For two consecutive weekends (17–19 and 24–26 March), Little Hearts participated in the Family Weekend Fair (FamFair) at Phnom Penh’s Cambodiana Hotel upon the invitation of the event’s host, Engage Cambodia, an advertising and consumer research firm. The fair, which was attended by over 5,000 visitors, featured many local and international companies, educational institutions and NGOs. In particular, there were several food and drink companies offering samples of their products – yum!
Ms. Chan Kanha, Executive Director of Engage Cambodia, and her colleague and Project Director, Mr. Ty Tan, set up a booth at the fair for Little Hearts to exhibit our students’ paintings and postcards. Both were really helpful, bringing their families, friends and partners to our stand and purchasing various items from us.
Some of our kids (Ilay, Michael, Ben, Sreyroth, Sarem, Elizabeth, Maya, Raphael and Jamie) were able to join the event. They enjoyed staffing the booth, interacting with visitors and telling them about Little Hearts’ mission, values and activities. Plus there was free food and drinks! There was also an area with cute farm animals on display, including rabbits and goats, which the smaller children loved feeding and petting. Ruth and Ilse were also on hand to assist anyone who wanted to know more about Little Hearts or make a donation.
Our kids felt really motivated when they saw how many people liked their paintings and postcards, and when they realised they could earn a tidy profit from their work. Indeed, on the first weekend of the exhibition, many paintings and postcards were sold. Michael, one of our star art students, was so excited that he spent every afternoon during the following week producing more artwork to sell the next weekend. Who said art can’t be a business?!
At the end of the event, we presented a beautiful apsara painting to Ms. Kanha and Mr. Tan to thank them for inviting Little Hearts and organising the booth for us. We look forward to participating in more family-oriented outreach events in the future, and to good news from Engage Cambodia about their willingness to support Little Hearts in the long term.