War on poverty. Children are the innocent in the world. They endure the horrors of poverty, starvation, diseases, war, child slave labor, child prostitution, etc. They look to us for protection, and yet many of these children are orphans, or refugees from war, with no family to protect them. Other children who have a parent are barely living on the edge of existence, rummaging fifteen hours a day through garbage, to try and earn 50 cents to buy food. Spending part of a day in a third world city garbage dump, it is unimaginable that children as young as four and five are walking through hospital and chemical waste, working fifteen hour days. Going to school is not an option; either work or starve. Refugee camps, where several generations have lived without a means to earn wages or send their children to school; there is no childhood for these children. Children in Northwestern part of Cambodia, where there are still millions of landmines, are killed each year because they want to go out and play…. All children should be able to have what we would consider a safe childhood; riding bicycles, playing sports, skipping rope, at least one nutritious meal a day, and the privilege of going to school. We are so fortunate to have so many options, they have none.

    I created Kids Are Sweet International™ , with the intention of helping impoverished children in rural areas of Southeast Asia and Africa. Education and nutrition are essential to the development of children all over the world. At the grassroots level, Kids Are Sweet International™ is working with local organizations, and is contributing to the well-being of thousands of children’s lives by providing clean water, after-school children’s clubs, bicycles for transportation, school uniforms and supplies, leadership training, environmental education, kitchen gardens and lots more.

   There are currently three major projects that Kids Are Sweet International ™ has created. One Bike, One Child, One World™, buys used bikes for impoverished children in rural areas, providing transportation that will allow them to continue from primary schools to secondary schools. Water Wells and Water Pumps, allows rural villages in Cambodia to access water under the ground during the dry season, which enables families to have access to clean drinking water and water for their kitchen gardens. Kids Are Sweet International After- School Programs provides tutoring and nutritional snacks. In addition to these projects, we are assisting in the development of baking products for Cambodian Children's Fund Star Bakery. Star Bakery is a vocational training center for CCF students who want to become pastry chefs and bakers and maybe one day will have their own business.

How You Can Get Involved.

   Buy a box of chocolates and choose a project you would like the money to be donated to. You can also donate to the water project or to one of the educational programs and have your name put on the project or help purchase used bicycles. We will send you photos and personal letters so you know where your donation is going, as I think it is important to make the connection with a rural village in a particular country. I believe that when you can see the children and their families you are helping, there is a deeper connection that will be formed. You become part of these people's lives and they to you.

One Bike, One Child, One World™

   Kids Are Sweet International™ and Lesley's Life Is Sweet Ltd, provides bicycles through a joint cooperation with Heifer Cambodia and other local nonprofit organizations that are on the ground working within these communities…. At a cost of $45.00 for a good used bike, children in rural villages in Cambodia who live five miles and more from their primary or secondary school, will be able to continue their education. Without these bikes, there would be no hope for a better life because the schools are too far to travel by foot, and all of these children are expected to help their families with livestock and in the rice fields before and after school.

   "I cannot say in words how much I am happy, said Roeun Sambath, 16, one of the poorest students who received the bicycles. I thought my education was over as I could not attend the school due to having no transportation. But my hope is revived. This bicycle is the future not only of mine, but also of my family, of my community, and of the whole Cambodian society."(See Press Release for more of the story.)

In 2008, we will be expanding the program to other areas in Southeast Asia and designated countries in Africa.

Kids Are Sweet International Clubs™

   Kids Are Sweet International™ is providing after school children’s clubs, where children who are struggling in primary school, will be able to get help from teacher trained tutors, have a nutritional snack, become involved with music, dance and other cultural activities that embrace their culture and heritage. Additional writing materials, teaching aids and uniforms are also provided to the clubs.

Water Wells and Water Pumps

   During the dry season in Southeast Asia, which lasts seven months, rural villages do not have access to clean drinking water or water for their kitchen crops, which provides food for their families. Kids Are Sweet International™ is providing water wells and water pumps, and other alternative sources of accessing clean water for rural communities. For only $300.00 for materials, the water pumps or wells, serve many families. Again, we are directly on the ground working with community leaders. Providing these wells and pumps, allows the village to pull together, to help each other, and to sustain themselves during the dry season. By being able to access water under ground, additional kitchen crops can be sold at market, thereby creating a microeconomic community. An extra source of income, will then allow families to send their children to school. Villages are also able to pull together extra monies and give out small loans to families, so they can create small businesses.

Cambodian Children's Fund Star Bakery

   Lesley's Life Is Sweet, provided thousands of dollars in small bakery equipment, including cookie cutters, cake and tart pans, decorating bags and tips for cake decorating, cake and cookie cook books for CCF's Star Bakery. We were able to help the bakery develop a line of products, in addition to their breads that could be sold retail. Cookies in packages, brownies, cake breads, such as banana bread and mango bread, decorated cookies, specialty cakes, etc. were a combined effort between Madalin, instructor and pastry chef for Star Bakery, the students at CCF who are being trained to be pastry chefs and bakers, Annabel and Mark, staff at CCF and Lesley Byrne. It was quite a project and the children were amazed at the cookie cutters and the decorating books; a whole new world filled with possibilities for them.