Banteay Srey Project
In the quiet town of Kampot, Cambodia, you’ll find a sanctuary for women. Banteay Srey Project includes three social enterprises for rural Cambodian women, providing them with jobs, ongoing vocational training, and a healing work environment.
The Project is home to a women’s spa, eco resort, and a vegan restaurant. Each space is a different opportunity for rural Khmer women to help co-create a peaceful, restorative, and empowering environment. Here, they will develop skills for future employment and gain confidence as they share the rich Khmer culture with others.
Banteay Srey Project offers excellent working conditions, medical benefits, and fair salaries, with the aim of being part of these women and their family’s support network. This reciprocal relationship is at the heart of everything we do.
In Khmer, Banteay Srey means “Women’s Temple” or “Citadel of Women”. The Banteay Srey temple, located near Angkor Wat in Cambodia, was built in honor of female deities. Today, the beautiful temple is a symbol of strength, unity, safety, and empowerment for Cambodian women.
Women’s Only Spa & Homestay
Our spa provides staff as well as guests with a tranquil space to heal. Staff are given the chance to reclaim and share beloved traditional spa rituals that have been part of Khmer women’s culture for centuries.
Eden Eco Village
At Eden, women work and learn surrounded by nature. The Khmer way of life is celebrated, in a working environment where the balance between nature and community is respected.
Deva – Vegan Restaurant
At Deva, women develop marketable hospitality skills while sharing nourishing Khmer cuisine. Business training builds confidence and trainees are mentored as they take on leadership roles.
Each social enterprise is self-sustaining, contributing the bulk of expenses needed to operate the project. We do, however, gratefully receive outside donations, 100% of which go back to Khmer women through extending our training program, and maintaining a residence for trainees in need.
WOMEN IN CAMBODIA
In Cambodia, family is everything and women are often under lifelong pressure to provide financial support for parents and extended families. In a country still rebuilding from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, daughters often carry a heavy burden in the household, covering costs and assuming parental duties. When it comes to marriage, those without access to education or training can be left left vulnerable and disempowered.
As for their employment opportunities, these often do not offer much hope. Cambodian labor laws are often ignored. In factories women work long hours in toxic environments with no opportunities for skill development. In the “entertainment sector,” women often work under dangerous and exploitative practices. Workers who organise have been subjected to violent attacks. The Banteay Srey Project aims to expand the choices for rural Cambodian women, empowering them to direct their own future.
Our approach is to equip our trainees with a toolkit to enable them to live a happy, successful, and rewarding life. We provide specially designed training that crosses cultural and language barriers to help them emotionally and professionally – both of equal importance.
OUR FOUNDER
When Freya was just ten years old her life was deeply impacted by the truly heroic acts of Eloise and Anna Charet; two young Canadian women who cared for and facilitated the escape of sixty babies from Cambodia. Two of these children became Freya’s beloved sisters when they arrived safely in Canada in 1975 just as the Khmer Rouge began to enact genocide in Cambodia.
In 2007, Freya visited Cambodia for the first time with her sisters. She never really left. Instead, she changed her ticket and attempted to fulfil her livelong desire to follow in Anna and Eloise’s footsteps.
As she discovered along the way how difficult it can be to have a positive impact in a foreign land, her vision evolved along its path of failures and successes into today’s Banteay Srey Project. Rather than “helping people,” she believes her role is to give people the best possible environment she can and watch them thrive on their own terms. Through learning Khmer and developing personal relationships with her staff, she sees this project as one of mutual creation.y learning Khmer and developing personal relationships with her staff, she sees this project as one of mutual creation.
The profoundly nurturing and safe work environment at Banteay Srey was designed by Freya, who drew from the diverse range of modalities which she had studied or personally benefited from on her own long journey of healing from childhood trauma.
Watch the inspiring Eloise and Anna Charet Documentary in French or click on any of the green highlighted words above to find more video clips.