Ni-Night Founder, Majella Skansebakken talks about her involvement with Missionaries of Charity, The Tabitha Foundation, Kuma Cambodia, Green Umbrella, RiverKids, Green Gecko and Sunrise Children’s Village
A lot of people have good intentions. And with the privileged life that so many of us enjoy in Singapore, it’s not uncommon to want to offer time, care, goods and money to those in need. Staying power is the key though. We discovered this in our chat with Majella Skansebakken. She is the founder and designer behind children’s furniture brand, Ni-Night (now closed). Majella is also a mother of three children. Majella is an enterprising and generous Aussie, and former law firm manager. Here, she shares how her charitable thoughts transformed her, and the charity she offers to people in Cambodia.
Hi Majella. We know you’re the founder and designer behind gorgeous children’s furniture brand Ni Night (now closed). We also know you have three kids and do an enormous amount of charity work. Which came first?
I would have to say charity work was the absolute start of everything. My husband and I had arrived in Singapore in early 2001 with a suitcase each and we were living in a fab little apartment on the East Coast. We were invited on a house-building trip to Cambodia with the Tabitha Foundation. The purpose of the trip was to see whether I thought the sale of Tabitha Cambodia silk would be viable in Singapore. The rest is history!
How do you prioritise and balance it all?
I’m so fortunate to have a fantastic husband who is in it up to his eyeballs as well. For seven years now I have worked Saturdays and not once has he complained. I also have great staff that constantly see my daily juggle and are always there to help.
In the past few years I have restricted myself to one to two days per week physically in the shop. The rest of the time I work from home or my phone. Then I can still be class Mum, do the school drop-off and pick-up and oversee homework. Basically I can still manage everything that comes with being a mum of three children. It’s really all about finding the right balance.
Are we allowed to ask which part you enjoy the most?
Now that’s a loaded question. Of course I have to say the children! However I have learned to mix all of the different parts of my life together very well. All of my kids have now been house-building in Cambodia with us and they’ve all joined me at the school I support there. The business fulfils a passion that my life would be incomplete without. I’m involved in design, marketing, advertising and accounts and enjoy it all.
Why Cambodia?
Cambodia is definitely a place where my soul belongs and going back there is really important to me. My friends and family seem to recognise that I need a few days in Phnom Penh every so often to smell, eat and breathe again. Phnom Penh is such a fabulous city! Of course our first son is from Cambodia but I think even if he wasn’t in our lives Cambodia would still have made a big impact on me somehow or another.
Tell us about the charity work you do there…
I send containers to Cambodia every year and have been doing this for the past 5 years. My wish list, when asking for items to fill it with, has now gotten more specific as I am realising that what they need in Cambodia needs to be so much more meaningful. Ahead of sending the container last year, I flew to Phnom Penh to go to one of the schools we were supplying to make a wish list. What they needed was real things that support education – bookcases, desks, chairs, printers, paper, pencils – not just more clothes and toys.
It must be great exposure for the kids. How do they get involved?
My kids have been surrounded by my business and Cambodia all of their lives. I remember bringing my third child home from hospital and within 6 weeks a donation drive had started and my house was a drop-off point. He was tiny and I was there with him in a Baby Bjorn packing boxes! They are used to the mayhem of trips to Cambodia, buying milk and rice for orphanages and packing boxes for the next donation drive. Their lives are definitely enriched by living in Singapore and by their parents trying to teach them about a sustainable and peaceful future. We obviously embrace the ethos of service to others and hope that in some small way it is rubbing off onto them.
How much time does it take up, your involvement in charity work?
Cambodia does take an enormous amount of my time. The containers are a full month of packing in Singapore followed by a week dividing everything up at the warehouse in Singapore and then flying to Cambodia to unpack the containers. The house-building is now just part of our annual holidays and we normally get to enjoy it with friends and family who come up with us. I am also extremely fortunate to have my children at UWC East where they have gorgeous scholarship students from Cambodia. This has been a great opportunity for our family to connect with lovely children living in Singapore who need a ‘home’ to visit every now and again.
How does the charity work make you feel?
Cambodia is a really beautiful country and the people are so happy and full of life. I worry that things are not progressing like they should be and often come home after a visit to a school, a clinic or an orphanage and think I am actually really not getting much done at all. It is very overwhelming. Every single person whose life I touch in Cambodia needs help. Whether it’s my tuk-tuk driver, my sewing lady, a school, an orphanage – the list is never ending. It is very easy to get bogged down by it all and wonder if your effort is actually making a difference.
Do you see this as part of your life ongoing?
Definitely! Cambodia is a part of our life now and in the future, and visiting is a normal part of life for our children. We attended the wedding of our tuk-tuk driver at Chinese New Year and our kids know the shops, the restaurants, and the markets. I wouldn’t want our son turning 18 and wondering where he is from either, so I am a real believer in taking adopted children back to where they are from as often as possible. Actually, he visits so often that he now asks if we can go on holidays somewhere else! Living in Singapore makes travel to Cambodia easy but it would be more challenging if we ever move back to Australia.
Would you ever move to Cambodia full time?
We have definitely considered this but I don’t think its feasible at the moment with three children, my business and my husband’s job. I have a good balance now with being able to travel to Cambodia frequently but be back in Singapore for normal life to keep happening.
What advice would you give to people wanting to give some of their time to a charity?
I would say, don’t start off trying to change the world. Just do what you can and let it grow. A lot of people get involved and then drop out as they try to take on too much. Also, be clear on what people need. It’s common for people to think they are doing good by dumping unwanted items with charities, but this makes work for the people that have to sort, move and discard them if they’re not the right sorts of things. Singapore has a number of organisations that need help. The Missionaries of Charity is a home for elderly people and the nuns there would love some help!
OK, a little less on the altruistic side now…since you’re an expert we have to ask what are your top 5 tips for styling a kid’s room without breaking the bank?
1. I suppose my mantra has always been to buy solid hardwood furniture as it will last a lifetime. You can buy cheap but you will buy it three or four times over.
2. Think about your storage. A trundle under a bed doesn’t have to be for a mattress! My kids have Lego stored in theirs.
3. I am a big believer in keeping the lines of furniture clean and simple and then adding gorgeous colour with quilts, throws, rugs and artwork. I love white in any room as it’s a great staple to work with.
4. I love to re-use items. I re-cover lamp shades, make new cushion covers and even make my children’s patchwork quilts from old fabric swatches.
5. You don’t need boys and girls themes nowadays. This is difficult to do and often causes stress and ridiculous cost. With the new modern and contemporary fabrics, you can easily have a boy and a girl in a room with the same look but a different colour tone.