It Takes Two

Husband and wife An-Rui Chiew and Amanda Toh are passionate supporters of changing lives through the power of education motivated by their personal experiences and wish to give back.

The couple have been supporting Cambodian Children’s Fund for a decade through donations and as child sponsors to a boy and girl for almost two years.

An-Rui and Amanda, both originally from Malaysia, say their own life journeys are examples of the importance of an education to set a future path - and how circumstances can have made everything so different.

Having a good education has given the couple a comfortable life in Singapore, where both have management jobs, An-Rui at Google and Amanda at an investment management company.

“I have a very strong sense that I’m quite fortunate,” says An-Rui, 38.

“It’s literally a case of those who got the right education, there’s an entirely different set of opportunities that are open to you than if you don’t have the education. Education just opens more doors.”

An-Rui was born to Malaysian parents in the UK, raised in Istanbul and went to university in the UK, where he met Amanda.

Amanda, 38, says that an element of good fortune also played a part in giving her opportunities linked to education.

“There have been moments where I personally got lucky from timing. My Dad lost his job during the Asian financial crisis. Had I gone to university a little earlier, it would have been very different for me and those are the things that are down to chance and down to luck, but have a huge impact in terms of how I get to live my life now.”

The lottery of life and its consequences had a massive impact on the life of An-Rui’s father, who grew up in a poor family in a small village in the jungle in Malaysia. His great grandma was widowed and left to bring up her children alone, the youngest still a baby. The children had to give up schooling and help their mother with menial work to earn a meager income to live. They laboured hard and gradually worked their way up in the village.

An-Rui’s father lived in an attap dwelling, traditional Malaysian housing made from the attap palm with a roof of thatched leaves. The family was later able to move into a home made of corrugated iron, similar to houses Cambodian Children’s Fund builds for impoverished families in Cambodia.

His parents saved to send him, their first child, to university but it was not until the fourth sibling that they could afford to send another one.

“Just seeing the difference in all their lives now shows why education is so important and the big difference it makes. My dad went to university in Southampton (in the UK), which from a tiny village in Malaysia in the 70s was quite unusual, where there’s not much opportunity to go to school or university. My mum jokes that he still buys too many shoes because he didn’t have shoes growing up,” says An-Rui.

His father, Chai Seng Chiew, went on to have an extremely successful career as a civil engineer and director involved in more than 850 projects and developing earthquake resistant design, and is currently Managing Director of an engineering consultancy, project management and architectural design company.

This enabled him to give his own son, An-Rui, a good education and opportunities.

Amanda’s family faced a similar climb up from humble beginnings.

“My family is Malaysian and my mum and all of them basically had to work their way out. I think only two of them went to university out of six. It’s very similar to An-Rui in the sense that where our parents came from is not very wealthy. It’s literally the difference that one generation can make,” says Amanda.

”I strongly believe in the power of one, that we can make a difference with one person and how that can trickle down as well., I think CCF (Cambodian Children’s Fund) focuses quite a lot on that.”

This aligns with CCF’s work to bring about lasting generational change and belief that with quality education and leadership, one child has the potential to lift an entire family out of poverty and a generation of educated children has the power to change a community or whole society.

An-Rui and Amanda first came across CCF in 2015 while looking for a charity to support. Their criteria was an organisation based in South East Asia, focused on education, and offering the greatest possible impact.

With a background as an economist, An-Rui was also impressed with CCF’s numbers, top ranked on Charity Navigator, the largest independent charity evaluator in America, for its metrics including accountability and transparency.

“There was also an element of how further the money would go in Cambodia. We had just moved to Singapore and people need help in Singapore but one dollar makes a bigger difference in a country like Cambodia. So to start it was a rational data driven decision [to choose CCF],” says An-Rui.

The emotional attachment would come later.

With busy lives climbing up the career ladders, the couple felt the best way to be involved at that time was through donating. Their consistent support over the years has amounted to a significant amount, remarkable generosity especially from such a young couple building their own life together.

Moving to Singapore from London, with the lower taxation, opened up the opportunity for higher giving, says An-Rui.

The couple donate a chunk of the money saved from lower taxes to CCF, using it to help others as the taxes would have been in the UK, he reasons.

