Yesterday (Friday): I woke up and wasn't feeling too good. My cough has been getting progressively worse, and I'm starting to question if it is related to the exhaust fumes or if I'm really getting a cold or something. Regardless of how I was feeling, there was a house that needed to be finished!
When we got to the site, the skilled local laborers were beginning the process of installing the roofs. None of us were allowed to work on the roof and I'm glad. In my short stint of working part time for a contracting company, I could tell there were some safety concerns that would have been questionable in the U.S. The steel beams were only tack welded and not welded all the way around. The roofing sheets being very light would not put enough pressure on the beams to collapse them. This wasnt a concern for the life of the roof, more of a concern for the life of the workers installing them! They were climbing around like monkeys on these beams and I was just waiting for bad news to happen; luckily no one was hurt.
We basically finished the house and I was given the pleasure of installing a kitchen counter-top in the back of the house! I believe because we were so far ahead of schedule they gave us some extra projects to do. I was more than happy to do it because the only other option was cleaning, and for those of you who are friends with Kianna (my girlfriend), you have probably heard by now about how skilled I am in the art of avoiding the dangers of it. In my book a bottle of Windex is much more dangerous than a circular saw and an assortment of sharp hand-held tools!
I had the pleasure of meeting up again with my new German friends Alex, Christian and Lydia; we finally went on our adventure to eat the tarantulas! If I did this post right, there should be a picture of the receipt! There are two main parts of the spider: the legs and the body. The legs were crunchy, like a mix between beef jerky and over-done french fries! After the crawlers, we had another great meal and after that met up with some more friends at a local concert to see the band Dengue Fever. This being our last night, we went out in style! The fare was delicious, the dancing was fantastic and the company was exciting! But after a week of 90 degree weather and then a full night of events, my physical body was on the hunt for my hotel mattress. It was one of those 'fall asleep before my head hits the bed' kind of nights.
Today: it's been a very long week, very long. It's been fabulous but it's been long! We went to the site for the last time today to have a ceremony for each of our residents. It will be very hard for me to express how emotional it all was; after all, this happened after we had just spent a week roaming around the city seeing poverty that is nothing like to poverty we would see back home. The emotions that we were all feeling were so mixed - they were so layered. It was a happy moment in the sense that we were helping a family by giving them a safe and secure place to live. It was a house that was in all meanings of the word their Home. They own this now, and through Habitat for Humanity, they will now be helped to started a business to give their lives some focus other than rummaging through trash to find food and things to sell. One of Habitat for Humanity's slogans is "we are not a hand out, we are a hand up!"
We were sad that there are still so many families living at the dump site; over 20% of the population in Cambodia live below the poverty line. We almost feel guilty, especially considering how much more we could probably do.
We didn't want to leave our residents, but at the same time we couldn't wait to get home. All day I felt as though a group of gladiators surrounded me as they were playing tug-of-war with my heart.
The ceremony was beautiful! We all said a few words, going around the room letting our resident how humbled we are and how much we love them. Waterfalls people, waterfalls. There wasn't a dry eye in the room but as we confronted the reality of our departure up front, we quickly jumped into dancing and singing in honor of the family that would be living in their new home. I was very lucky this week in that I had representatives from 7 countries in my small group! During the house dedication, we all went around and sang songs that were popular from where we were from. Because a lot of well known holiday songs are in English, I led the group in a variety of Christmas songs: deck the halls, Rudolph the red nosed Raindeer and Jingle Bells were a few of them!
At the end, we cried and hugged as we fixed to leave our new family members behind. It was tough, but the stay was long enough. I missed my previous family; I missed my beautiful girlfriend Kianna and our wonderful daughter Keira. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them. Throughout the week, it's been very hard thinking about them and not being able to communicate outside of Internet texting sporadically. Cambodia is literally on the opposite side of the world (12 hours) from Boston, so in a very real way I was as far apart from them as I could possibly be in this world. That fact dug a hole inside my chest that lingered since I left last Friday morning at 3 a.m.
