Its a long road to civilization

So, my trip to Cambodia has been nothing but amazing experience after another. I am struggling with finding balance between poverty and beauty here. By this I mean that to me, everything is so beautiful, simple, free. When we choose to vacation, we choose simple stress free places with no connection to the outside world No cell phones, sometimes no TV (unless you're my husband who needs to have it on 24/7). We choose to stay in huts in Bali, or Tahiti or Fiji. But in Cambodia, its not a choice for the majority of the population. They live like this because its the only option. We visited a village yesterday where we have 10 girls in the community who are on our Room to Grow scholarship and reality set in when we entered the village. It actually set in much before that as it took about 1 hour off the beaten path to even get to the fishing village where these girls lived. We had to take a bus about 45 minutes from Siem Reap. Then from there, we had to all pile into the back of a truck to be transported another 45 minutes to the village. In the rainy season, this area is flooded so we would have had to go by bus, then truck, then by boat to get there. So these girls on scholarship with Room to Read can't even live with their families at all while in school because it is impossible to commute every day by bicycle, their only mode of transportation to even get to school. They have a very generous teacher who boards them until they graduate. The teacher lives about 30 minutes from their secondary school so that they CAN ride their bicycle to class every day. They rarely see their family in the village but are so thankful to be given the opportunity to be in school. Their parents also spoke to us about why it's important for them as well. They know that they are not educated and would like to see more for their children and also hopefully more of a future for their community. Now I know why Room to Read is doing amazing work, so people like these girls and these communities can have access to education so that they can better their own lives and bring back their knowledge to better their community. All of the three girls we visited in their village said that they wanted to be teachers when they graduate from secondary school, because they feel so lucky to have the opportunity to study and learn. All of them said thank you to us, but really, all of us on the trek feel the same way, that those girls are an inspiration to us all that they have to sacrifice so much and go to such lengths to go to school. I wanted to hug each one of them and cry. They are my inspiration!




Kristie Wagner , Debra Lee Loke and Jen Pyle, Thank you so much for being amazing educators and teaching your kids about social entrepreneurship and Room to Read! I have heard how much your kids have raised so far selling wristbands and saving quarters. I know that by the end of the school year 4 more communities will have access to 4 new libraries and 4000 books because of you! Perhaps this village in Cambodia will be one of the beneficiaries. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting this amazing organization and changing the lives of so many children!

Below is a clip of the fishing village we visited yesterday. It may make you cry.... and if it doesn't, I certainly have footage that will.....