Rosie's Birthday

I don't celebrate my birthday very often — or Christmas, or Easter, or Melbourne Cup Day or any holiday at all. But this year, I'd like to mark my 32nd birthday in a more meaningful way (since I can't eat cake anyway). And I'd really love it if you could make a contribution to show how excited you are about my birthday celebration!

This year, I'd like to dedicate my birthday to supporting OIC - The Cambodia Project (http://oiccambodia.org/). OIC was started by a friend of mine in Cambodia called Weh, and I've been following him and his team's inspirational work there for the last couple of years, through good old Facebook and through their website. 

Maybe you've never thought of speech therapy being an important way of helping vulnerable people. I hadn't, until I learned more from OIC. Imagine not being able to communicate. Imagine not having anyone who can help you communicate. In Australia, there are over 6,000 speech therapists to help you. In Cambodia, there are none, and children who have normal intelligence are unable to go to school because of their inability to communicate. They can't speak, they can't get an education, they can't get a job. 

It's really rewarding to see how OIC are making a change, and through training doctors, nurses and other health professionals in speech therapy, they are turning childrens' lives around. You can check out Ling's amazing progress — http://oiccambodia.org/stories/ling/.  

One of the things that mean a lot to me is OIC's focus on "universally accessible, locally led speech therapy". Instead of flying in specialists, OIC are starting a university course which will see Cambodia's first generation of speech therapists graduate by 2020. That's why I want to contribute — this is a mission I really believe in. 

Please support my campaign, I've set a very small goal but I'm really hoping to reach it, with your help -— AUD $729 (July 29th, my birthday, get it?). The numbers aren't so nifty in other currencies, but here we go: That's only £350 (wow. Australia feels really poor suddenly). That's €495 and US $545. 

So if you would like to celebrate my birthday — please chip in the cost of a drink (or a birthday card) and make me feel loved, whilst doing some good. And in case you thought a couple bucks wasn't worth it, a little goes a long way in Cambodia. For example:

• $25 will provide 10 children with speech therapy for an entire day.
• $100 will allow 20 children to communicate with their family through special communication tools.
• $1000 trains 30 teachers on how to work with children with communication and swallowing problems.