Right now: I'm on the plane going back home! I'm anxious to finally be able to sleep in my own bed. Despite going over 700 mph right now, it doesn't feel fast enough! This trip has been a total pleasure to be on. I've made unbelievable friends, I've done some great work for people who are seriously marginalized, I've had awesome adventures and experiences and I've learned a lot about Cambodia. I hope to do this again.
The end.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Cambodia! Peeeeeedro!
Have you ever seen those Toyota commercials when they have each generation of Camry driving and they say "90% of all toyota camrys ever sold are still on the road"? I always thought that was such a load of B.S.... I wondered where all the old ones were? I never see any from the 80s or early 90s anymore! Well, I found out where they are - Cambodia.
Other than the cough I have going on (which I attribute to the exhaust fumes that my lungs have been partying on for the past week almost), everying is going well. My team is ahead of schedule on the house we are building, so we will definitely finish it before we leave. Despite her being very happy when my team initially arrived, I can tell our resident (Sureymom) is getting more and more excited. Her family has been periodically visiting each day to see our progress. It is great to know that long after I'm gone from here, the work my team and I have done will still be providing a necessity to Sureymom and her family.
Last night, I was invited out to dinner by some of my teammates (Alex, Christian and Lydia). We went to the Chinese House and had a delicious meal. Christian perfectly executed guiding the evening. I was very impressed with his skill and suave demeanor throughout the night, and I'll be grateful if any of it rubbed off on me so that I can go home and impress my girlfriend with some European-style manners!
Tonight, Habitat for Humanity held a dinner for us in our honor of sacrificing our time for this project. Various awards were given out and there was also a variety of performances; three performances in total. The first one definitely got my attention. I have to say that I am still confused about what it meant. I'm going to skip all the details, but based on what my interpretation of it was that there were two lovers going back and forth in argument eventually ending in love for another. The dance moves were interesting to say the least! Second was a longer dance that seemed more of a new interpretation of a traditional story-dance. It was beautiful at the end when the wife was crying over her husbands deceased body (he was killed by a fat guy in a little vest...maybe the pringles guy without the mustache) but then his life was saved by some sort of female god. I throw in a little silliness, but it really was rather nice. Lastly, there was a hip hop group that performed some street dance to western hip hop music. They were extremely talented with their moves - think gymnastics meets gangsta.
I'm getting ready for bed and I'm looking forward to dinner tomorrow; the director of this camp has made reservations for Alex, Chrstian, Lydia and me to go to a restaurant and have some fried tarantulas! BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!
Other than the cough I have going on (which I attribute to the exhaust fumes that my lungs have been partying on for the past week almost), everying is going well. My team is ahead of schedule on the house we are building, so we will definitely finish it before we leave. Despite her being very happy when my team initially arrived, I can tell our resident (Sureymom) is getting more and more excited. Her family has been periodically visiting each day to see our progress. It is great to know that long after I'm gone from here, the work my team and I have done will still be providing a necessity to Sureymom and her family.
Last night, I was invited out to dinner by some of my teammates (Alex, Christian and Lydia). We went to the Chinese House and had a delicious meal. Christian perfectly executed guiding the evening. I was very impressed with his skill and suave demeanor throughout the night, and I'll be grateful if any of it rubbed off on me so that I can go home and impress my girlfriend with some European-style manners!
Tonight, Habitat for Humanity held a dinner for us in our honor of sacrificing our time for this project. Various awards were given out and there was also a variety of performances; three performances in total. The first one definitely got my attention. I have to say that I am still confused about what it meant. I'm going to skip all the details, but based on what my interpretation of it was that there were two lovers going back and forth in argument eventually ending in love for another. The dance moves were interesting to say the least! Second was a longer dance that seemed more of a new interpretation of a traditional story-dance. It was beautiful at the end when the wife was crying over her husbands deceased body (he was killed by a fat guy in a little vest...maybe the pringles guy without the mustache) but then his life was saved by some sort of female god. I throw in a little silliness, but it really was rather nice. Lastly, there was a hip hop group that performed some street dance to western hip hop music. They were extremely talented with their moves - think gymnastics meets gangsta.
