Annual Report 2020

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 two boys in 2020. For part of the year, Cambodian schools were closed by the government in response to the threat of the spread of Covid-19 but all students were able to study online.

CCC made a commitment to support the Cambodia for Christ sports ministry, which has been effective in keeping teenage boys away from drugs and criminal gangs. However the development of the ministry during 2020 was inhibited by restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Cambodia for Christ also provides some evening classes to improve the standard of education of the young people it seeks to help and CCC is eager to support this initiative.

CCC also offered to work alongside a church located in the area served by Cambodia for Christ. After the church became independent from its parent denomination, CCC started to provide a small stipend to the pastor to enable him to spend more time developing the church’s ministry. CCC has established a small team, led by Cambodia Country Director Ms Huot Chanthoeun, to help facilitate the church’s ministry to widows, orphans and the poor and to assist the church in developing programmes for children.

For part of 2021, CCC provided a monthly pension to a widow in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

CCC received and passed on in full a small donation towards the work of Agape International Missions, an organisation which has successfully rescued, reintegrated and employed a large number of Cambodian victims of human trafficking.

CCC requested the Country Director to observe a voluntary lockdown for part of the year and during this time encouraged her to spend additional time in prayer and Bible study. The Executive Director conducted a daily online Bible study for the CCC team in Cambodia.

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 and amended as necessary CCC’s code of practice, internal financial controls, staff remuneration and safeguarding policies.

Public Benefit

Registered charities are required to benefit the public. In 2020, CCC provided benefit in the form of the payment of educational fees for four 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 does not discriminate between potential beneficiaries on the basis of their religion.

CCC provided benefit to the public by supporting the work of Cambodia for Christ and the Light of God church.

Finance

CCC’s income was sufficient to fulfil the student sponsorship commitments agreed by the trustees at the end of 2019.

Funding for administrative and promotional activities and the salary of the Country Director 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 continue to be conducted by volunteers in an effort to minimise overheads. Council members bear some administrative and travel costs personally.

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 the purchase of land 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 2021, the trustees’ objectives are:

To continue the sponsorship of school children.
To support the activities of the Cambodia for Christ sports ministry.
To provide assistance to widows, orphans and the poor, particularly those residing in the catchment area of the Light of God church.
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 seek outlets in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for products produced by women and men who have been rescued from human trafficking by Agape International Missions (AIM) and now work in AIM’s garment factories.
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 2019. 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: Mr Paul Cornelius
Member: Mrs Eileen Vale
Member Emeritus: Mr Anthony Nixon (until 31 March 2020)