Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund
Q & A with Nina Bains-Cassils, Fund Advisor
The Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund supports selected NGOs in Southeast Asia providing education, improved health care, agriculture and hope to needy children and their families.
Why do you give?
We have been fortunate to be born in a country where so much is provided for - clean water, education, healthcare, electricity, roads, shops stocked with food.
We give because:
- 30,000 impoverish children die each day
- 1/3 of the children in developing countries are malnourished
- 1.5 million young children die each year due to lack of safe water and sanitation
- 100 million children are growing up today without an education
How did your philanthropic interest start?
During business trips or adventure travels in Southeast Asia, my husband and I would make side trips to remote villages rarely visited by tourists and were exposed to malnourished and sickly children. We knew we had to do something.
Can you share some of your favourite success stories?
In a mountain village in Laos we came upon a shaman performing rites on two small children lying on the floor, one partially blind and the other unable to walk - both victims of vitamin deficiency. After a month in the local hospital both children fully recovered. The cost for two children in hospital for one month including doctors fees, medicine and food for their father: $100.
Khai Hin was born with several birth defects, including a malformed leg, a direct result of Agent Orange. In 2002, we provided for a new prosthesis for his leg allowing him to run and play ball with the other children. Today, he climbs trees, fences, plays soccer, and roars around faster than others with no limitations.
In three short years we’ve seen our Children of Forest’s free dayschool program go from 45 children in one classroom to 210 children in eight bamboo classrooms. We’ve had fish ponds constructed, vegetable gardens irrigated, and training programs for the benefit of poverty-stricken children and their families.”
How has Tides assisted you with this?
Our partnership with Tides has given us the the ability to receive and receipt tax-deductible donations in Canada, making it more attractive to our friends and family who also want to help. Since Tides is well-established and well-known, our friends feel comfortable donating to Tides.
What are your future plans?
To assist other donors to set up similar programs for funding. It’s so fulfilling to watch our concept become this project that has changed children’s lives. Imagine how many more children can be helped if there were more of us doing this.
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