Bringing a gift to Cambodia

September 1st, 2008 | Scroll down for comments

I’m going to Cambodia on September 9. I go to Cambodia several times a year with groups of Japanese who want to volunteer and learn in simple ways. We believe in the principle that big changes start very small — with individual people and relationships.

We are developing a couple of key partnerships. Each time we visit a community of several thousand people who were forcibly relocated from Phnom Penh to a barren patch of ground outside the city with no running water, sewage system, local school, or any other services. The government wanted the people’s land for commercial development, and they got it. This is a pattern being repeated all across the country right now.

There’s a man in who used to work for in a government ministry who is doing amazing work in that community. He quit his government job and he has helped build hundreds of houses, put in pipes, and started a school. He does everything on a shoestring budget while living off his wife’s salary as a dental assistant. I’ve met a number of people with real integrity and compassion in my life, and he is one of them.

After that we’ll go to a community of adults and orphans living about 50km outside the city. The director has been a friend since the first time I went there in 2007, and he is another man of great integrity. The place started out as a hospice in 2001 when tens of thousands were dying of AIDS. It was started by two partners, a Christian medical worker and a Buddhist monk, and they called it “Partners in Compassion.” During the first five years about 400 people dying of AIDS received treatment and a place to live and die with dignity (about 200 adults and children died on the site). In 2005 they began treating people with newly affordable drugs that stop the progress of HIV. Since then very few people have died of AIDS. Today the adults, most living with HIV, care for almost sixty orphans. About 20 percent of the kids are living with HIV. My friend doesn’t seek major donors but prefers to receive support from individuals who feel a connection to the place. Recently, the have been challenged by the rising cost of food (the World Food Program was forced to stop sending rice), and I know they have wonderful projects on hold as funds slowly build up.

Normally, when I bring groups, I give some money as a gift before I go. This time my group is so small that I’m losing quite a bit of money, but I’ll still leave gifts. I want to. I’d also like to give you the opportunity to contribute to the gift I’ll bring if you want to. Your money will be put to good use and very much appreciated! Just use the “donate” button below.

To donate click here
(This link will take you to a donation page at GlobalCompassion.com — my other site.)

Full disclosure: The money will come straight to me. I’m not a “non profit” (not officially), but I will carry ALL the money given (if any) directly to the people I described above.  Then I will post images later to verify the amount received (if any) and to show receipts for the amount donated.

Learn more:

A video slideshow of “Partners in Compassion” that I made after our last trip

Some photos from “Partners in Compassion” in my portfolio

Partners in Compassion home page and more info (contact, donations, etc)

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