Arthurs Seat training ride

A few weeks ago Paige and I and two other ladies doing the ride with us attempted Arthurs Seat - and made it up alive!!

We stopped at the Red Hill market for lunch and a winery down the road to refresh... Somehow I don;t think we will be having that luxury in Cambodia!!

Our next events... come on down!!

Tomorrow Paige and I are once again having an early start once again, this time we are heading to St Andrews market to sell second hand clothing and homewares. 

Next weekend is our wine and cheese tasting afternooon, let us know if you want to come down!!

PAIGE AND ANDY'S TRIVIA EXTRAVAGANZA!

After weeks of sleepless nights endless planning and preparing, the big night is finally done and dusted!

The night was a huge success, and we raised over $4,000 for the Somaly Mam Foundation!!

Thanks so much to all of those who either came to the event or contributed by supplying us with raffle and silent auction items, we are well and truly on our way to reaching or $14,000 goal!

Camberwell Market

Paige and I woke up early after Grand Final day for our Camberwell Market stall... It was worth the early start, we were lucky and got a beautiful day for it and there were plenty of shoppers about.

Thanks to our tough haggling skills, we managed to bring in $430 for the Somaly Mam foundation!

We would both like to say a BIG thankyou to the Balwyn Rotary Club for donating the market site for us (and thanks to Mia for the referral!) as well as to all you who rustled up your second hand clothing and homewares. 

OUR NEXT EVENT... MMMMM

We are running another wine drive for the Somaly Mam foundation. Below is a list of fantastic quality wines which we think you will all love. 

You can purchase these by the ½ dozen  ($70) or by the case ($120) and you can mix it up or buy the one variety. 

We are pleased to be able to offer these fabulous wines to you at such a great price.  

All profits generated will be going to support survivors of sex trafficking in Cambodia. 

See somaly.org and projectfutures.com for more information.

                                                        
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc               

Tasting Notes: A brilliant, pale straw green colour. Typical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc aromas of passionfruit, melon and full of vigor. Flavours of passion fruit, melon and grapefruit are balanced by limey acidity and good fruit sweetness. The wine is well structured and tapers to a long, lingering finish.

Alcohol Content:            12.5%

Location:                       New Zealand

Vintage:                        2010

Range:                          Boutique

Region:                         Marlborough

Sparkling

Tasting Notes: Light yellow, pale gold colour. Small delicate long lasting bubbles. Bouquet of apple and peach with delicate floral aromas. Rich and full bodied with long lasting fruit flavours and a clean, crisp finish. A balanced, elegant wine ideal as an aperitif.

Alcohol Content:            11%

Location:                       Southern France

Vintage:                        Non-Vintage

Range:                          Boutique.

Variety:                         French Brut

Region:                         Languedoc

Rose

Tasting Notes: Lifted floral aroma with strawberry and ripe cherry characters.  Soft and fruity palate with ripe raspberry and cherry flavours.  Rich midpalate with a crisp, clean finish.

Alcohol Content:            12.5%

Location:                                   Victoria

Vintage:                        Non Vintage

Range:                          Boutique

Region:                         North West Victoria

Clare Valley Reisling

Tasting Notes: An elegant and stylish Riesling with distinctive citrus, musk stick and floral aromas. A soft rounded palate with lime and lemon flavours and a clean acid finish. This Riesling can be enjoyed as a fresh vibrant wine but has the ability to age gracefully into a toasty complex style with 3 - 6 years bottle age.

Alcohol Content:            12.5%

Location:                       South Australia

Vintage :                       2010

Range:                          Boutique.

Region:                         Clare Valley

Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting Notes: This wine shows dominance of spicy cabernet fruit, a dense ripeness with hints of smoky oak and grape tannin. A wine made to enjoy while the young, ripe but elegant, distinct Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon characters are evident. Barrel fermentation in French oak provided a balanced integration of oak and fruit.

Alcohol Content:            15.2%

Location:                       South Australia

Vintage:                        2008

Range:                          Boutique

Region:                         Coonawarra

Variety:                         Cabernet Sauvignon

Barossa Shiraz 

Tasting notes:  Sourced from mature vines in the Barossa Valley. The nose is full of black cherry, coffee, satsuma plums and star anise. Backed up by a rich, full bodied palate with soft tannins.

Alcohol Content:             13.8%

Location:                        South Australia

Vintage:                         2009

Range                            Boutique

Region                           Barossa Valley

Variety                           Shiraz

Please contact Paige or Andy to place your orders for the wines before September 20th.