I'm getting ready for bed and I'm looking forward to dinner tomorrow; the director of this camp has made reservations for Alex, Chrstian, Lydia and me to go to a restaurant and have some fried tarantulas! BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
No tarantulas yet
Hi everyone! Ive gotten a few messages from some of you asking why I'm not responding to any comments and it's because I can't see any comments for some reason. I'm not sure why, but I apologize for not responding.
Yesterday: Yesterday was pretty packed with some great things. First, I missed the bus to the dump site where all the homeless people were living. I was upset about it, but hopefully I'll get some pictures from some friends. Because of the time difference, I couldn't fall asleep until 7am here! I overslept until literally 1:59 pm and the bus left at 2:00! I ran outside but the tour had just left! Bummer!
I decided (since I was all alone at this point) that I would go on a little adventure. I took a tuk tuk into town to the 'Russian Market'. I have no idea why it's called that because all I saw were Cambodians. I bought some little flutes for the children at the worksite as a gift. I've been really excited about doing anything here that involves exchanging money. Pretty much everything (with the exception of going to dinner and such) is negotiable. I found out that bargaining and negotiating is a very big part of life here. Things aren't at a set price, and for tourists that can be unfortunate at times. Yes, I learned the hard way. The first day I was here our tuk tuk driver was cheap! He asked for $20 for the day! I immediately thought of how much a taxi ride into Logan airport is... Around $60. It takes no more than a half hour for the driver and then they are gone to another job. This guy took us everywhere that day, and we felt bad that when we gave him a $10 tip for the day, he almost freaked he was so excited. The next day though, I got in a tuk tuk and didn't ask ahead of time how much the ride was going to be. I went out for about 30 minutes and when we got back the driver asked for $10! It wasnt a lot by our standards, but he was clearly taking advantage of me. Needless to say, I've been using the first guy since then and hooking him up for being so honest.
Last night I went out with Britanny; she accompanied me on my quest to find fried tarantulas. When the attempt was a bust, I simply asked the tuk tuk driver if he knew where we could find them. He said he didn't, but he had a friend that did. I got excited, but the excitement soon turned to slight fear. He took us to a place really far away from where we had been used to going. There were no tourists in this area, and he brought us into a local place that was clearly frequented by the same individuals day in and day out. He brought us in a sat Britanny and I down at a table with five Cambodian guys. One spoke English quite well, and as soon as we sat down the questions started. He was asking where we were from-what we were doing here-how long we were staying, but his tone was overly friendly and it gave me a weird feeling of insecurity. At this point I was ready to throw down at a moments notice, but nothing was happening. Sooner or later our tuk tuk driver asked for $10 and left! We were alone not really knowing what was going on, but to relieve all of your fears, I made it out alive! I ended up that the tuk tuk driver went to try to find me the exotic food I wanted to try, and the 5 gentleman were actually being awesome people to us. The one who spoke English well told us about his life and what it was like to grow up following the Khmer Rouge. He gave us further insight as to what it was like to be poor and living in Cambodia, how he works long days and how he would love to get married and have a few kids. In some ways it was so similar to what you would hear in the US, but in other ways a complete juxtaposition to our lifestyles here. In the end, we had a blast and met some real authentic Cambodians, shared a lot of toasts, and learned about the real lives of the people here. However, Brittany doesn't want me to plan anymore adventures. She will plan the rest of them!
Today: Today was the first day we went to the sites. Oh my goodness I cannot wait to upload these pictures! W are building row houses, and there are 350+ packed in such a small area constructing these amazing homes for our residents. The process is interesting in the sense that all of the professionals that are guiding us only speak Khmer. All of the correcting and teaching are done through body language. It makes for an interesting couple of seconds when you're trying to find out where the bathrooms are!
