Several months back, photojournalist Stephen McKenzie’s oldest friend, a retired oil trader who volunteers with charity Temple Garden Foundation Cambodia, called with a novel proposal.
“I was watching House of Cards last night,” he said. “There’s this episode where Kevin Spacey’s missus sells her lover’s photos at a lavish fund-raiser. How about you get snapping around Angkor Wat? We’ll pick 20 or so, frame ’em up and sell to the highest bidders. What do you reckon?”
McKenzie said he was in: “So long as I don’t have to sleep with you.”
For a “soul-stirring” week in August, The Weekly Review contributor’s sole task was to roam Siem Reap with a trusty guide who knew the pot-holed trails off the beaten tracks.
Last week, at a Singapore fund-raiser, McKenzie’s photos raised $31,000 for villages in desperate need of sanitation, food production and education.
“TGF doesn’t just give money and walk away, it works with communities to see projects through,” says McKenzie, still pinching himself after the experience. “This invariably makes those communities stronger. TGF provides the nudge, the villagers do the rest.”
See www.tgfcambodia.com for details of their work and www.stephenmckenzie.com.au for further examples of Stephen’s work.
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