Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

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Duncan
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Duncan »

Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 1:11 pm I've read a few threads - I expect a few cynical comments - that's ok :)

As for the charity thing - I'm conscious of the sensitivities. When I work it out in detail (I just posted rough figures), I'll hopefully be able to position it so that it is clearly more business proposition than charity - a strictly 'not for profit' where any proceeds are recycled back through the scheme. That will be the intention. More to expand/diversify the work/impact of the community centre than anything else. The more 'business' it looks, the quicker we would get to tuk-tuk #2, which suits everyone. The idea is mainly to eliminate a possible barrier out of poverty for a family. There is a lot of work being done to help out the kids and feed, clothe and educate them, we've just been talking about expanding the reach and sustainability beyond the kids.

Thanks for the input so far - all responses welcome. There will be loads I haven't thought of. The bank thing may be frustrating.
If you have money you want to spend or throw away start where the benefits will last for the next 20 or thirty years ,,, and that is with kids education .
Pay school fees directly to the school yourself, per term or a whole year. and give pocket money to the kids if they attend school every day. The school will keep records of attendance days.

As you are already doing this with one family ,,, find a second family and do the same. It wont be hard to do.

With your idea of investing money in a tuk-tuk , no money will trickle down to where it is needed most. If you cannot come up with a better way of giving money to charity, then give it to me and I will make sure it goes where it's needed most.
Cambodia,,,, Don't fall in love with her.
Like the spoilt child she is, she will not be happy till she destroys herself from within and breaks your heart.
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Barang_doa_slae »

frank lee bent wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 1:47 pm
Secret commissions? The country runs on them
the little shit at Jim's place. you would recall him.
Happened to all of us, no exceptions but denial cases.
I myself fell deeper into it well after identifying a couple prior occurrences while failing at understanding the inner universal nature of it like willyhilly nailed it.
But there is still hope as 10 years later I might have finally circumvent the curse with staff only involved, regularly astonishing contractors to the point they can’t help but asking me about it 8)
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:07 pm
2. Bank account - I will continue to read through the forum, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to setting up a bank account in Siem Reap in a day? One that has internet banking so that I can check it? What docs would I need? Would I need to get in touch in advance? Any banks to recommend? Is it even possible for a foreigner with no work pass?
to open a bank account you need an E Visa with a 6+ Month Extension + Proof of Residency/Address of your Apartment,

you wont be able to do that if youre just here for 5 days on a tourist visa mate
:tophat: Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Wadells »

Jamie_Lambo wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:11 pm
Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:07 pm
2. Bank account - I will continue to read through the forum, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to setting up a bank account in Siem Reap in a day? One that has internet banking so that I can check it? What docs would I need? Would I need to get in touch in advance? Any banks to recommend? Is it even possible for a foreigner with no work pass?
to open a bank account you need an E Visa with a 6+ Month Extension + Proof of Residency/Address of your Apartment,

you wont be able to do that if youre just here for 5 days on a tourist visa mate
Thanks - very useful - I'll explore other avenues. It's not a huge thing for the first one, we can manage it through the community centre's bank account.
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Kammekor »

Wadells wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:29 am
Jamie_Lambo wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:11 pm
Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:07 pm
2. Bank account - I will continue to read through the forum, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to setting up a bank account in Siem Reap in a day? One that has internet banking so that I can check it? What docs would I need? Would I need to get in touch in advance? Any banks to recommend? Is it even possible for a foreigner with no work pass?
to open a bank account you need an E Visa with a 6+ Month Extension + Proof of Residency/Address of your Apartment,

you wont be able to do that if youre just here for 5 days on a tourist visa mate
Thanks - very useful - I'll explore other avenues. It's not a huge thing for the first one, we can manage it through the community centre's bank account.
You're a pretty optimistic guy....

In my experience, unless there's a major collateral, Cambodians are pretty bad at paying debts back on time or regularly. In daily life there's all kinds of challenges demanding money too, and those are more demanding than the foreigner 10.000 km from here, or even two blocks away. Can be buying food, buying a school uniform for the kids, or the weekly Karaoke night out with the buddies. So be warned for major headaches if you choose this construction, and I put it mildly.
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Wadells »

Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:38 am
Wadells wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:29 am
Jamie_Lambo wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:11 pm
Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:07 pm
2. Bank account - I will continue to read through the forum, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to setting up a bank account in Siem Reap in a day? One that has internet banking so that I can check it? What docs would I need? Would I need to get in touch in advance? Any banks to recommend? Is it even possible for a foreigner with no work pass?
to open a bank account you need an E Visa with a 6+ Month Extension + Proof of Residency/Address of your Apartment,

you wont be able to do that if youre just here for 5 days on a tourist visa mate
Thanks - very useful - I'll explore other avenues. It's not a huge thing for the first one, we can manage it through the community centre's bank account.
You're a pretty optimistic guy....