My team is fabulous; there is a group of professionals from Daimler Corporation but each one if from a different country. I'm having a great time chatting with them, and because I'm here without friends, I sat down with them for dinner tonight and had a fantastic time asking them all about their various countries and lives. I learned so much about South Africa, South Korea, China, Singapore and Australia. The one thing we discovered is that each country has some weird food that the locals eat, but seems disgusting to foreigners.
There is also a famous movie actress from Germany in my group. Her and her friends are a riot, especially Christian the coordinator from the group. Ive never met anyone as sarcastic as him and it was a ball going back and forth in conversation with him!
Today was amazing; I'm starting to really appreciate what kind of an impact this trip is going to make on me when I'm done and I'm looking forward to the motivation and inspiration that will help carry me through the challenges of dedicating my life to philanthropy and serving others.
-Jared
Yesterday: Yesterday was pretty packed with some great things. First, I missed the bus to the dump site where all the homeless people were living. I was upset about it, but hopefully I'll get some pictures from some friends. Because of the time difference, I couldn't fall asleep until 7am here! I overslept until literally 1:59 pm and the bus left at 2:00! I ran outside but the tour had just left! Bummer!
I decided (since I was all alone at this point) that I would go on a little adventure. I took a tuk tuk into town to the 'Russian Market'. I have no idea why it's called that because all I saw were Cambodians. I bought some little flutes for the children at the worksite as a gift. I've been really excited about doing anything here that involves exchanging money. Pretty much everything (with the exception of going to dinner and such) is negotiable. I found out that bargaining and negotiating is a very big part of life here. Things aren't at a set price, and for tourists that can be unfortunate at times. Yes, I learned the hard way. The first day I was here our tuk tuk driver was cheap! He asked for $20 for the day! I immediately thought of how much a taxi ride into Logan airport is... Around $60. It takes no more than a half hour for the driver and then they are gone to another job. This guy took us everywhere that day, and we felt bad that when we gave him a $10 tip for the day, he almost freaked he was so excited. The next day though, I got in a tuk tuk and didn't ask ahead of time how much the ride was going to be. I went out for about 30 minutes and when we got back the driver asked for $10! It wasnt a lot by our standards, but he was clearly taking advantage of me. Needless to say, I've been using the first guy since then and hooking him up for being so honest.
Last night I went out with Britanny; she accompanied me on my quest to find fried tarantulas. When the attempt was a bust, I simply asked the tuk tuk driver if he knew where we could find them. He said he didn't, but he had a friend that did. I got excited, but the excitement soon turned to slight fear. He took us to a place really far away from where we had been used to going. There were no tourists in this area, and he brought us into a local place that was clearly frequented by the same individuals day in and day out. He brought us in a sat Britanny and I down at a table with five Cambodian guys. One spoke English quite well, and as soon as we sat down the questions started. He was asking where we were from-what we were doing here-how long we were staying, but his tone was overly friendly and it gave me a weird feeling of insecurity. At this point I was ready to throw down at a moments notice, but nothing was happening. Sooner or later our tuk tuk driver asked for $10 and left! We were alone not really knowing what was going on, but to relieve all of your fears, I made it out alive! I ended up that the tuk tuk driver went to try to find me the exotic food I wanted to try, and the 5 gentleman were actually being awesome people to us. The one who spoke English well told us about his life and what it was like to grow up following the Khmer Rouge. He gave us further insight as to what it was like to be poor and living in Cambodia, how he works long days and how he would love to get married and have a few kids. In some ways it was so similar to what you would hear in the US, but in other ways a complete juxtaposition to our lifestyles here. In the end, we had a blast and met some real authentic Cambodians, shared a lot of toasts, and learned about the real lives of the people here. However, Brittany doesn't want me to plan anymore adventures. She will plan the rest of them!
Today: Today was the first day we went to the sites. Oh my goodness I cannot wait to upload these pictures! W are building row houses, and there are 350+ packed in such a small area constructing these amazing homes for our residents. The process is interesting in the sense that all of the professionals that are guiding us only speak Khmer. All of the correcting and teaching are done through body language. It makes for an interesting couple of seconds when you're trying to find out where the bathrooms are!
My team is fabulous; there is a group of professionals from Daimler Corporation but each one if from a different country. I'm having a great time chatting with them, and because I'm here without friends, I sat down with them for dinner tonight and had a fantastic time asking them all about their various countries and lives. I learned so much about South Africa, South Korea, China, Singapore and Australia. The one thing we discovered is that each country has some weird food that the locals eat, but seems disgusting to foreigners.
There is also a famous movie actress from Germany in my group. Her and her friends are a riot, especially Christian the coordinator from the group. Ive never met anyone as sarcastic as him and it was a ball going back and forth in conversation with him!
Today was amazing; I'm starting to really appreciate what kind of an impact this trip is going to make on me when I'm done and I'm looking forward to the motivation and inspiration that will help carry me through the challenges of dedicating my life to philanthropy and serving others.
-Jared
Sunday, November 13, 2011
It has been an interesting couple of hours since my last post. Brittany, Sean and I went to dinner. Our tuk tuk driver brought us to a restaurant which was good, but it was pretty obvious it is a place that hooks up the drivers of these tuk tuks if they bring tourists there. The driver suggested it, but based on the amount of foreigners that were being dropped off and told the same thing, it was undoubtedly the case. The food was good and we had a nice laugh about it.
We took a quick walk around after dinner; it was an emotional roller coaster ride. The varying demographics was appalling to see. One moment I was watching excitedly at the public aerobics class taking place on the side walk with the beautiful river right in the background; almost immediately though, my heart wrenched as I looked down to try not to step on the two children sleeping on the sidewalk with nothing but some rags for clothes and a torn-up blanket. U ahead I saw a child no older than Keira (my daughter) who was well experienced in the art of begging; the boy had no fear and no shame in walking up to the complete stranger with his hand outstretched. Almost immediately my mind turned him into Keira. It really was a testament to how broken this world is and why everyone needs to step it up. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has a great take on the world as a community. He says that we are all family, and he means it very literally. If any one of us saw our brother or sister laying on the street like the people I saw today, we wouldn't think twice about helping them. Because we are far removed from this though, and it is not nearly as convenient as ignoring it, we do (generally speaking).
It's so interesting to me that in times like this, when there is so much awareness and information about the injustices in the world, that these injustices still happen. I really do beleive however, that with the technology of today coupled with some time for the abundance of global injustice to influence people around the world (whom I ultimately believe to be fundamentally good), things will change.
Recently at work (Saint Eulalia Parish) the teens were learning about various service opportunities and how they could help other people. One of them shared how hard it was for her to find the time and that there were so many distractions in her life. She asked my advice and I told her this: We can all relate to not having enough time. Serving others is a job and a commitment. The reason why people like Jesus, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Dr . Martin Luther King, etc were so awesome at being good was because they practiced all the time. The more you practice anything the better you will become at it. Charity is no different. Someday, I hope to be the Babe Ruth of charity... Minus the debauchery of course, hahaha!
By the way, I would love any and all feedback. I believe there is a comment section on this blog and I'd love to hear from you all while I'm away!
We took a quick walk around after dinner; it was an emotional roller coaster ride. The varying demographics was appalling to see. One moment I was watching excitedly at the public aerobics class taking place on the side walk with the beautiful river right in the background; almost immediately though, my heart wrenched as I looked down to try not to step on the two children sleeping on the sidewalk with nothing but some rags for clothes and a torn-up blanket. U ahead I saw a child no older than Keira (my daughter) who was well experienced in the art of begging; the boy had no fear and no shame in walking up to the complete stranger with his hand outstretched. Almost immediately my mind turned him into Keira. It really was a testament to how broken this world is and why everyone needs to step it up. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has a great take on the world as a community. He says that we are all family, and he means it very literally. If any one of us saw our brother or sister laying on the street like the people I saw today, we wouldn't think twice about helping them. Because we are far removed from this though, and it is not nearly as convenient as ignoring it, we do (generally speaking).
It's so interesting to me that in times like this, when there is so much awareness and information about the injustices in the world, that these injustices still happen. I really do beleive however, that with the technology of today coupled with some time for the abundance of global injustice to influence people around the world (whom I ultimately believe to be fundamentally good), things will change.
Recently at work (Saint Eulalia Parish) the teens were learning about various service opportunities and how they could help other people. One of them shared how hard it was for her to find the time and that there were so many distractions in her life. She asked my advice and I told her this: We can all relate to not having enough time. Serving others is a job and a commitment. The reason why people like Jesus, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Dr . Martin Luther King, etc were so awesome at being good was because they practiced all the time. The more you practice anything the better you will become at it. Charity is no different. Someday, I hope to be the Babe Ruth of charity... Minus the debauchery of course, hahaha!
By the way, I would love any and all feedback. I believe there is a comment section on this blog and I'd love to hear from you all while I'm away!
Good day
I'm back! The flights were long, and I was mighty tired when I finally got to the hotel 30 hours after leaving my house Friday morning at 3:30 am. The hotel is nice! Here's a link for anyone who wants to see what it looks like!
http://www.hotelcambodiana.com.kh/
I explored the city today with Brittany and Sean. These are two of the volunteers that are with my small group of 6. We took a 'tuk tuk' around town; it's basically a moped with a carriage bolted to the back. Driving around was interesting to say the least as there aren't really any road rules that are informed. Generally vehicles drive on the right side of the street, but it is not always the case. We almost got in an accident because there were other mopeds and cars driving on the wrong side of the street. It seems funny, but people just do what they want and it's totally accepted. I was amazed to see minivans stuffed with 15 plus people, and the balancing feats I saw with my own eyes as moped riders drove with gigantic loads of goods on the back of them made me feel like I was watching the circus at times.
First we went to breakfast. The great part about Cambodia is that food is cheap. For those of you who know me, despite being pretty thin you know I like to eat! We went to an English pub and got things like pancakes and bacon. We will start really exploring the local cuisine tonight and throughout the week.
After breakfast, we went to the royal museum. It was fabulous! I have to apologize because my iPad does not have the required software to support jpegs or other photos that this blog uses, so I will not be able to post pictures until I return home.
The most somber part of the day is when we visited the killing fields. Here is a link to a Wikipedia if you're interested in reading up on it.
I have to return to the city now as our driver is waiting. I'll repost hopefully tonight with a more thorough synopsis of my time so far!
http://www.hotelcambodiana.com.kh/
I explored the city today with Brittany and Sean. These are two of the volunteers that are with my small group of 6. We took a 'tuk tuk' around town; it's basically a moped with a carriage bolted to the back. Driving around was interesting to say the least as there aren't really any road rules that are informed. Generally vehicles drive on the right side of the street, but it is not always the case. We almost got in an accident because there were other mopeds and cars driving on the wrong side of the street. It seems funny, but people just do what they want and it's totally accepted. I was amazed to see minivans stuffed with 15 plus people, and the balancing feats I saw with my own eyes as moped riders drove with gigantic loads of goods on the back of them made me feel like I was watching the circus at times.
First we went to breakfast. The great part about Cambodia is that food is cheap. For those of you who know me, despite being pretty thin you know I like to eat! We went to an English pub and got things like pancakes and bacon. We will start really exploring the local cuisine tonight and throughout the week.
After breakfast, we went to the royal museum. It was fabulous! I have to apologize because my iPad does not have the required software to support jpegs or other photos that this blog uses, so I will not be able to post pictures until I return home.
The most somber part of the day is when we visited the killing fields. Here is a link to a Wikipedia if you're interested in reading up on it.
I have to return to the city now as our driver is waiting. I'll repost hopefully tonight with a more thorough synopsis of my time so far!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Well I'm here at Logan airport. It's 4:42 am and despite being excited about this trip to Cambodia, I'm quite tired already! It's roughly 30 hours from now that I will finally reach my hotel in the city of Phnom Pehn so I think I might need to grab a couple of red bulls.
