Training Centre Unveiling
I felt the biggest challenge on 10 November 2017 would be the smooth running of our fundraising event in Brixton- however, that was until I had to parallel park outside the venue!
A few months in planning, the fundraising event was to unveil the designs architect firm Squire & Partners had been working on for a brand new Agri-tech training Centre for Green Shoots in Cambodia.
Rewind to October 2013 and it’s my first trip to visit Green Shoots project in Cambodia- we are working on an agriculture skills project in a rural province near the Thai border. It focuses on 42 govt schools and brings sustainable farming skills to almost 8,000 students. An agriculture-training centre for our own is in the pipeline, but it seems a long way away.
This made the 10 November unveiling emotional in more than one way. Whilst being an exquisite gathering of friends, family and long time supporters- it was also a silent thanking to everyone that has been part of our journey to date and allowed us to come this far.
Besides Squires, for the event we also had the support of Andrew Lucas Studios in London. They created a VR experience of the agriculture training centre, allowing guests to step into an extremely life like “virtual” space- that matched designs presented on boards and models around the venue.
Green Shoots has been given a 1 hectare space by the local government in Cambodia where we will have outdoor and indoor classrooms, growing plots for experimenting techniques and introduce “low-cost” technology. The aim is to demonstrate to young people that a rural economy can be thriving and help support their families. Connecting youth to microfinance or accessing funding and incubation for business plans is also built into this project.
Building Trust International, based in Cambodia, have been a huge support in guiding us on projects costs and the building work will be implemented locally with their help.
Throughout the evening we had drinks from the in-house bar and catering from Thaiphoon restaurant & deli in Fulham and desserts from Limbudi – who was supporting Green Shoots for the third time this year. According to founder Shamineh Mavalvala,
“I’m thrilled to have been able to support Green Shoots Foundation. Their work is amazing and the event was an absolute success, you could tell the audience was impressed by what they saw and by how much Green Shoots has achieved in such a short period of time.”
The star of the event was our permaculture chicken, it epitomises Green Shoots holistic way of working and also how donating towards the agriculture centre is an investment that will keep on giving.
We are still accepting donations online on this link: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/greenshoots10nov, for the next few weeks, so please help us in meeting our target.
If you would like a more detailed overview of the project, email me on: muneezay@greenshootsfoundation.org
*a huge thank you to all our volunteers from UCL, Squires and US Exchange Student.
**All photography was by our 2015 Erasmus Intern Andrea Di Ceglie. Full set of photos: available here
