Verein Smiling Gecko

SMILING GECKO Smiling Gecko is an aid project that breaks new ground. It has been founded by Zurich-based artist and photographer Hannes Schmid and pursues a holistic approach with its economically and ecologically sustainable cluster projects, leading to a sustainable improvement of living conditions in rural Cambodian society. In April 2018, the Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zurich honored Hannes Schmid with an honorary doctorate in recognition of his exemplary commitment to families from the slums of Phnom Penh. Since 2014, the aid organization has given hundreds of people from the slums of the capital Phnom Penh and from the region a secure future perspective in the countryside. Since then, many jobs and training positions have been created in the fields of agriculture, tourism/gastronomy, handicrafts and schools on 140 hectares of own land. Due to the economic orientation of the cluster projects, they should be self-financing after a start-up period and can then financially support the school and thus also the education of the children. This creates an exemplary model of a functioning rural community that provides people with education, decent work and sustainable incomes. The heart of Smiling Gecko is a school that, when completed, will educate more than 1,100 students from kindergarten to high school. In the current school year, almost 400 children are already benefiting from a good education with school meals as well as medical and hygienic care in an innovative, child-friendly and effective learning environment. Another important pillar of the aid projects is agriculture with fruit and vegetable cultivation, pig, chicken, cattle and fish farming. In addition, the project currently includes a magnificent bungalow hotel with a restaurant, a carpentry workshop and a food processing center with a bakery and a butcher shop. In all clusters, Cambodians are trained in the various professions