Titled ‘Bloom’ Beautiful’, the story begins with: ‘Pencil in Bloom Cafe at the top of your places-to-try list this weekend. Delicious cupcakes, cookies, coffee and caring service are just the cherries on top of this not-for-profit proverbial cake.’

The story sings the praises of our phenomenally talented students and also serves as fantastic free publicity for the Cafe.

As most of us are rather removed from the nearest Cambodian newsstand, you can read it here and let us know what you think!

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Earlier this month, Ruth was invited as the guest of honour at the annual International Womens’ Day Luncheon held by the Australian Public Service Commission in Brisbane and Townsville. Ruth gave an extremely stirring message that left very few dry eyes in the room packed with people.

She also shared a few inside anecdotes, like this beauty:

Some weeks ago, Bloom was visited by a Cambodian pop star who had the number 1 song in the country. As he was downstairs in the Cafe, word quickly spread amongst the Bloom students in their classrooms upstairs and they rushed to the stairs to see him.

The girls packed the staircase, jostling each other for a better view, with the ones at the top craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the star. As the weight of over 20 girls proved too much for the girls at the bottom of the stairs, they lost their grip on the banister, and suddenly all that was heard was a sharp shriek, followed by screams of laughter as around 25 girls tumbled over each other onto the floor. The Cambodian pop star, probably quite used to such attention, apparently laughed and winked at them, totally making their day.

As a result of Ruth’s address, many attendees have signed up in support of Bloom and several are organising their Advocacy parties even now. To get in on the action and order your advocacy kit, contact Bloom today!

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This means that all your donations and giving towards Bloom are tax deductible for you! It also means we can seek corporate donations as our charity status is also more credible.

This was achieved with the Global Development Group (GDG), a humanitarian organisation that mobilises resources for international aid and development. GDG partners with charities to ensure that all the requirements for tax deductibility are met.

So the next time you give, just provide your details so we can send out a tax deductible receipt to your address.

You can donate in a number of a ways:

a) Use the paypal button to give by bank or credit card

b) Direct deposit online to:

Account Name:  Bloom Training and Cafe
BSB No :              704-913
Account No :       003165

c) Write a cheque payable to Bloom Training and Cafe and send it to:

Bloom Asia, Donations
Attn: Finance Officer
PO Box 2033
Mansfield QLD 4122
AUSTRALIA

For a tax deductible receipt, simply email finance@bloomasia.org with the details of your deposit or include a request with your cheque. Remember to include your name and address, and the receipt will be mailed to you.

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Ruth Larwill at Bloom Cafe

Flour power in the heart of Phnom Penh

When I think of Cambodian dessert, I don’t think of cake.

I think of mango. Or sticky rice. Or fried banana nuggets.

But I’ve recently discovered there’s a huge market in this part of the world for cake.

Here are a couple of stats that may surprise you. One of the larger hotels in Phnom Penh sells about $1,500 worth of cake daily. And Bloom, the wonderful cake store and café, which opened its doors this February on Street 222, sells between 120 and 500 cupcakes every day!

I have to admit they are impossible to resist. When you walk through the door of the café, you’re overwhelmed with shelf upon shelf of light, fluffy creations which are, as their marketing suggests, “Too beautiful to eat. Too delicious to resist”. Mounds of thick, creamy frosting piled high on tiny lemon, chocolate or cheesecakes foundations decorated with perfectly designed miniscule flowers, figurines, birds and snowflakes…no less than 50 flavours of cupcake, rotated every three months to provide variety. It’s every dessert lover’s dream.

. . .

Today, Bloom employs 24 underprivileged girls who create cakes worthy of display in any high-profile magazine as well as on the table of Cambodia’s royal family (who have been recent customers of the store, along with the Australian ambassador, the Minister of Phnom Penh city and the recent CAMFood Expo where Bloom displayed their 2.2 meter cake).

. . .

While the concept was created by Ruth and Murray (Ruth has been baking and decorating cakes since she was nine), Ruth gives most of the credit to the girls.

“They are constantly amazing me with their creativity,” she said. “Each one of them passed their exams with at least 96 percent and they are always coming up with new ideas.

Some of them told me they prayed every day to find a way out of their circumstances before they met me, and that this work has given them back their value.

I am so grateful I heard their prayers.”

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

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The suitable person will be: 

• of mature Christian faith who will be able to live and work in a challenging environment.
• able to commit to a 12 month teaching period.
• experienced in planning individual and group learning programs responsive to learners’ needs.
• able to teach up to 4 small groups of varying levels of English proficiency for up to 3 hours per week, per group, plus individual tutoring of staff members with advanced level of English for up to 3 hours per week each – to a maximum of 20 hours per week.
• able to self-fund (accommodation available at “She Home” – a ministry of Citipointe Church – for USD150/month).

This is a mission and ministry opportunity guaranteed to enrich your life as you serve victims of human trafficking.

If interested, please email us at hello@bloomasia.org for further information.

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As mentioned in a previous post, Bloom was asked to make Cambodia’s largest wedding cake for the first International Food Fair in Phnom Penh.

It took a 5-tonne truck and 8 men to transport the cake from Bloom Cafe to the exhibition hall! Here we get the inside scoop from Bloom intern Karin:

Although it’s early in the morning, the Cambodian Convention Center is already buzzing with activity as 4 tuk-tuks of girls arrive at the front doors. The passengers disembark and head for the entrance, ready with their badges allowing them in to the first ever, three day Cambodia Hotel and Restaurant Exhibition.

