Perspective in Phnom Penh

“The girls have started thinking differently. Their dreams are growing, and their day-to-day work has improved.”  –CTC Chef Ryana DeArmond

Do you know about our Culinary Training Center (CTC) in Battambang, Cambodia? One of CGI’s projects designed to empower at-risk women, the CTC is now training its third class of students in culinary arts! This third class of girls, like the ones before, come from lives characterized by poverty and extremely limited choices. CGI’s resident chef, Ryana DeArmond, works intensely with these girls to train them in not only cooking, but in all aspects of life. She wants to see them succeed.

So, Chef Ryana recently took the CTC students on a trip to Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. She had one goal: to expose them to things outside of their “regular” worlds and give them fresh perspective. They visited fine dining restaurants, went to the movie theater, stopped in coffee shops and took a sunset boat ride. They saw the service industry from the customer’s standpoint, witnessed successfully-run businesses, and experienced things they’d never tried.

After that trip, these girls see the world a little differently. They see their place in it differently. They see what they can become as people set free from poverty.

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