Community
Humanitarian and Educational Projects

Pandaw River Cruise passengers have over the past five years supported a number of humanitarian and educational projects, initially in Burma and latterly in Cambodia. These efforts have been driven by the demand of our passengers and with no prompting from Pandaw staff. On our river expeditions we visit inaccessible communities who receive little assistance from governments or NGOs. There, our passengers have felt an overwhelming desire to return the kindness and hospitality they find in these remote places. Whilst often materially poor, the village people’s spiritual wealth, and the dignity of their lives, touch many of our passengers. In Cambodia there is a strong NGO presence and system of aid, in Burma this is almost non-existent as a result of sanctions. In the year ahead we hope to find projects to support in Vietnam.

To date the projects we have assisted have been in health care, education and culture. Passengers often make a donation whilst on board a ship. These funds are managed by our local teams. Examples of these passenger sponsored projects are the the school construction projects in Burma and support of the orphanage at Kampong Cham in Cambodia. In addition, as a company, we place a portion of any profit we make on a single larger project each year. The construction of the Pandaw Ward at a hospice in Mandalay which opens in April 2006 is an example of a company sponsored project.

Pandaw Pro Bono is not a registered charity in the UK or anywhere else. There are no links with governments or NGOs in the countries in which we work. There are no administration costs, expense accounts, salaried officials. Expenses and administration costs are absorbed by the company. Work done by Pandaw team members in the UK or in the field is voluntary. Donations sent to the Pandaw Representative Office in the UK are banked and then transferred to country offices for disbursement. Donors tend to indicate which project they wish to support and if they want their name added to that project’s record of donors kept locally or to be anonymous.

If you would like to be involved in Pandaw Pro Bono in any way - as a fund raiser, helper or donor please contact Pandaw River Cruises founder Paul Strachan on probono@pandaw.com.

Information about Pandaw Pro Bono is also available to download:

Pandaw Pro Bono.pdf
[Adobe Acrobat - 1319KB]