Doing Great Work in Cambodia

Recently had the chance to catch up with Dominic Sharpe – he was back in Tasmania briefly to attend the passing of his oldest brother, Michael, who passed away in August. (Ref. to OVAtions - Sept 2024 edition).  What Dominic has achieved in Cambodia is amazing. What follows is in two parts -  his story up to 2013, when he was inducted onto the Heritage Roll, and the second part tells the story of 2013 to the present.

DOMINIC SHARPE

(SVC 1971 – 79)

Inducted onto the St Virgil’s Heritage Roll of Honour 2013

Dominic was born in 1962 to John and Peg Sharpe – both of whom have passed on. John had been born in Scotland and Peg in Ireland. John’s brother, Hugh, a Christian Brother, spent 16 years on the Austins Ferry Staff. Dominic is the youngest of eight children. 

Dom commenced his 9-year journey through St Virgil’s as a Grade 4 student in 1971. 

He was keen on his rugby – a real in-and-under type and he won the Best & Fairest in his final year. He finally got to hold the trophy during a recent visit to the College.

On leaving school, Dom commenced a Child Welfare Course at Hobart Tech. An injury sustained during a game of rugby caused him to miss a lot of course time, and this pursuit was subsequently abandoned. For the next decade, he spent a considerable amount of time acquiring building/decorating skills both in Tassie and overseas.

Returning to London in 1994, Dom began working in the field of specialist decoration where he met his wife, Benita, who was his boss at the time. Together, they ran a very successful specialist decorating company up until 2009. As well as working in some of the most prestigious homes in London, they were flown to Istanbul to do work in the Turkish Prime Minister’s home in preparation for Hilary Clinton’s visit. He was also flown to Uganda to work on the Presidential Palace in Entebee in preparation for the Queen’s visit for CHOGM. Many of their projects are featured in top Interior Design magazines such as World of Interiors and Beautiful Homes. They were also featured in the top French interior magazine, Madame Figaro. 

In 1999 their son Jakamo was born. There were serious complications and for a full week Dom’s wife Benita was in a life-or-death situation. Mercifully, she made a full recovery but they could have no more children. They decided to adopt. They spent the next two years jumping through various governmental hoops in the UK and Cambodia before being able to adopt their beautiful daughter Theavy. After their first trip to Cambodia in 2003 it was clear this was no longer about a single child.

The orphanage their daughter came home from was predominantly a baby orphanage with many special-needs children and it was located almost a 2-hour drive south of Phnom Penh so medical help was a real issue. Benita and Dom promised to return and build a small medical hut, which they did in 2006 with the assistance of 24 volunteers from the UK and six from Tasmania. Money was raised and a log cabin was imported. This medical hut, which remains today, has been the location of many saved lives and has become the cornerstone of CamKids  - The Cambodian Children’s Charity. At the big fundraiser for the medical hut, the Sharpes met another adoptive parent family and together they formed CamKids. Neither of the couples has ever taken a penny for any work they have done for CamKids.  From very humble beginnings, the group now brings in and dispenses more than half a million dollars US per year in Cambodia. Their work includes supporting Children’s Centres and orphanages in various ways, providing education opportunities  -  including some 250 children studying at a community school they built in a very rural area, supporting three villages and over 200 families, dental and medical initiatives all over Cambodia, and sports programs for disadvantaged and orphaned children. They are building a great team of young Cambodians with the ultimate aim that they will, in time, run CamKids. Everything they do has an emphasis on the empowerment of the Indigenous population, as they believe this is essential for good, lasting change to occur and remain sustainable.

In 2009, the Sharpes departed London to have a family “gap year” in Cambodia on their way to live in Tassie with their two children – that was nearly five years ago.

In addition to his voluntary work with Camkids, Dom was approached by a private foundation - the Liger Charitable Foundation - to help design and then project manage the building of a $1 million Learning Centre for promising disadvantaged Cambodian Children. After the Center was built, Dom was asked to remain as Deputy Director and he led the initial team that travelled throughout Cambodia, assessed more than 12,000 students to find 50 students for The Liger Learning Centre. The Centre is now in its second year of operation and in February this year, he was appointed Country Director.

To quote Dom, “My paid work for Liger and unpaid work for CamKids complement each other perfectly as all the knowledge is transferrable. I am busier than I have ever been and yet still feel I am on holiday. Anywhere you can live that gives you that must be a good place but the place would offer nothing if it were not shared with my incredible wife and two beautiful children. From my darkest moment when I nearly lost my wife, my everything has come: my son, my daughter, CamKids, Liger and the ability to live a life I could never have dreamed of!”

Part 2

As mentioned in the above piece, the Sharpe family left London in 2009 to have a family “gap year” in Cambodia on their way to live in Tassie with their two children – Dom and Benita are still in Cambodia. Jakamo and Theavy completed their secondary schooling in Cambodia and then went through university in Melbourne and are currently working there.

What Dom and Benita have been able to achieve in Cambodia is truly remarkable. A lengthly interview with Dom is able to be viewed below.

The interview promo

On this week's episode of Rising Giants we have the pleasure of speaking with Dominic Sharpe, Country Director of Liger Academy. Liger Leadership Academy provides a world-class learning experience – empowering students today to become leaders of tomorrow through experiential project-based learning to develop students' understanding of real-life challenges and their country's needs. Dom's passion for helping create and shape the program over the years has help lead to it's great success in sending its graduates to international universities on full scholarships.