In a proud throng of blue and brown, and with a measure of nervous excitement, the girls walk past vendors busy setting up their booths toward the display which is already being talked about all over Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s Biggest Wedding Cake.

The cake rises 2.2 meters above its table to tower over gaping passers-by. A stunning vision of pink and green, overflowing with beautifully sculpted lotus blooms and delicate buds, it is truly an impressive sight to behold.

The girls smile at the sight of the cake, because it is their masterpiece: every flower crafted with the finest attention to detail, down to the veined pattern in all the thousands of petals, each hand-painted to perfection; every layer of cake mixed, measured and baked; the assembly and icing; down to the final finishing touches and placement of each decoration. The many hours of effort that went into this cake have culminated in this event.

The opening ceremony of the convention, presided over by the Minister of Tourism, ends with the Minister himself cutting the cake. Seeing the Bloom girls in their crisp uniforms, standing next to their cake, heads held high, as dignitaries acclaim their expertise and a posse of photographers poise their lenses to capture the moment, you would never guess where these girls have come from. The honor that they have received as a result of Bloom being asked to participate in such a showcase is unprecedented.

As they gracefully move through the marvelling crowds, distributing slices of fruitcake, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could look down on them because of their background. They have earned not only the respect, but the admiration, of some of the most notable names in the city.

They will always be able to remember this day with pride, knowing that they are part of something special. And with an accomplishment such as this to their credit, it’s impossible to predict where the future will take them!

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Hi I’m Leanne, and I have the honour of being in charge of Communications for Bloom. I was recently in Cambodia and had the great privilege of spending time with the girls and attending the third graduation of Bloom students.

What I love most about Bloom is that it’s a place of hope, where the dignity that was stolen from God’s daughters is restored to them in such a beautiful and practical way. It’s as though, when Bloom was set up, God decided that nothing was going to get in the way of his girls’ futures.

No literacy? No problem. The course is taught verbally using flash cards, role play and hands-on training. Girls who have never been educated pass the course with flying colours. And make no mistake: the course is not dumbed down for them. It has international accreditation equivalent to the Australian Cert II.

No skills? No worries. Under Ruth’s tutelage, the students at Bloom have accomplished so much in 12 months that you could literally make a movie out it. Bloom cakes have made their way to the Royal palace, are ordered regularly by the Prime Minister’s family, featured on the front page of the Cambodian Daily and now Bloom has been asked to make Cambodia’s biggest wedding cake at the first International Food Fair in Phnom Penh.

No confidence? You’ve come to the right place – it’s our specialty. Having a sense of self-worth is a HUGE thing for girls who have been taken advantage of all their lives, who have for so many years been broken and raped and taught that they were worth nothing but the ability to service men. Learning that they were born for greater things, that they are worth more, is a huge step for them. Upon graduation, each student receives a silver bracelet which is engraved: ‘Her value is far above rubies or gold’ (verse from Proverbs 31). In many ways, this is even more valuable than the practical skills they learn, because it is in this that they perceive their worth in the eyes of their Heavenly Dad and understand their own identity as his daughters.

Bloom has created an incredible niche and cult following in Phnom Penh in such a short time, and I can’t wait to see where God takes us next. Thanks so much to all our supporters and Advocates who have taken part in this journey so far.

If you’d like to join us, please sign up for our newsletter (and add hello@bloomasia.org to your mailbox so they don’t bounce) and feel free to drop me a line at leanne@bloomasia.org for any questions.

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They reported:

… the country’s biggest cake will also be unveiled at Camfood and Camhotel 2010, which runs from October 21-23 at Diamond Island Centre, Diamond island, Phnom Penh.

Ruth Larwill from Bloom Cakes and Cafe in Phnom Penh is in charge of making the giant cake, which will be 2.2 metres high and 1.1 metres in diameter.

Decorated with about 1,000 lotus blooms and leaves, the decorations would all be edible and take some time to carve, she said.

“We’ll need to spend about 1,000 hours to make the cake and place all the decorations. Everything on the cake can be eaten, even though it looks as if they are real leaves, lotus flowers and roots.”

A team of about 22 pastry chefs would work on the giant cake, she said.

It’s great local exposure for Bloom and a huge source of pride for the girls!

Click here to read the entire article, and keep your eye out for the pictures of the cake that we’ll post right here and on Facebook.

Oh, if you haven’t friended us already on Facebook… what are you waiting for??

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IJM CEO Gary Haugen with Bloom's Ruth and Murray Larwill

In July, Bloom was honoured with a visit by Gary Haugen, Founder and CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is the organisation that works with the police to conduct investigations, brothel raids & rescues the girls, and in fact IJM field workers were involved in the rescue of many of our students.

IJM operates in many countries around the world and Gary is one BUSY guy, so it was truly an honour for Bloom that he made time to visit. One of the girls that IJM had rescued presented Gary with a sugar figurine of himself (complete with glasses & spikey hair!) that she had made.  He was totally chuffed!

Gary Haugen receiving his sugar double

Gary also brought along some of the guys who work in the field (doing the undercover/rescue work in Cambodia). The girls knew better than anyone  the risks and dangers that these men had faced to rescue them, and as you can imagine, it was a sweetly emotional afternoon…

Bloom students' sugar version of Gary Haugen

We showed the guys through our photo gallery & there were quite a few happy tears as the guys recognised girls they had rescued from the most appalling situations  - and who were now standing proudly next to their 5 tier cakes and beaming smiles that could light a hundred rooms.

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Against Child Trafficking’s Champion the Cause event is coming up this week. Head over to Brisbane Powerhouse this Thursday and be a part of it.

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