Making a Difference in Cambodia

Thursday, February 2, 2017
Learn more about the experience of a One Mission service trip.

I had been planning on travelling on a mission trip for some time prior to leaving for Cambodia with One Mission. I had a real desire to make a practical difference overseas and One mission provided a great opportunity for me to make that goal a reality. The trip I went on was a part of ADRA Connections’ ‘CHOICES’ project, which focuses on the development of training and infrastructure in small rural villages across Cambodia. This trip was quite labor-intensive, in that we travelled to six villages in total and, at each, constructed a latrine, water tank, shelter, playground, and conducted classes on clean cooking (food safety) for the mothers, and sanitation and cleanliness (i.e. handwashing and brushing teeth). The trip itself was a great success with the group completing all construction required and facilitating the building of strong connections between the ADRA staff and local villagers.

One distinct memory for me was on the second last day of the trip, where we went to a village that had already begun a lot of the work for us. It essentially meant that the group would be finished by lunch time that day so a group of us had the opportunity to work with the kids and foster some relationships with them during the day. This was the first time that I had spent quality time with the people in these rural communities and it opened my eyes to something that has stuck with me ever since.

The kids in each village have most of the basic things that they need, such as water, food, shelter, power, and sanitation (albeit to a much poorer quality than what we are used to). Because of this, I began to question why it was that these kids would most likely end up as farmers and kids in Australia would end up as accountants, lawyers, teachers, and nurses. And what I came to is that we have opportunity, whereas they do not. This struck me because I realised, for the first time, the true power of education. What we were doing in teaching those kids would undoubtedly increase their quality of life up to a certain point, but wouldn’t help them achieve much more past that. But with appropriate education, kids would have the opportunity to become accountants, teachers, nurses, and lawyers just as Australian kids do.

This trip left me feeling content with the work that I had done, but dissatisfied with the fact that many of these kids don’t have the opportunities that we do in Australia. Thus, I have developed a newfound passion for education in third world countries and plan on partaking in more mission work soon so far as to assist in education and helping disadvantaged kids get a chance and escaping the poverty in which they live.

-Lachlan Harder, Avondale student

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