Get Involved
Booking a room or having a drink or meal in our restaurant is the best way you can help us help the organisations we aspire to support. Our Hotel is small, comfortable, and welcoming. We have aimed to create a space where visitors can relax and enjoy a quiet but central location. Our food is delicious and prepared by up and coming young chefs and trainees who are developing and honing their craft with pride.
Another of our unique, but we believe significant strengths, is the involvement of the students from the Youth’s Dreams Fulfilment Association. Always ready with a smile and a shy greeting they add the X-factor that makes the Secret Garden Hotel special. Helping ensure their futures and potentially opening up opportunities to future generations of young Cambodians is something you can be directly involved in achieving. They will welcome your visit.
Furthermore we are always pleased to inform visitors of the work that our other valued partners undertake in the community. They are always looking for support. They include
The Wat Damnak Community Learning Centre
Run by the monks at Wat Damnak the learning centre aims to provide additional English language learning classes 5 nights per week to over 250 members of the local community. English is the international language of business and education and those aspiring to bright futures value its mastery. It is also a valuable skill to obtain in one of the main tourist hubs of Cambodia – good English can lead to better paying jobs.
The Life and Hope Association
A local NGO which proactively supports women and girls from the Siem Reap and wider rural community. They do this through two main programs:-
- Park Hyatt sponsored sewing program. Between 10 and 14 women get to learn the skills of tailoring and sewing to provide them with much needed and valued skills to enhance and empower their financial futures. We help provide an hour’s worth of English to the group as well as delivering a fortnightly empowerment session across topics decided upon by the women themselves.
- PAGE program. This stands for Program Accelerating Girls’ Education. Once again the monks have built and staffed a home for young rural Cambodian girls who would not under normal circumstances get the opportunity to continue beyond primary school in their education. We visit the group fortnightly to enhance the home life. This can involve playing educational games, learning new sports, and the very popular trip to a local swimming pool.
The Spitler School Foundation
An NGO that has built four schools and handed them to the authorities to be staffed for sustainability. They retain interest in the schools by providing additional English and ICT lessons which we support.
Banteay Srei Women’s Empowerment Association
A national organisation that works to improve the lives and outcomes for women in Cambodian society; we work with the leadership team of the Siem Reap branch. Teaching advanced English skills, introducing the concepts involved with presenting, and importantly supporting the core team’s personal mental health and wellbeing are all examples of the work we do with Banteay Srei.
There are many other great organisations that we hope to be in a position to support in the future. As mentioned earlier, visit us and we are more than happy to introduce you to ethical, proactive, sustainable, and valued organisations doing wonderful work for wonderful people.