Born to a tribal minority family in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia, Somaly Mam began life in extreme poverty. With limited options as a severely marginalized ethnic group, and living in unimaginable despair, her family often resorted to desperate means to survive. This confluence of dire circumstances led to the unspeakable horrors that would mark Somaly's early years. Somaly was sold into sexual slavery by a man who posed as her grandfather. To this day, due to the passing of time and the unreliability of a wounded memory, Somaly still does not know who this man was to her. Yet his actions set her on an unimaginable path fraught with danger, desperation, and ultimately...triumph.

Forced to work in a brothel along with other children, Somaly was brutally tortured and raped on a daily basis. One night, she was made to watch as her best friend was viciously murdered. Fearing she would meet that same fate, Somaly heroically escaped her captors and set about building a new life for herself. She vowed never to forget those left behind and has since dedicated her life to saving victims and empowering survivors.

In 1996, Somaly established a Cambodian non-governmental organization called AFESIP (Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire). Under Somaly's leadership, AFESIP employs a holistic approach that ensures victims not only escape their plight, but have the emotional and economic strength to face the future with hope. With the launch of The Somaly Mam Foundation in 2007, Somaly has established a funding vehicle to support anti-trafficking organizations and to provide victims and survivors with a platform from which their voices can be heard around the world.

For her tireless efforts, Somaly has justifiably garnered world-wide respect and is now a renowned leader at the forefront of the anti-trafficking struggle. Universally recognized as a visionary for her courage, dignity, ingenuity, and resilience, Somaly was honored as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2009 and was featured as a CNN Hero. She is also the recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC), Glamour Magazine's 2006 Woman of the Year Award, and has won accolades from the US Department of Homeland Security.

But Somaly's success has come at a price. She and her family have faced terrifying death threats and violence. Asked why she continues to fight in the face of such fierce and frightening opposition, Somaly resolutely responds, "I don't want to go without leaving a trace."

Despite the fact that she is known the world over and has certainly earned a life of luxury and repose, Somaly continues to lead a simple life and works hard in the Cambodian recovery centers, living among the women and children she rescues and staying by their side as they walk the difficult path to recovery and freedom.

PAIGE AND ANDY'S TRIVIA EXTRAVAGANZA

MMM... Sausages

Despite the fact that neither of us had BBQed before, last weekend Paige, Laura and I held a BBQ at the Dandenong City Soccer Club for the Somaly Mam Foundation... For a very last minute effort, (3 days notice!) we managed to raise a huge $500 for the Somaly Mam Foundation.

Being our first fundraising event since our extended holidays, we were both a little out of practice but with the help of a few trusty volunteers (BIG thanks to Bear, Amy and Jase for giving up their valuable Sunday time!), the day was smooth sailing and casualty free (well, almost... I cut my finger while slicing onions but anyone who knows me knows that something like that was bound to happen!).

The family and friends of those playing soccer couldn't resist the smell of sizzling sausages wafting on the the groun and we successfully filled the bellies of the crowd with bacon and egg rolls, sausages in bread, hot drinks, cookies and brownies. Thanks to all our hungry customers, the amount we raised brings us that much closer to our $14,000 goal.

A special mention goes out to our local bakeries for donating the bread as also a big thanks to Tony Dotoric for allowing us to use their premises for the afternoon. 

Some photos of the day...

Ready to serve... now we just need customers.

World renowned, expert BBQing Chef - Bear!

 

Our 'Promo' Girls, hard at work.

Laura, resisting the urge not to sauce everyones sausages

Girls just wanna serve sausages!!

We couldn't have asked for a better day!

We were also selling pretty poppets, soaps by Pamilli and copies of The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam for those interested in the reason for our fundraising.

WE'RE BACK!

It's been a while since our last update and we have been busy little bees since then, it’s hard to know  where to begin!!

After numerous sleepless nights, a million emails and a lot of wonderful donations we held our trivia night on Friday 6th of May at the Dandenong Club with the fantastic Sharon Hawley as host the evening turned out to be a great success where we raised just under $4000!! This could not have been done without the support and patience of many of our friends and family so a HUGE THANK YOU goes out to each and every person that contributed to the success of this evening.

