Dear Audience, I would like to welcome you to the ACODO (Assisting Cambodian Orphans and the Disabled Organisation) website. The past two years have been an exciting time for me, in both my professional and personal life. ACODO was established on the 1st of January 2008 and was officially registered as a charity in Phnom Penh on 14th July 2008. ACODO is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation established to assist orphans, the disabled, poor children and those living on the street or garbage tip as well as indigent family support throughout Cambodian communities. ACODO truly believes every life has equal value and each individual deserves the opportunity to have a better way of life. As one who received a chance and who feels he has succeeded in life by establishing ACODO, I know how valuable chances are. It is the purpose of our programmes to give vulnerable groups and small local charitable organisations the same opportunity by contributing to and assisting them in their endeavours. You will find many ways to support both our children and our projects on the pages of this website under ‘Sponsors’. You can also donate directly to ACODO under the ‘Donations’ section of the website. The Khmer traditional performance proceeds also go to ACODO, so please be sure to visit the ACODO orphanage and learn more about our children and our projects! A donation from you for someone special will also help others! For those of you interested in finding out more about ACODO and learning about ACODO’s programmes as a donor, sponsor or volunteer please spend the time to view all the interesting aspects of our website. It will help you to understand what we are desperately trying to achieve here at ACODO. I would like you all to learn more about the orphans, the disabled children and the ACODO staff, as well as our working and living conditions. I hope you will enjoy discovering many things you didn't know about us and our daily lives. This information is documented under ACODO’s projects, activities, news & events items as well as many other links. I have shared my life in charity since the age of 25 to my ongoing job today and I am proud to share my accomplishments with you. I will try to keep you updated on ACODO events as well as events in my work and life here at the orphanage. Please also view our photo gallery and YouTube videos. There are also a number of YouTube replays of many of my most memorable tasks throughout my work over the last two years. These videos, available on the net, have been contributed by our voluntary teachers and generous visitors, many who have spent the time and made YouTube videos as a labour of love by adding Khmer traditional dance, music and other features. I would like to thank all of these generous sponsors, visitors and voluntary teachers. We will add to the list of videos as time goes on and welcome you to contact us with videos or pictures you would like to see on this site.
About ACODO staff: ACODO has been providing 64 children with shelters, three meals every day, daily (clothes, shoes, hygiene products, mosquito nets, blankets, etc.), education and school supplies, health care needs and all other essential daily items as required. All the children in ACODO are provided with three hours of language study daily. They are taught by voluntary teachers who come from different countries around the world. Additionally, the children are regularly sent to public school for their Khmer studies. Some local children from impoverished families are also given the opportunity to join the language lessons and attend public school together with our ACODO children. There are 64 children and 16 key staff, in total 80 people who are fed in ACODO now, including the key staff of:• Two nurses to take care of and provide them 24 hours’ services.• Two cooks to prepare food for them.• Two cleaners to wash the children’s clothes and clean the shelters.• Two security guards to patrol them 24 hours to ensure their secure environment.• One driver to take them to and collect them from public school.• Three art teachers to teach them Khmer traditional dance and how to play Khmer musical
instruments.• Four ACODO founders to operate and coordinate the projects for finding volunteers, donors and partnerships and seeking ongoing financial support of any kind.About ACODO children: The age of the children ranges from 3 to 19 and they are separated into three groups to ACODO to provide them with the following programmes: 1. The children from 3 to 6 years of age are provided with a Health-Care Programme. 2. The children from 7 to 20 years of age are provided with Educational opportunities. 3. The children over the age of 20 must be provided with vocational skills and jobs by ACODO, in accordance with our Policies and Strategies. Additionally, ACODO also have to spend $37.5 USD on 50 kilograms of rice, $30 USD on food for three meals every day, $400 USD on land rental for a month, $350 USD on petrol for a month, $180 USD on services of Internet every month, and also around $175 USD on utilities. In total, $101 USD is spent every day, $707 USD per week, and $3,131 USD is spent for a month at ACODO. ACODO began with voluntary teaching in the slums and then rented the original land and house. ACODO initially implemented its programmes without funding from any agencies or private sources. The money for supporting the children and implementing ACODO’s activities and development projects came from contributions from staff, voluntary teachers and generous visitors. It was through the generous donations of visitors and volunteers that ACODO was able to move to our new location and build a children’s shelter and stage, canteen area, classrooms, etc. However, since that time ACODO has been operating without substantial sponsorship and we are facing a severe lack of funds. However, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the following generous people:
John J Meehan from Ireland who gave us so much support and encouragement and his generous funds have helped ACODO to build the children’s shelter and stage, buy the dancing costumes and musical instruments, the office equipments as well as the two classrooms.