In my experience, unless there's a major collateral, Cambodians are pretty bad at paying debts back on time or regularly. In daily life there's all kinds of challenges demanding money too, and those are more demanding than the foreigner 10.000 km from here, or even two blocks away. Can be buying food, buying a school uniform for the kids, or the weekly Karaoke night out with the buddies. So be warned for major headaches if you choose this construction, and I put it mildly.
Yeah - part optimism, part faith :)
I'm hoping that integrity and the established dislike of 'charity' will spur people on.

Yours faithfully
Optimistic Naive Dude
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Wadells »

Duncan wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 3:27 pm
Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 1:11 pm I've read a few threads - I expect a few cynical comments - that's ok :)

As for the charity thing - I'm conscious of the sensitivities. When I work it out in detail (I just posted rough figures), I'll hopefully be able to position it so that it is clearly more business proposition than charity - a strictly 'not for profit' where any proceeds are recycled back through the scheme. That will be the intention. More to expand/diversify the work/impact of the community centre than anything else. The more 'business' it looks, the quicker we would get to tuk-tuk #2, which suits everyone. The idea is mainly to eliminate a possible barrier out of poverty for a family. There is a lot of work being done to help out the kids and feed, clothe and educate them, we've just been talking about expanding the reach and sustainability beyond the kids.

Thanks for the input so far - all responses welcome. There will be loads I haven't thought of. The bank thing may be frustrating.
If you have money you want to spend or throw away start where the benefits will last for the next 20 or thirty years ,,, and that is with kids education .
Pay school fees directly to the school yourself, per term or a whole year. and give pocket money to the kids if they attend school every day. The school will keep records of attendance days.

As you are already doing this with one family ,,, find a second family and do the same. It wont be hard to do.

With your idea of investing money in a tuk-tuk , no money will trickle down to where it is needed most. If you cannot come up with a better way of giving money to charity, then give it to me and I will make sure it goes where it's needed most.
To explain a little more...

I understand what you're saying and welcome the feedback - that's why I posted. There is a community centre and a free school. All kids in this particular village/ area have the opportunity to attend school every day, have access to uniform etc. Many are still sent to the community centre to eat/ be supervised. There are abusive/ drunk fathers and all manner of situations as you might imagine. Once we'd set up the facility for the elements you mention, this time around, we used the funds we'd raised to build a kitchen, plus a mushroom house. We also planted fruit trees. The idea is to make things more sustainable so that eventually, the community can generate its own income and not rely on charity at all.

So, the conversation turned to how we might have a wider impact on families and maybe empower them to not rely on the centres. And the tuk-tuk idea was one of the better ones we came up with. We're not wedded to it at all. If anyone has any suggestions that they think might work better, please post them. But we did kids education + stuff first. I know we could just start again in another area with education, but as discussed with many, there seem to be, if anything, too many NGOs, and not all with entirely altruistic motives!

We're trying to think of things that might have long-term impact, alongside education. We would not abandon or neglect that part.
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by phuketrichard »

Give Ross a call at CHOICE, he will give u very sound advice.
http://choice-cambodia.org/blog/ ......I worked with them WAY back
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Kammekor »

Wadells wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:31 pm
Yeah - part optimism, part faith :)
I'm hoping that integrity and the established dislike of 'charity' will spur people on.

Yours faithfully
Optimistic Naive Dude
Up to you OP, I thought that too, years ago. We all have to make our own personal mistakes to it seems, because each and everyone of us think their situation is different, and the person we are dealing with is in need and has more than avarage integrity.

There's a few things I have learned over the years in Cambodia when it comes to supporting people:
- I never borrow anybody any money. It's not worth the hassle and usually ends in tears. Giving the money out is easy, getting it back is a big hassle and will put a lot of strain on the relationship.
- If I support anything, I never support 100%. No free rides, everyone wants free rides, so that offer will never be declined, no matter how silly the idea. I work on 50-50 of 70-30 or whatever basis. I support a (large) part if I think it's a good idea, but I expect a substantial input from them too - and that's a monetary input too besides effort.

I just advise you to keep these to in mind. To many free rides have been offered in the past, and loads, loads, loads of those failed.
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Re: Advice needed - tuk-tuk idea

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:38 am
Wadells wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:29 am
Jamie_Lambo wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:11 pm
Wadells wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:07 pm
2. Bank account - I will continue to read through the forum, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to setting up a bank account in Siem Reap in a day? One that has internet banking so that I can check it? What docs would I need? Would I need to get in touch in advance? Any banks to recommend? Is it even possible for a foreigner with no work pass?
to open a bank account you need an E Visa with a 6+ Month Extension + Proof of Residency/Address of your Apartment,

you wont be able to do that if youre just here for 5 days on a tourist visa mate
Thanks - very useful - I'll explore other avenues. It's not a huge thing for the first one, we can manage it through the community centre's bank account.
You're a pretty optimistic guy....

In my experience, unless there's a major collateral, Cambodians are pretty bad at paying debts back on time or regularly.
yup to the point, where some families sell their children to help pay off debts to loan sharks
:tophat: Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks :x
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