a little extra money. Truly awesome.

There are 17 babies all looking healthy and happy. We are lucky to have the nannies we have and all the help from Pakawan. The school by the road in Chenneng now has a toilet, a septic tank and the concrete is in the school. They did some remodeling, taking apart of one of the rooms. One classroom is bigger and with the rest of the room they made a bedroom for volunteers. I bought a generator, electric lights and wire. So now the building with the sewing machines, the outside cooking area and the new room have lights some of the time. They will be able to have a TV and CD player and will be able to see movies that Pakawan and Mike are getting. They are short CDs that have topics such as sanitation, agriculture, family life, women rights, malaria, dengue. Different topics that are in short 5 to 10 minute segments that the people will have to watch when they watch the movies.

We will soon have a generator and the same items for the old village also. That will be amazing because most of those people have never even seen an electric light. We have a new building in the old village. The village chief and the village got together and asked us to start English classes for all in the village. So now we have first, second, third & fourth grades in Khmer, and 2 hours a day in English. The 2 teachers there are really good.

Since we have a western bath and shower in the orphanage and a western toilet and a private bathing area at the new village we are ready to start trying to get English speaking volunteers and also volunteers to help at the orphanage. Ideas and help are needed. if you have friends that would like to volunteer, let us know. If any of you have extra cash or brilliant ideas let us know, the projects do cost money. The children in the orphanage cost approximately 160 US dollars a month and there are now 17 of them. The schools are a lot less expensive about $3,000 for each of the 3 schools per year. I want to thank all of you that have helped in all the ways you have.

A special thanks goes to BOB, who went there in May with me to look before he made a very generous donation. Also, a special thanks to members of my class of 1957 from Forest Grove, Oregon who have been so very generous. Thanks Roger and Joan, and Shirley. Thanks to all the people in Texas that have helped. Carrie thanks for everything you have done. Everyone should know how much the employees at the Nehalem Bay Winery and the Depoe Bay Winery help by making me able to do all this and also how they sell the bags,purses,packs and wine bags that are made in the sewing project at the village. Some of you across our great country have helped also thanks to all of you. I'll update you periodically. Check out the new webpage. http://www.anywayfoundation.org/

Bye for now,
Remember THE UNIVERSE LOVES US ALL

-Ray

Winery Owner Makes a Difference in Asia

Ray Shackelford is making a world of difference in a small town in Cambodia, and he’s offering others the chance to help out as well. It’s much more than charity for the tiny village of Chheneng, in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia – an impoverished place populated by the Pnong, an ethnic minority that suffered much under regimes of the last century in both Cambodia and Vietnam. The village has no running water or electricity, and they have little to eat on a regular basis, mostly foraging in the jungle for food.But Nehalem’s Ray Shackelford has been helping out with donations and strategies that have given them a means to help themselves – much more than just a handout. Along with Shackelford, a man in town known as Elephant and his brother-in-law Sen Heng, villagers have built two schools, another well for the people, and a sewing shop that is helping them on their way to self-sufficiency.Shackelford owns the Nehalem Bay Winery on the north coast and the Depoe Bay Winery on the central coast.

Shackelford first met Elephant in 1992 – a man whose birth name is Chan Kem Lang. At the time he was a bicycle taxi driver. “I have seen him – and helped him – go from being a driver to this year getting his bachelors degree,” Shackelford said. Heng heads up the construction projects, while his wife - Sen Ratanna – teaches the villagers how to sew. Over those years, Shackelford has poured around $30,000 into helping the village in various projects, which includes helping them to buy property, building the new well, and creating some bathroom facilities. One of the schools cost $800 to build, and the other $700 – unbelievably cheap compared to such costs in the west. Together the schools teach about 60 children.The sewing shop creates small, beautiful handbags, backpacks and wine bags, made from a silk-like fabric of bright colors and a hint of iridescence. These are being sold at Nehalem Bay Winery and the Depoe Bay Winery, allowing the public to help these people.This last trip, Shackelford was able to hand them $1500 from the bag sales – roughly 15 times the amount of money the entire village might have at any one time.

In the past, Shackelford has purchased some rice for them to eat, and acquired seeds for a garden project so they can grow better food for themselves.“The schools were built with local materials, like bamboo and coco wood, and all the work was done by parents and teachers,” Shackelford said. “The well was dug by experienced diggers. But wow, what a bad job that is. Can you imagine digging a 39-inch by 39-inch square hole in the ground, about 25 or 30 feet deep, by hand, and pulling the dirt up with just a bucket? Tough and dangerous.”

Chheneng is actually divided up into the new one and the old village, and each has a school for the first time in their existence. “The old one is about seven kilometers off the highway, and the highway is kind of a joke,” Shackelford said. “Really, it’s just a bad road. In the rainy season it can only be traversed by water buffalo and a cart, or by walking with mud up to your knees. In July I was able to ride it with a motorbike, but not now.”

Shackelford spends much of the year traveling all over the world, exploring and tasting new things, like a sort of Indiana Jones for the north Oregon coast. On his adventures, he has personally grabbed some international interest in the plight of the Pnong. Chatting with a pair of Dutch teachers in Berlin, Germany, he got them to donate some money. His son in Texas helped out financially, as did some of those attending his 50th high school reunion recently.

All of the proceeds from these stylish bags go back to the village. They run $15 to $25 and are available at the Winery. Call (503) 368-WINE or stop by the Nehalem Bay Winery to order your unique handcrafted bag.