Mary Paula & Robert Williamson from Australia who made a valuable donation of the ACODO canteen building.
Tashia & Sandor van Laar from Australia who make a monthly donation of $400 USD to sponsor ACODO Projects, their sponsorship commencing on the 12th of November, 2009.
Ruud Looman from Holland mad some donations to buy the land for the orphanage.
ACODO now face great difficulty in running our programmes and we are continually and urgently in need of help from generous sponsors, volunteers, visitors and Local and International Non-Governmental Organisations to keep our work and projects in existence. Our staff is working voluntarily, or on a very low wage of $10-15 per week when income allows, and we continually have many problems with supporting and educating our desperate street children, orphans, the disabled and indigent people. Please contact and help us to maintain the ACODO programme by supporting any of our projects in any way you can. You can contact us my email for further information or you can donate to ACODO by using our charity bank as detailed on the DONATION PAGE. All the funds will be used to solve the aforementioned problems.
I, Hengchhea Chheav, would like to wish you a productive and rewarding relationship with ACODO.
Warm regards,
Hengchhea Chheav The President of ACODO
Khmer traditional dance is performed by the ACODO children with songs performed by the disabled. Accompanying Khmer traditional music is played by the orphans and their Khmer art teachers at 06:30 pm every evening and lasts for about 45 minutes. This is a unique opportunity to visit and make your private donations to help these children directly - they are living without sponsorship! The children are divided into three dancing troupes, with each group performing twice a week. The nightly performance therefore consists of different dances and dancers each evening. The dancers, singers and musicians are the orphans, the disabled, street kids, vagabonds, and children from indigent families. You will be delighted by their talented performances in dances such as Best wishes Dance, Monkey Dance, Coconut Dance, Fishing dance, etc. The lovely little children, especially the funny little monkey actors, will display their talents to you on the stage. We are feeding and supporting 64 children without substantial sponsorship or government support. They can survive until now because of their nightly performances, through the generous donations to the orphanage from visitors and volunteers. Dance and music is the children's life - they truly love to perform! Entry is free, but you can make your private donations to them after the show. It doesn't matter how large or small your donation or your practical help - all monies, sponsorship and volunteer work is gratefully and humbly received. Your donation is going directly to the children - make a donation today so they can live tomorrow! They desperately need your assistance for their daily sustenance and educational needs. We invite you to come and visit us to meet the children and watch their performance. Please spend 45 minutes of your valuable time after visiting the temples, the town or other tourism sites to see their fantastic show. We are looking forward to welcoming you to ACODO. 
About ACODO volunteers: Volunteers are required to teach foreign languages such as English to the children at ACODO. Either a short or long-term program is available. The volunteering program is available every day from Monday to Friday, either part-time or full-time. The children really need you to be their teachers and families in the orphanage. Please don't hesitate to apply to be a volunteer with our children – they are adorable. Additionally, we support children from rural and indigent family backgrounds. They include orphans, disabled children, street children, children from large families whose parents cannot support them and children whose parents are divorced or separated. The Assisting Cambodian Orphans and the Disabled Organization (ACODO) was established by a few Cambodian intellectuals on the 1st of January 2008, to respond to the illiteracy of the disabled, orphans and indigent people remaining after the horrors and devastation of the Khmer Rouge Regime and the invasion of Vietnamese forces. It is a non-governmental, non-political, non-profit and a local organisation. The overall programme goal of ACODO is to improve the knowledge and the living standards of the Street Children, particularly child beggars, child scavengers, children working in the tourist sector (selling souvenirs, working in Karaoke bars etc.), children working in the construction sector, child domestic labourers, orphans, the disabled and poor families through providing Life-and- Vocational Skills and our Indigent Family Support Programme.