Miss Li Scrubs × MLOP Tapang: Care from Melbourne to Cambodia

At Miss Li Scrubs, we have always believed that care can take many forms. Sometimes it is found in the work healthcare professionals do every day. Sometimes it means sharing your time, knowledge and skills with a community. And sometimes, it can begin with something as simple as a box of coloured pencils.

Earlier this year, Miss Li Scrubs had the opportunity to support the work of MLOP Tapang in Cambodia. Dr. A/Prof Warren Shnider and a group of final year dental students from the University of Melbourne Dental School travelled from Melbourne to Cambodia to volunteer at MLOP Tapang’s dental clinic. During their time there, they worked alongside local Khmer healthcare professionals to provide dental care to children and families in the community.

The team wore Miss Li Scrubs during their time at the clinic, and they also brought with them educational supplies donated by Miss Li, including school books, pencils, colouring supplies, games and other materials for children in MLOP Tapang’s education programs. From Melbourne, the scrubs and boxes of supplies travelled with the team all the way to Cambodia.

Not long after, photographs began making their way back to us. We saw our scrubs in a place we had never seen them before, worn by healthcare professionals as they worked together, cared for patients and shared moments of laughter between busy days. For a small scrub brand that began in Melbourne, there was something incredibly special about seeing that.

We spend so much time thinking about the details of a scrub: how it feels through a long day, whether the pockets are practical, how easily someone can move in it, and how a little colour or a playful print might make the working day feel a little brighter. But photographs like these remind us that the most meaningful part of any pair of scrubs has never been the scrubs themselves. It is the person wearing them, and the work they do while wearing them.

Among the photographs that came back from Cambodia were also drawings created by children using some of the coloured pencils we had donated. There were colourful houses, flowers, trees and little hearts filling the pages. These were ordinary supplies when we packed them in Melbourne. A few pencils, books and colouring materials, things that can be so easy to take for granted. Then, thousands of kilometres away, those pencils were suddenly in a child’s hands, becoming houses, flowers and little worlds on paper.

There was something quietly moving about seeing both sides of the journey. The scrubs we had designed for healthcare professionals were being worn while providing care, while the educational supplies that travelled alongside them had found their way into the hands of children in the community. It reminded us that care does not always look the same. It can be clinical knowledge shared with a patient. It can be healthcare professionals giving their time and skills far from home. It can be local professionals and organisations continuing to care for their communities every day. And sometimes, it can be something much smaller, like giving a child the tools to draw, learn and create.

The experience also made us think about the things many of us can easily take for granted: access to healthcare, education, books, pencils and the opportunity to learn and play. As medicine, education and technology continue to advance, their greatest value is realised when those opportunities can reach the people and communities who need them.

Our contribution was only a small part of a much larger effort. The meaningful and ongoing work belongs to the local organisations, Khmer healthcare professionals, educators, volunteers and communities who continue to show up and make programs like these possible. We are also grateful to the visiting dental team who gave their time and professional skills, and who carried our little contribution from Melbourne to Cambodia with them.

For Miss Li, being able to contribute to that journey is something we will remember. Most of the time, when a pair of Miss Li Scrubs leaves our Melbourne warehouse, we do not know exactly where it will go. Maybe it will be worn through an early morning shift, a busy afternoon on the ward or a long night in a clinic. It might be there for an ordinary Tuesday, a difficult day, or one of those unexpectedly joyful moments that reminds someone why they chose healthcare in the first place.

This time, we were lucky enough to see a little part of that story. A group of healthcare professionals in colourful Miss Li Scrubs, caring for a community thousands of kilometres from Melbourne. And a few coloured pencils, carried on the same journey, becoming drawings in the hands of children.

As Miss Li continues to grow, this is something we hope to carry with us. Because making a difference does not always have to begin with something big. Sometimes, it begins with showing up. Sometimes, with sharing what you know. And sometimes, with something as simple as a box of coloured pencils.