Moving on, the following week we were both were lucky enough to escape the winter blues by flying to Phuket for a good friends wedding but only after promising one another that we would attempt to squeeze in some training sessions so as not to lose our training stamina for the big bike ride at the end of the year! Therefore we must apologise for the lack of posts as we have both been travelling for the last 2 months but here is a quick run down of what we got up to.

Stopping for a snack of coconut ice

cream for energy to peruse the many

 laneways of Chiang Mai's night market. 

After a week of basking in the sun and enjoying the company of our friends for the wedding, Andy and I headed off to Chiang Mai which is wonderfully beautiful city in the north of Thailand. Here we finally fulfilled our promise and hired ourselves some vintage bikes and cycled the city taking in the beautiful sights and smells of this city that we both fell so in love with. Of course for those of you who know us, we love food so most of cycling involved finding the next best restaurant, food stall or ice cream stand which we would happily endeavour to try something new on the menu. During our time here we also got to experience the amazing Sunday market (over 2  miles long, impossible to see the entire market in one night, although we tried!) and a very interesting and intriguing form of mediation.    



Stopping for a quick dip in

 Houykeaw Waterfall to cool

off after a hard days trekking




Mmm... chicken noodle soup
served in banana leaves (and
bamboo cups hand made
 by our guide!)

 From here we took a 3 hour bus to Chiang Rai – yes I know, I can hear you all saying but shouldn’t they have ridden there for practice?? This is true however, Andy and I are not the best at packing light so unfortunately this was not an option. For some crazy reason (we thought it would be fun!) whilst here we decided to do a 2 day jungle trek, which involved hiking for up to 6 hours per day in cobra and spider infested jungle and then sleeping in a bamboo hut in a rural hill tribe village! Minus the fear of the cobras, the sweltering heat and  the enormous hills we had to climb, we survived and it has turned out to be one of the greatest things we have done. Spending time with our jovial guide and the people of the tribe made it well worth it. Our food was made in a bamboo  stalk over an open fire, we were served tea in bamboo cups which were carved for us whilst the tea was being made and we sat around and sung kumbya my lord (seriously!!!) with the villagers. It was quite the experience...however, in the words of Andy  “it was great but never again”, I am fairly sure she was thinking of killing me for the mere suggestion of the trek at different times over the 2 days! Oh and don’t worry we did some cycling whilst in Chiang Rai just to keep the memento up!    

I think it was at this point that we
started thinking...  Oh dear, just
 what have we got ourselves into??



The 70 year old woman who put our
 trekking skills to shame - she made it
 up the hill faster than we did!

 

Our friendly neighbours
on the boat from
Thailand to Laos.




From sweltering jungle trekking, we relaxed with a 2 day cruise down the Mekong from Thailand to Laos. We arrived in the amazing city of Luang Prabang – there a few words to describe this place but like Chiang Mai, we both fell in love with this place and wished we had far more time here. Despite the heat we continued on with our training sessions and hired bikes to explore the cities beautiful temples and views of the Mekong... We quickly learnt there is no better way to experience a place then peddling on a bike, this particular part of our trip got us very excited for the bike ride at the end of the year. 

Riding provided an effective way
to see Luang Prabangs numerous temples.  

 

Next stop was Vang Vieng, upon our arrival we heard of a local organic mulberry farm so again got on some bikes and cycled for what seemed like forever only to find the cutest little farm which served the most delicious mulberry pancakes! (So like us to use food as motivation for a ride!) The following day we had a break from our bikes and  instead experienced tubing down the river, stopping for drinks along the way - to get to the bar we were thrown rope to get to them!... this was surely something that OH&S regulations would never allow here in Australia but both of us had a blast...



 After three weeks of cycling as much as possible and lapping up every wonderful sight, smell, taste and sound of Thailand and Laos had to offer, Andy and I said our goodbyes and parted ways. Andy was to head Vietnam for a 3 week holiday and I was going to Cambodia for a month to volunteer at a HIV orphanage and also meet with some of the different Somaly Mam projects. This was a scary and extremely exciting chapter of my trip. Stay tuned for more details....

Feeding a nutritious snack to one of the many elephants at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. All elephants here have been rescued from the brutality of street walking or brought here as a result of injury. For more information, or to visit or donate, see http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Upcoming Movie Night - Come along!

Water for Elephants - fundraising movie night

Thursday 12 May

A couple of the girls doing the cycle this year are organising a movie fundraising night featuring Water for Elephants. Come along to the Westgarth Cinema on Thursday 12 May for a fun night out and to support a great cause.

