By Hannah Clifford | Cafe Business Manager
We reached our fundraising goal thanks to you!
Hitting this goal means that we’ve been able to keep our staff employed throughout the pandemic.
As borders began to close all over the world in March, many tourists returned home, leaving our once packed café in fear of closing for good.
Wanting to ensure the safety of our staff and customers, we closed the Café for three weeks in April but despite a spike in cases in late March, covid-19 cases have remained low. In May we reopened our doors and our team were thrilled to be back and able to interact with our community again.
Hang, Kitchen and Handicraft Assistant, who has been working with us for the last year and a half, has physical disabilities and shared her fears during that time, “I was worried about COVID … because I thought if I was made redundant I would have no idea where I was going to work or where would have a new job for me.”
For many people with disabilities, like Hang, employment opportunities are limited in Cambodia. We’ve seen Hang grow so much in the last 18 months whilst working at the Café. Her confidence has increased and she’s proven to herself and others that she can be independent.
“I’m so proud that I got a job it means I can live by myself and I don’t have to rely on someone else”
By donating, you’ve directly supported Hang and our team’s salaries and also allowed them to continue building their skills and confidence throughout the pandemic. The pandemic has also allowed us to come up with new ways to help others in our community, including making reusable face masks for Epic Arts to distribute for vulnerable families in Kampot.
When chatting to Hang this week for this email she said, “Thank you so much for your donation to keep Epic Arts Café moving forward” and we couldn’t have put it better ourselves!
Thank you again for you support, we wish you and your family a safe and peaceful end to the year.
Best wishes,
The Epic Arts Café Team
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