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Tabitha was founded founded in 1994 by Janne Ritskes, after she grew disillusioned with mainstream NGO's operating in Cambodia. Born a Canadian, Janne now has Cambodian citizenship; Janne has 20 years experience working in the slums of the United States, Philippines, Kenya and Cambodia. Janne has written "Philippine Morning" and "Tabitha Snippets" about her experiences. Both books are available in the Tabitha Stockroom. She lives in Phnom Penh with her daughter, Miriam. |
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The mission of Tabitha Singapore is to support the work of Tabitha Cambodia, to sell cottage industry products, and to facilitate housebuilding teams to Cambodia. |
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Tabitha currently operates only in Cambodia. There are 27 staff presently, (not including Cottage Industry) and all of them are Cambodians. The staff administer the various Programs.
Most of the staff are involved full time in Development and Savings. The staff in Cottage Industry spend 100% of their time training new workers, preparing crafts to give out to home workers, and overseeing quality control of finished crafts, packaging and delivering crafts for sale. A few of them are support administrators including the director Janne Ritskes, security and maintenance.
As of July 2005, Tabitha has impacted the lives of more than 500,000 Cambodians (approximately 1 in 20 members of the entire population). |
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Tabitha Singapore does not organize building trips. However, it is part of our mission to facilitate trips organized by others. Occasionally, we are contacted by a team organizer who has room on their trip and we can connect them with people who are interested in participating through our mailing list. If you would like to be a part of our mailing list, let us know.
Many of our regular volunteers organize housebuilding trips. Builders learn of these trips through word of mouth before they are advertised via the mailing list. Therefore, the best way to get on a trip is to volunteer with Tabitha Singapore in other ways first.
Volunteer builders pay all of their own expenses include transport, hotel, food and insurance, and are also expected to raise money to pay for building materials and a general donation to Tabitha. A 4 day trip will cost roughly S$1500, of which $800 or so is out of pocket. |
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Building teams usually have a minimum of 8 - 10 volunteers, and a maximum in the low 20's. The first step to organizing a trip is to agree on a date, then confirm that date with Tabitha Cambodia ([email protected]). Once a date has been confirmed, we can help you to organize the details. Each house costs US$840, which is paid by the team, and a team can build as many as 10 houses in two days. In addition, teams are expected to pay a general donation of US$1500 towards general partnerships. The above monies can be raised through fundraising. All personal expenses including transport, hotel, food and insurance are paid by volunteers out of pocket. A three-day trip would include 1 day of orientation and sightseeing and two days of building. |
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Donations are used for several programs: wells, housebuilding, quilts, pigs, or partnerships. It is up to the donor to decide which of these programs their donation supports. If the donor does not specify, the money is used for partnerships (which pays interest on families savings). |
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Donations to Tabitha Singapore are not tax deductible, as Tabitha Singapore is not a registered charity in Singapore. If money is donated in U.S., Canadian, or Austrralian dollars it can be donated through the foundations in the respective country (see links for their websites) and a tax deduction can be received in those countries.
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We are always looking for volunteers, particularly individuals who are able to commit to a regular duty, i.e. two or three hours per week, every week. We need help with our sales, with our stockroom, and with fundraising. Many volunteers become involved by attending one of our FOT's (Friends of Tabitha) meetings. We have FOT's groups associated with many of the International schools, as well as one for people who are not associated with a school.
Other ways to support us would be to sell Tabitha products, either at your business or in your home. Why not throw a Tabitha Party at your home? We will bring products to sell, as well as a volunteer to manage money and receipts. People interested in volunteering can write to [email protected] and they will be contacted by our volunteer coordinator.
All members of Tabitha Singapore, including the Board are volunteers and receive no remuneration, ensuring that all donations and a high percentage of the sales from the Cottage Industry go directly to Cambodia. We have no positions open for employment. Our sole "employee" is Janne Ritskes, a citizen of both Canada and Cambodia, who manages the operations in Cambodia with a staff composed entirely of Cambodians, trained by her. |
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Contact us at [email protected] for more information. |
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