L-R Clare Morris and Joanna Hall. Global Reality Experience event.Photo/George Novak
Cambodian markets, a globally-inspired three-course meal, world music and engaging speakers will combine for a dinner with a difference at Ataahua Gardens later this month.
The Global Reality Experience, to be held on September 24 to raise money for the Cambodia Charitable Trust, has all the elements of a lavish affair.
But it also aims to impart a serious message about global inequality and how we can make a difference by seeing ourselves as connected to our fellow human beings.
"The privilege gap will be highlighted throughout the evening in innovative and interesting ways," says Cambodia Charitable Trust volunteer Clare Morris, who is organising the dinner with fellow volunteer Joanna Hall.
"Those who attend will be gently nudged out of their comfort zone, in such a way that we hope they will leave feeling more connected to their fellow human beings and inspired to go out there and make a difference."
The Global Reality Experience is planned to become an annual event, taking a different form each year.
The evening will begin with the opportunity to purchase authentic Cambodian products in a market atmosphere.
Guests will then be seated banquet-style, with each table allocated a geographical region and served a 'family feast', while listening to the speakers explore issues affecting developing countries. The meal will be followed by world music and the opportunity to mix and mingle.
The master of ceremonies for the evening will be radio announcer Nigel Gregory, of Paradise FM.
"I am looking forward to what promises to be an enlightening evening that will entertain, educate and, dare I say, surprise," says Nigel, who is also an electorate agent for Parliamentary Services.
Speaking on the night will be Tauranga lawyer Denise Arnold, who founded the Cambodia Charitable Trust; Dr Juliet Ansell, innovation leader of health and nutrition at Zespri who completed her PhD in Africa; and Ann Sligo, retired nurse and midwife who has worked in the Australian outback, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Cambodia.
Denise, who will be speaking about setting up a charitable trust, says the evening is a wonderful way of encouraging both local and global connectedness, while imparting an important message.
Often we feel that the problem is so big we can't make a difference, but we can. There are so many ways we can contribute - both big and small - but it has to start with a desire to do so.
"When you start seeing yourself as connected to others, no matter where they live in the world or what their circumstances are, that's when the most powerful change happens."
Denise set up the Cambodia Charitable Trust in 2007, after visiting Cambodia and seeing the suffering of the children there. Her vision was to save children from poverty, trafficking and slavery, through education and community development.
Having suffered badly at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, the communities Denise works with are poor, powerless and struggling to survive, and their children are often targeted by child labour traffickers.
By removing barriers to education and developing the capacity of teachers to deliver a quality education, she is targeting the most at-risk children, particularly girls, and providing their families with an incentive to keep their children at school.
The trust supports 6000 children in 16 schools and two teacher training colleges.