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While traveling through Cambodia, one of our founders, Christian Leicht, realised there were many children begging near the ancient tempels of Angkor Wat. He contacted one of the orphanages (named COSO) in Siem Reap. Back in Hamburg, Christian got together with some friends to found "creating smiles e.V.". In this way, more donations can be generated to secure steady financial support for the children in Cambodia.

Accordingly, the Cambodian Orphan Saving Organization (COSO) was one of our first projects. Thanks to subsequent private trips by creating smiles members to Siem Reap, creating smiles e.V. now supports a number of other projects, e.g. Osborne House and Anjali House. Cambodia is therefore in a way the "birthplace" of creating smiles e.V. Since founding the charity in 2007, the projects in Cambodia have faced some structural and personal developments and we have now disengaged with those that cannot guarantee full transparency.

The commitment of our members has seen further projects in other, needy countries being added to creating smiles e.V: a training center in India (known as the "AHM Trust") as well as the Mother and Child Rehabilitation Center (MCRC) in Ethiopia. Currently, most of our support goes to the AHM Trust, which sponsors school scholarships and training programmes for electricians, carpenters and IT specialists. In addition, we would like to increase our support for the MCRC in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Some of our active members have spent several weeks in Addis Abeba working with the MCRC. It was easy for them to see how the loving care and the various individual therapy programmes work to revitalise the kids and get them smiling again. Our youngest projekt in teh "Village of Joy" close to Johannesburg in South Africa. On the pages below, you can read some more detailed information about our current projects.