See trailer for more info: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/waterforelephants/

When - Thursday 12 May (6.30 - 7pm TBC)
Where - Dendy Cinema, Church St, Brighton   
Cost - $25, incl a glass of bubbles

Just email us at paigeandandycycleforfutures@hotmail.com with how many tickets you would like.
Hope to see you there!

Making headlines again!

Pedals power sex-trade fight

By Lia Bichel for Pakenham News

28th April 2011 02:05:09 AM

Andrea and Paige will cycle through Laos and Cambodia to help fight human trafficking and sexual slavery.

---

TWO friends have joined forces - and pedal power - in a fight against global human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Narre Warren South resident Paige Campbell, 27, and friend Andrea
 Pitkethly, 26, hope to raise $14,000 by taking part in Future Cycles, during which they will ride through Laos and Cambodia over two weeks in December.

The money raised will go directly to the Somaly Mam Foundation, a non-profit organisation named after a former sex slave turned human rights advocate and author.

It is dedicated to fighting the global sex slave trade through the rescue,
rehabilitation and reintegration of the victims and through raising global
awareness on the issue.

Ms Campbell and Ms Pitkethly will also visit shelters of women and
children who have been victims of serious crimes and try to raise awareness
in the villages they travel through.

Ms Campbell will travel to Cambodia in June to learn more about the
country before returning in December with Ms Pitkethly for the cycling challenge.

Ms Campbell said that although she was not an active cyclist, she was
looking forward to the gruelling ride because she wanted to raise awareness and funds for victims.

“I work in welfare and have always been drawn to working with people of
sexual slavery. When I was 21, I travelled to Thailand, and seeing all the people on the streets made me more passionate about it,” she said.

Ms Campbell and Ms Pitkethly will host a number of fundraisers and urge
the community to support them by attending or donating money or raffle items.

The first event will be a trivia night on 6 May at the Dandenong Club in
Dandenong. Seating is limited and bookings are essential. Most seats are already booked, but donations are still needed.

Other fundraisers include sausage sizzles at local footy clubs, a music and
arts night in September and market stalls.

City of Casey councillor Lynette Keleher donated $100 of her ward funds to
the cause at last week's council meeting, and that was matched by fellow
councillors Beverley Hastie, Bob Halsall, Judy Owen and Simon Curtis.

For details or to donate visit http://www.paigeandandycycleforfutures.blogspot.com/ or email them at paigeandandycycleforfutures@hotmail.com 

BREAKING NEWS!

·         6 Apr 2011

·         Berwick Leader

·         Charity | Rachel Flaherty

Paige helping to turn the wheels of change

Andrea Pitkethly and Paige Campbell are cycling 400km in Cambodia to raise money for charity.

NARRE Warren South’s Paige Campbell is on a mission to help victims trapped in the seedy underworld of human trafficking.

The 27-year-old will cycle 400km across Cambodia and Laos to help raise $7000 towards a cause close to her heart.

‘‘It’s definitely a problem here in Australia too and people don’t realise it’s happening,’’ she said.

Ms Campbell saw the realities of the world’s second-largest organised crime industry on a visit to Thailand seven years ago.

‘‘I saw children as young as three on the streets at night.’’

Since then she has been passionate about helping people escape.

‘‘They can’t leave because they are under duress and live in fear.’’

Ms Campbell said she was nervous about the daunting 16-day Futures Cycle 11 challenge, which begins on December 2.

‘‘Cycling is not something I’d normally do, so I am nervous.

‘‘ But I’m going to work really hard because I’m passionate about stopping these terrible things happening,’’ she said.

The Futures Cycle 11 challenge is being run by an organisation cofounded by Somaly Mam, a sexual slavery survivor who endured years of torture and abuse.

Her foundation is devoted to rescuing and rehabilitating girls that are trapped in the industry.

Details: paigeandandycycleforfutures.blogspot.com



QUICK UPDATE

We are selling the following items, please contact Paige or I if you are interested...

 

The Road of Lost Innocence - Somaly Mam $30

Entertainment Books $65

Wine Drive 1/2 Dozen - $70 12 Bottles - $120

 

 

FIRST TRAINING SESSION

Paige and I went for our first ride on Sunday! It was a success (well, apart from Paige having a little stack!) cycling appoximately 30kms, finishing up at the multicultural festival at Fed Square - of course we needed food to intice us!