“We were comfortable with our lives so it did not feel like we had to sacrifice anything,” adds Amanda.

On top of donating, the couple had talked about getting more involved with CCF when the time was right.

This came when they attended a CCF sponsorship event in Singapore and saw and heard about the extent of CCF’s work in Cambodia.

”It was one of those moments that really brought to life the size, the magnitude, of the colossal change that had happened. When you speak to people and the level of transformation that CCF has achieved is brought to life through video, it was a ‘wow’ moment and we wanted to get involved even more,” says An-Rui,

An-Rui, a Group Analytics Manager with Google, and Amanda, an Associate Marketing Director at Fidelity International, agreed they were in the right place in their careers and lives take the next step in their commitment to making a difference.

In July 2023, they became sponsors to two CCF children: Sreyheng, a girl now aged eight, and Davit, a boy now aged nine.

Originally, they only thought of sponsoring one child but were drawn to the story of little Sreyheng hassling CCF Founder, Scott Neeson, every night to have her own sponsor, and decided to make her wish come true too.

They’ve since travelled to Cambodia three times to meet their sponsored children, joining CCF’s 20th celebrations in Phnom Penh in May 2024, and most recently in December last year.

“When you have the pictures of the kids, the before and after, that’s an unbelievable ‘what’ and then you come here and see the immense infrastructure and thought and care that’s gone into the ‘how’ and that’s just mind blowing,” says An-Rui.

“I think a lot of people approach giving with a level of skepticism. We trusted before but seeing with our own eyes is unequivocally fantastic.”

They also brought their parents on the December trip to meet Sreyheng and Davit and have a tour of the CCF facilities to see firsthand the reason why their children are so passionate about CCF.

“We wanted them to come and see it as well. The first time we came in 2023 was huge. Seeing the schools had a big impact on us. It’s not just what is there for the kids but the broader community as well, the health clinic, and that entire ecosystem being built,” says Amanda.

Amanda’s mum, Serena Mak, describes the visit to CCF - her first trip to Cambodia from Malaysia - as an eye opener and particularly enjoyed meeting all the CCF children.

”It was very eye opening for me and I was very impressed. We went to the dumpsite and the school and the children were so warm and happy, they just wanted a hug. At the nursery, the little ones just run to you like you are a long-lost friend,” she says.

”I am very happy [that An-Rui and Amanda are sponsoring] and not just donating.

There are a lot of charitable organisations where you give money and you don’t know what it’s going on. They communicate and have video sessions with the children (Sreyheng and Davit) and they do update us. I am very happy to see them involved.”

Sponsoring has been a learning experience for An-Rui and Amanda, one that they’ve embraced as another chapter in their shared journey.

“I didn’t really know what to expect. They are really lovely kids and very sweet, seeing them progress is going to be really rewarding,” says An-Rui.

They see their role at the moment as aunt and uncle-like figures providing encouragement, friendship, mentorship and offering words of guidance, as they did when Davit had a problem at school recently. An-Rui speaks proudly of how Davit recently picked up a Most Improved Award and his interest in maths and computing.

”I think we definitely feel protective over them,” says Amanda. “We have different relationships with them as well, which is interesting. Sreyheng gravitates more towards me and Davit gravitates more naturally towards An-Rui. It's a two-way relationship and it’s on us to make sure we come to visit. We live so close compared to most sponsors, just two hours away, so it’s on us to have that commitment to see the kids.”

The couple are in for the long haul with Amanda saying they have talked about possibly offering assistance with Sreyheng and Davit’s continuing education if they progress on to university.

An-Rui is eager to deepen his involvement with CCF in Singapore, whether by lending his expertise in an official role or finding ways to contribute through his work at Google.

To anyone considering sponsoring with CCF or becoming a donor or supporter, they are united in their belief CCF is the right place for their money, time and commitment.

“There are loads of charities where you can go and build a school and then leave and forget it’s happened. We didn’t want that, it has to be meaningful,” says Amanda.

Her husband adds: “I don’t think there are many places on this planet where you can put your money and your time and energy, and have such a massive life changing, almost guaranteed, positive impact.”