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As we come to the close of 2010, I look back on a year that has seen very encouraging progress at Opportunity Cambodia. The most important achievement is that of our children, who have worked so hard and done wonderfully well at school, and are also making good progress with their English due to the language teaching we are now able to provide. They are happy and in good health. For all of you who have supported our project during the year I hope you will feel rewarded, and your spirits lifted, by knowing that the children at our centre have responded so positively to the opportunity that they have been given as a result of your generous support.

During the year we acquired an excellent block of land in the village in order to build a new, bigger education centre. We have just finished clearing, filling and levelling the land, and building will commence in February. When finished the new centre will enable us to assist more children who could not otherwise receive an education.

We have been working closely with the local community leaders on this project, and also on the provision of a community centre. We are very keen to enable the village people to run a community centre in which we can assist them to provide a number of services, such as skills training for women, for example in sewing/tailoring and vegetable growing, and classes in literacy, health and hygiene and other appropriate areas.

During the year we held a very successful fundraising concert at Government House where internationally acclaimed pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk thrilled us with his performance. It was such a special night and I am sure those of you who attended, and those who heard about it, will be delighted to know that Alexander has very generously offered to give another concert for us. We will keep you posted on when this will take place – perhaps later in 2011.

Another exciting development has been the very generous offer by Pierro Margaret River Vineyards to make a quality white wine for Opportunity Cambodia. We expect to receive the wine in April 2011. There are details of the wine and an order form on our website. This is a wonderful opportunity as Pierro is a premium brand and this will be a limited edition of a quality wine. All the proceeds from the sale of the wine will be directed to support the education of our children.

During my visit to the centre at the end of October we made a short video of the project which we hope to have on line soon.

For the second year Gift of Hope have donated the proceeds of their Christmas markets to our project and we thank them for this great support.

I would like to thank you all for your interest, encouragement and support. It has helped to make this a year of great progress for Opportunity Cambodia.

The staff and children at Opportunity Cambodia and I wish you a very happy and rewarding year in 2011.