The Bestow Sisterhood, a collective of Australasian beauty therapists and skincare clinics, is changing the lives of vulnerable girls in Cambodia by sponsoring their education.
Launched in New Zealand in April and in Australia this month, the charity was created by Bestow Beauty – a New Zealand-based wellness company renowned for its skin nutrition products and herbal teas.
The Sisterhood is a partnership between Bestow founder Janine Tait and her sister, Denise Arnold, who founded the Cambodia Charitable Trust in 2008 after hearing about Cambodian children “being rented out for sex by the week”.
Over the last ten years the Trust has changed the future for thousands of vulnerable Cambodian children by transforming schools and ensuring the poorest children are sponsored to attend.
“Education is the greatest hope for fighting poverty and slavery, especially education of girls,” says Tait.
“Girls who don’t go to school are vulnerable to sex traffickers or can end up married and bearing children long before their bodies are developed enough to cope with delivering a baby.
“Through the Bestow Sisterhood, salons sponsor a girl’s education for $40 a month, which radically changes the life of that little girl.”
Tait says she founded The Bestow Sisterhood because she believes in wellness for all women.
“My whole career has been about women and wellness,” she says. “But wellness ultimately needs to take us beyond ourselves ‒ that is what true soul health looks like.
“The Bestow sisterhood is about women helping women; offering wellbeing to young girls in Cambodia who don’t have the privileges we have.”
The Bestow Sisterhood has sponsored over 50 Cambodian girls since its launch.
“We think of them as our little sisters,” says Tait. “They are part of our extended family.”
Salons throughout Australia and New Zealand are welcome to join the Bestow Sisterhood by sponsoring “a little Cambodian sister” for $40 a month sponsorship which provides “the little sister” with a school uniform and stationery, health checks, food and a contribution to family living costs to cover the loss of her wage.
Salons can also become part of the Bestow Sisterhood by stocking ‘Generositea’ ‒ the official Bestow Sisterhood tea from the Bestow organic herbal tea range.
All profits from the sale of Generositea, an organic blend of lemongrass, peppermint, hibiscus, cinnamon and cardamom, supports the work of the Cambodia Charitable Trust.
To sponsor a child click here or, for more information, visit www.bestowbeauty.com.au