A donation of supplies made by the Chinese Red Cross for aiding Cambodian disaster victims could not have come at a better time, with the gift going to former residents of Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district whose homes were gutted by fire last Friday.
Cambodian Red Cross Chairwoman Bun Rany joined Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara and Chinese Ambassador Ning Wukuei in handing out care packages to the fire victims Wednesday morning at a school near the residents’ new settlement.
The majority of the goods distributed were supplies donated by the Chinese Red Cross following a trip to that organization’s Beijing headquarters made last month by Bun Rany, who is the wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen. That donation has been valued at about $24,000.
Local Chinese-language media reports said some 450 packages of personal-use items, toiletries, cooking supplies and rice were distributed by the Cambodian Red Cross Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ning also made a personal gift of $1,000, which was used to purchase food for the fire’s victims.
Added to this was a consignment of clothes-washing detergent, also from the local Red Cross, and some medicine donated earlier by India.
Bun Rany spoke of plans to provide garment industry training for some of the victims, in order to help them find work at their new homes, according to the Chinese-language Commercial News.
