Annual Report 2023

Achievements

Cambodian Communities out of Crisis (CCC) continued its programme of sponsoring children enrolled at private schools in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. CCC paid all or part of the school fees for two girls and four boys in 2023. CCC also made a grant for the purchase of furniture and computers to enable the expansion of a small, informal village school.

CCC was represented in Cambodia by a Country Director and two part-time assistants (all women). The activities of this team included:

Church planting using an organic, home-based approach. A church, led by the Country Director, met for worship, prayer, Bible study, breaking of bread and fellowship meals according to the New Testament pattern of Acts chapter two.
Support for a village church. The CCC team visited the church each month and participated in its Sunday meetings. CCC provided a grant to enable a disabled child and her family to travel to and from church meetings.
Serving the poor and needy. The CCC team made monthly visits to a café, where they invited passing needy people to join them for a meal. CCC also made miscellaneous grants to people in need, for example, assisting with childbirth and funeral costs.
Support for widows. CCC made monthly grants to four elderly widows with low incomes. One of these ladies died, and CCC helped defray her funeral costs.

The team met frequently online for prayer and Bible study, and CCC’s Executive Director continued the daily online Bible study for them that he had initiated during the Covid-19 outbreak. Two non-team members also joined this study group.

CCC continued its support for the Cambodia for Christ (CfC) sports ministry, which aims to keep teenage boys away from drugs and criminal gangs by enrolling them in football teams. CfC also runs football teams for girls and younger boys. CCC made regular grants to help pay for the running costs of this ministry, as well as providing some financial support for its director.

The Country Director made a private visit to the United Kingdom, during which she had the opportunity to speak in church meetings about her life story and her present ministry with CCC. During a visit to Cambodia, the Executive Director met team members, partners and beneficiaries, and preached at church meetings.

Governance

CCC is governed by a Council, of whom four members are trustees. No Council member receives any payment for his or her services. CCC does not employ any staff in the United Kingdom.

The major risks to which CCC is exposed, as identified by the trustees, and the systems in place to mitigate those risks were reviewed during the year. The trustees also reviewed CCC’s code of practice, internal financial controls, and staff remuneration and safeguarding policies.

Public Benefit

Registered charities are required to benefit the public.

In 2023, CCC provided benefit in the form of the payment of educational fees for children enrolled at schools in Cambodia. The section of the public qualifying for the benefit consisted of Cambodian children receiving high-quality education at private schools in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. CCC provided sponsorship to students whose families could not afford to pay the fees for their children to attend private schools. CCC considers applications for sponsorship on the basis of availability of funds, need (i.e., the inability of an applicant’s parents to pay fees), the likelihood of the applicant completing the course of study and the reputation of the institution at which the applicant wishes to study.

CCC also benefited disadvantaged members of Cambodian society and young people at risk.

CCC does not discriminate between potential beneficiaries on the basis of their religion.

Finance

CCC’s income was sufficient to fulfil the commitments agreed by the trustees to pay school fees, support Cambodia for Christ and make grants to widows, the poor and the needy.

Funding for administrative and promotional activities and the allowances paid to our staff in Cambodia was provided by gifts from Council members and tax recovered in connection with undesignated gifts given through Gift Aid.

The trustees are conscious of the need to use as much as possible of donated income for activities of direct benefit to the people of Cambodia and elsewhere. CCC’s operations are conducted by volunteers in an effort to minimise overheads. Council members bear some administrative and travel costs personally.

Over many years, CCC has received donations towards the cost of establishing Timothy College and Business Institute in Cambodia. The trustees had previously felt that this money should be used to purchase a plot of land, either as a location for the first stage of the college or as a secure investment. After taking legal advice, the trustees realised that the difficulty in vesting ownership of securely in a suitable body and the costs involved made this proposal unwise. However, the trustees decided that it would be a valid use of part of this fund in accordance with the donors’ intentions to fund the grant to the village school (named Timothy School) referred to above.

The Future

As a charity undergirded by Christian principles and one that seeks to operate by faith in Almighty God, CCC faces a number of challenges and opportunities:

to trust God for the provision of sufficient funds for the ministries the Council believe He has led CCC to support;
to seek God’s provision of substantial additional funding for Timothy College and Business Institute;
to be sensitive to the political situation in Cambodia;
to ensure that funds sent to Cambodia are used for charitable purposes and not abstracted for corrupt or fraudulent purposes.

In 2024 the trustees’ objectives are:

To continue the sponsorship of school children.
To continue our support for the Cambodia for Christ sports ministry.
To increase our provision of assistance to widows, orphans and the poor.
To pursue CCC’s vision for the establishment of Timothy College and Business Institute.
To make the needs of Cambodia and the work of CCC more widely known.

CCC’s medium- and long-term objectives are:

To help provide improved access to primary and secondary education for children from low-income families in Cambodia.
To contribute to an improvement in the standard of living of widows, orphans and the poor in Cambodia.
To encourage public interest in Cambodia and financial support for ministry to its people.
To mobilise prayer support for the people and church of Cambodia.
To respond to any direction from the Lord to engage in other ministry in Cambodia or elsewhere.

Trustees and Council Members

The following were members of the Council during 2023. Trustees are denoted by an asterisk (*).

Chairman Mr Russel Bowyer *

Executive Director Mr Myers Cooper *

International Director Rev Ross Rennie *

Member Mr Austin Allkins *

Member Mrs Sandra Bowyer

Member Mrs Eileen Vale