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| 50 Bikes Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Barrie Presented by Rotary Wheels for Learning Team Members and Battambang Rotary Members |
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| Past President Nouv Saroeun Battambang Club, Bill Obee, Minden Club, Jim Goodwin Gravenhurst Club |
Our 2013 Rotary Wheels for Learning Bicycle Distribution Team from Ontario
Canada begins it's efforts to provide bicycles for transportation to school for
rural children in Cambodia. In Battambang province, we distributed at total of
556 bikes in an amazing four days! These bikes were funded through the Rotary
Foundation and sponsored by Rotary Clubs including: Barrie, North Bay, Sudbury
Sunrisers, Barrie-Kempenfelt, Barrie-Huronia, York, Brampton Heart-Lake,
Brampton and Washago and Area Centennial. This video taken on Day One, sees our
team assembling the accessories and fine tuning 200 bikes with local Rotary
Club of Battambang members. Many Thanks to Battambang Rotary Past President
Nouv Sarouen and members from her club for all their efforts in this monumental
feat.
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| Lynda Valcourt and Sharon Foley affix bike accessories |
Along with giving out bikes, our team provided mosquito nets and two tons or rice to children and impoverished families.
A special thanks to Khmer Dental student Khlaing Norak for giving all the children dental hygiene lessons before the bikes were given out.
One of our distributions in Battambang were filmed by Cambodian television and telecast the next day.
Watch a video of these first 200 bikes at the following link: http://youtu.be/dlOMwZKmXzw
After our team's efforts to distribute 556 bikes in several districts throughout Battambang province, we took a three-day excursion onto Siem Reap to see the famed temples of Angkor Wat.
There, we also had a very special tour of the Cambodian Landmine Museum given by Bill Morse. Our team had the honor of meeting Aki Ra and presenting him with a Paul Harris Fellow.
Watch a video of the presentation at:
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| Richard Augustine, Aki Ra, Steve Hayhurst |
Since the end of the Khmer Rouge
era, former conscripted Khmer Rouge child soldier, Aki Ra, has made it his
mission to 'Make my Country Safe for My People'. As a child soldier, he was
forced to lay landmines throughout the Cambodian countryside. Since the war,
Aki Ra risks his life daily to remove many of these estimated five million
landmines that still plague the Cambodian countryside.On these demining
missions, Aki Ra has built schools and has taken in orphaned and
landmine-afflicted children to his home, museum and relief centre located
outside of Siem Reap. Aki Ra's passion and perseverance has earned him a 2010
CNN Top Ten Hero Award. The Gravenhust Rotary Club, District 7010, is proud to
present this courageous man with the Rotary Paul Harris Award. The award was
presented to him by Gravenhurst Rotary President Steve Hayhurst and Richard
Augustine during a 'Rotary Wheels for Learning' bicycle distribution trip to
Cambodia. To support Aki Ra, see: cambodianselfhelpdemining.org/
Public on the web (edit)
