We’re mere hours (look right) from the end of our Start Some Good fundraiser and with the support of 128 backers, we’ve raised over $15,000! We’re blown away. Thank you everyone! And if you’d still like to donate or share with friends, family and interested folks, there is time yet…get those pledges in by 11 am Sat Melbourne time, 9 pm Fri US EST. Also, IF we can crack $20k by the end of the campaign Mel and Katie will perform a special number on the ukulele and post it online!**

It’s truly been a packed month in Battambang; we’ve hosted three visitors with lots of wisdom to share, and one more to come. Kinyei has been buzzing with new know-how and tips on social media, and tools for cross cultural communications. The management team in training also soaked up a knowledge on good leadership skills, and got back to basics discussing “what is a manager?”

John Jablonka, a Darwin-based cross cultural communications guru, spent a week coaching Kinyei team,  and facilitating focus groups on culture, problem solving and planning. He was a real home run with the team and we’re looking forward to hosting him again in the not so distant future

We were also lucky to have Sarah Moran on a trip from Melbourne to BTB running a series of social media workshops for the team. It’s safe to say her workshops were a hit and that there were more participants than computers!

Beijing-based Nick McIntosh joined in to assist with the tech workshops as well as document the good learnings happening all around.

And in just a few days we’ll be welcoming Jasper‘s own barista trainer Stacey Irving to boost our espresso making prowess. She’ll also be speaking on coffee appreciation to the larger Battambang community. The team is ready for this refresher, after all we haven’t had the expert barista’s eye in our shop since James visited last year. Here’s to another month packed full of learnings!