“I try to be a responsible person” – how an Australian teacher brings organisational skills to Cambodia.

Jackie Keenan, Chief Operation Officer, HAGAR, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

After a very successful career in the Australian education system Jackie Keenan retired rather early. As a strongly believing Christian person, she took care of her ill mother for several years. After her mother died, Jackie gave her-self a few months to think about what God wanted her to do next. Right in this period she got a phone call from a very good Australian friend asking her if she knew somebody with a strong background in education and management looking for a new challenge in Cambodia? Knowing exactly that she would be a per-fect fit, her friend convinced her to give it a go. Upon arriving in Phnom Penh last October, Jackie recognized pretty fast that HAGAR, an organization founded by a very charismatic Swiss/Italian leader, Pierre Tami, had grown so fast it needed to work at how it oper-ated. That’s why Jackie is currently helping to develop a management structure and processes which are suitable for such a large organization.

Let us give you a short impression of our very interesting discussion with Jackie Keenan in the following lines. You might be able to read more about her and her interesting life in our book “MyImpact”.

Jackie Keenan’s selected quotations:
“It is good to give money but there is also much more to give.”

“I still have a lot of energy that I thought could be used. When I got the request from HAGAR to support them, it seemed like a good way to help people. As a Christian I think that’s the right thing to do because Jesus set us an example of looking after vulnerable people. In fact the Bible says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their destress” (James 1:27). Hagar does this!

“Women and children are always at the bottom of po-verty, always the ones paying the highest price.”

“It is heartbreaking to see abused women, still with brui-ses, just sitting and staring at the wall. I am glad we can help them to recover by giving them training and the skills to survive. Hagar is usually able to place them in some sort of work often the businesses that Hagar started to create employment opportunities”

“Working in Cambodia can often make you feel frustrated. There is so much that you can see needs to be done. Being older, the heat gets to me and sometimes it feels as if you are pushing a very heavy load up a mountain. The heat sucks your energy but then you see the need so you keep going.”

“I believe that with my skill background and my Christian commitment it is my duty to contribute what I can.”

Some background on Jackie Keenan:
Jackie is 65 years old and has been working most of her life in the field of education in Austra-lia. First, she was a teacher, later she took different positions in the educa-tion system, being a regional director in New South Wales during her last employment years.
Jackie retired at the age of 55 and gave herself some time to figure out what else she would want to achieve in life. For a number of years she took care of her mother while supporting different organisa-tions, such as Scripture Union that has programs for chil-dren and youth, and visiting friends who worked in pro-jects in Asian countries.
Jackie joined HAGAR in October, 2004 with the purpose of improving the organisational structure and the strategic management of the organisation.

Some background on HAGAR:
HAGAR was started more than 10 years ago by Pierre Tami with the vision that all Cambodian people will live in a just and peaceful society that cares with its heart and encourages dignity and prosperity. Hagar focuses on fos-tering hope for vulnerable women and children in crisis through holistic, transformational development and crea-tive initiatives.
To break the cycle of po-verty, HAGAR intervenes in the lives of vulnerable mothers and children by offering prevention, reha-bilitation, and reintegra-tion programs.
Rehabilitation: Providing the vulnerable mothers and children with the necessary life skills and income-earning capacities to transform their lives through a temporary home; counselling; literacy, numer-acy, and health and nutrition training, vocational skills training, schooling and day care.
Prevention: Instituting interventions that will stave off women's downward slide into destitution such as training in literacy and numeracy, income earning skills, children's and women's rights, or job placement.
Reintegration: Mothers and their children are re-estab-lished in mainstream society through livelihood oppor-tunities in agriculture, self employment, garment industry sewing, or in Hagar's micro-businesses.

If you would like to engage with the work of Jackie Keenan or get to know more about HAGAR, please visit www.hagarproject.org
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly