Field Reports

Today’s message is about keeping girls in school. The beginning of menstruation can present significant disadvantages for girls in the remote villages where I work in Cambodia. Often it means missing several days of school each month. Why? Lots of reasons. Cultural norms. Lack of knowledge. Lack of sanitary supplies. Lack of privacy. Fortunately, there’s a better way. We recently sponsored

I’ve always pictured “mentors” as older, wiser people who gave me guidance and coaching during my career. (As I write this, several names and faces for which I am eternally grateful come vividly to mind.) Recently we sponsored a mentoring program with our NGO partner in Cambodia – The Global Child. (TGC) This version of mentoring was quite different however .

The NGOs and schools we partner with in Cambodia are there to serve marginalized kids and their families. Many of those kids are short on the basics . . . basics like school uniforms, supplies, and transportation to school. Many even arrive with empty stomachs. We deal directly with those needs. Sometimes, however, we can provide a little extra to add

A couple of months ago I wrote about the time I went to prison in Cambodia. Perhaps you’ll remember. Now there’s more to that story I want to tell you about today. My NGO Partner – This Life – is embarking on an ambitious new project called “Diversion”. Here’s why that’s important to me and why I’m sharing this with you today.  Unlike many other places

One of my current NGO Partners is Anjali House in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Locally based and Cambodian led, they are truly making a difference in their local community. Here’s what Sophany Try (Phany), the Executive Director there, has to say about their work. In the quiet corners of our community, behind walls of corrugated metal and repurposed wood, there is

Most of us take clean water for granted. I certainly do. Thirsty? Just head for the nearest faucet. Turn it on. Clean water appears. Easy as that! But what would happen if the water from the faucet wasn’t clean? Or, worse yet, what if you didn’t even have a faucet? Then what? Simply put, that’s the problem faced by most

Imagine this. Imagine small children in prison. Really. That’s what I saw when I visited the Siem Reap provincial prison along with Se Chhin the Deputy Director of my NGO Partner This Life Cambodia. How could this possibly happen?  That’s exactly what I asked Se. Here’s what he had to say: Here in Cambodia, if women are sentenced to prison and

Early marriage … sometimes for girls as young as 15 or 16 (or even younger) is a clear-cut pathway into continuing poverty. The pressures of tradition and the need to help support the family can be HUGE. All too often girls in Cambodian villages end up in early marriage long before they have the ability to understand the impacts this

It gets incredibly hot in Cambodia. And when the rainy season arrives, the rainfall is intense. For kids who play outside, these weather extremes can cause problems throughout the year. That was the challenge facing our NGO Partner, the Grace House Organization. They had a good place for their 200 kids to play outside, but the only cover available was a

Hygiene is a crucial issue Today I want to talk about soap . . . yes, soap . . . something we all take for granted. But what would life be like if we didn’t have any soap? Let me tell you what I saw while visiting some Cambodian villages. To put it bluntly I saw lots of sick kids with runny