For anyone who doesn't quite know exactly why I am going to Cambodia, I'll give a quick run-down. To preface this blog, I'd also like to say a couple things. In no way do the opinions, thoughts, ideas or comments in this blog represent any of the companies I work for or consult with. The point of this blog is to document my travels for myself, but to also bring my experiences to my friends and family who wish to learn more about my adventures. Also(as I'm sure many of you reading this can identify with) I feel that when I write things down it helps me work out the various episodes that I've lived; I get to develop a greater appreciation of my life and those around me by following through with this practice. Thank you for understanding.
In June or July, I applied for a fellowship that my school was granting. I was lucky enough to be one of the two students chosen for this opportunity - to go to Cambodia and participate in the Habitat for Humanity project in which we will build houses for the homeless. I will be learning about the local building codes, materials and construction techniques, and once learned, I will be working with a small team of six to build a complete house in 5 days. The interesting and exciting part about the construction is that each house that is built (30 or so in all), they will all have a toilet and a solar panel! The solar panel is something that really makes me happy as I'm a big supporter of education in developing countries. When kids don't have light (which these solar panels can provide power to lightbulbs) they can't read or study. They are limited to the amount of daylight they have, so this single lightbulb will completely change these kids' lives. These houses are for families that have been living in a dump; imagine how this is going to change their life forever! I dont quite know how to compare it to something I can relate to here at home. Actually, I don't really know if I can do it. These families have been living and surviving without their basic needs met. It's almost remarkable how determined they are to survive, because frankly, I don't know if I would have the same passion given the same circumstance. The reason I say it's hard to even find a way to compare it to something I can relate to is because I've always had my basic needs met. Even if I was completely homeless I would have the luxury of being able to eat and use a toilet.
Ok, my flight is about to board, so I'll continue this when I get to NYC for my 5 hour layover! If you have Facebook, you can check out the Khmer Harvest Build page to get some specific information -
http://www.facebook.com/KhmerHarvestBuild?sk=wall
-Jared
For anyone who doesn't quite know exactly why I am going to Cambodia, I'll give a quick run-down. To preface this blog, I'd also like to say a couple things. In no way do the opinions, thoughts, ideas or comments in this blog represent any of the companies I work for or consult with. The point of this blog is to document my travels for myself, but to also bring my experiences to my friends and family who wish to learn more about my adventures. Also(as I'm sure many of you reading this can identify with) I feel that when I write things down it helps me work out the various episodes that I've lived; I get to develop a greater appreciation of my life and those around me by following through with this practice. Thank you for understanding.
In June or July, I applied for a fellowship that my school was granting. I was lucky enough to be one of the two students chosen for this opportunity - to go to Cambodia and participate in the Habitat for Humanity project in which we will build houses for the homeless. I will be learning about the local building codes, materials and construction techniques, and once learned, I will be working with a small team of six to build a complete house in 5 days. The interesting and exciting part about the construction is that each house that is built (30 or so in all), they will all have a toilet and a solar panel! The solar panel is something that really makes me happy as I'm a big supporter of education in developing countries. When kids don't have light (which these solar panels can provide power to lightbulbs) they can't read or study. They are limited to the amount of daylight they have, so this single lightbulb will completely change these kids' lives. These houses are for families that have been living in a dump; imagine how this is going to change their life forever! I dont quite know how to compare it to something I can relate to here at home. Actually, I don't really know if I can do it. These families have been living and surviving without their basic needs met. It's almost remarkable how determined they are to survive, because frankly, I don't know if I would have the same passion given the same circumstance. The reason I say it's hard to even find a way to compare it to something I can relate to is because I've always had my basic needs met. Even if I was completely homeless I would have the luxury of being able to eat and use a toilet.
Ok, my flight is about to board, so I'll continue this when I get to NYC for my 5 hour layover! If you have Facebook, you can check out the Khmer Harvest Build page to get some specific information -
http://www.facebook.com/KhmerHarvestBuild?sk=wall
-Jared
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)