A story about fashion…
A story about humanity and becoming human
A story about love and sharing
Short : A wonderful story
Today marks the end of my five-month volunteer assignment as the first designer for the “Femmes des Rizières” brand, which is being conceptualized and developed by the NGO avec in Cambodia together with the WeCare-Association.
At the beginning of July 2018, I set off on my trip to Cambodia; before the start of this adventure, I had already given it a lot of thought and my head was buzzing with ideas, I tried to imagine what it would be like and also dreamed….Because I am optimistic by nature, I had such idyllic images in my head that even I only half believed them. However, I was wrong in this respect, as I couldn’t even have imagined how extraordinary this mission would be.
When I arrived at the ngo avec’s safe house in Cambodia, I found myself in a paradisiacal oasis where the 34 children and 3 surrogate moms have found a new home over the past 10 years – far away from the dangers, injustices and fear that these children had to experience in a previous life.
There was an instant spark between me and the children and in the five months I spent there we had a lot of fun together, laughed a lot and also exchanged many plates of incredibly spicy food – which sometimes put me to the test.
In direct contact with these children, I realized that you can’t take one thing away from people who have very little: joy. This is one of the things that you can’t buy with money and that you can’t lose. You can lose it in the short term, but it is never far away, always hidden somewhere inside you.
I also believe that one of the reasons for the magic of the ngo avec safe house is that the first thing you hear when you arrive within its walls is this joy.
Then. My adventure as a woman from the rice fields…
In the beginning there were the tailors and pattern makers, the name of the brand, the logo and more good will than I have ever seen.
The tailors, who are above all also women from the rice fields, have an inspiring strength. They are young, beautiful and often have at least two children, and they fight like lionesses to survive in the present – while never losing their smile at the thought of tomorrow.
Together we have created a collection consisting of 27 models, each in 2 or 3 colors. A gigantic achievement! Every time I think of this collection, I am overwhelmed with joy.
Finally, I would like to leave my former colleagues with the following words: You women from the rice fields are beautiful and like apsaras, these goddesses of femininity with their incredible strength and glow. I would like to thank the four of you for these five intensive months: We worked a lot, but we also laughed a lot and I loved it!
And of course I hope that this project will be crowned with success, i.e. that the goal of giving young Khmer women a permanent and fairly paid job will also be achieved. These women really deserve it!
Last but not least, I would like to mention Susi (WeCare-Association) and Theavy and Patrik (ngo avec), the three guardian angels of the whole mission and of all the people I met – and I met many people! Without you three, this mission would not have been so extraordinary. Funny, open, patient and interesting… I’ll stop here, because Patrik has often told me that too many compliments are boring😉. I consider myself very lucky to have met the three of you and especially to have had the opportunity to contribute to the development of this project together with you.
Finally, I would like to thank all the wonderful people I have met over the last five months. I leave proud of all our efforts and our results. It has been a wonderful story and I am completely overwhelmed.
Gabrielle Friedman
