Whatever your doing- Believe in it!

I have now been in Cambodia for 2 weeks time and I am loving this place. Yes it is extremely hot with little to no relief from the heat (unless you go away on the weekends and book a room with A/C haha) but it is slowly capturing my heart.

I was told many times how nice the people of Cambodia are and this has been a proven fact to me on many occasions. Not only are the tuk tuk drivers willing to just give you a smile, hotel managers will go out of their way to make sure your needs are met and the cooks at my volunteer house are always worried about us eating enough. But the one person who has impressed me the most is the director of my organizaiton that I am volunteering at. She is truly a phenomenal woman. She started the organization called Rachna Satrei, meaning Womens Empowerment in Khmer, in 2005 with her own money. This was after she had volunteered full time while going to school with other local NGOs. Once she had graduated from university, where she received a degree in management and accounting, she was recruited by local trade unions to advocate and lead their cause against the government. 

It was during this time that she was a strong advocate for women working at the temples in Phnom Pehn and had to deal with many misgivings as the government and many others did not like what she was doing. So in between speeches in court and rallies in the streets she was working towards getting her organization off the ground. It was in 2007 when she received her first big grant to begin her projects. Her projects embody many different directives including advocacy, agriculture and skill development, women's empowerment, networking, food security as well as women's rights and gender equality. 

But as I spent only 2 hours with this woman learning about herself and her organization I saw emotions of all kinds. She showed me determination, passion, love, tears and tried to explain to me she just wants to help the women of Cambodia. She has experienced and seen victims of trafficking, domestic violence, rape and many other atrocities that women in this world experience everyday. The one message she left me with was that whatever we do in this world- Believe in it! And it doesn't have to be on the scale of starting ones own NGO,  it could be as a teacher and believing in the value of education, a daycare worker enjoying the priceless smile of a child, the soft hum of a newly tuned engine by a mechanic who loves working with his hands or the stroke of a paint brush by a professional or amateur artist. As long as you believe in the value, the beauty or the importance of the things in your life you're living a good one!!