Why The Kingdom of Cambodia?

If I was asked 2 years ago ‘would you ever go to Cambodia?’ I would’ve shrugged and said ‘Cambo-where?’ I had no interest in the country at all. Its history, its country, its language…nothing. There was no deterrence, just no inherent interest. But Cambodia found me.

My initial interest in NGO work was stemmed by the guy I ran away with- my ‘good fortune’. He was the one who introduced me to the idea of humanitarianism. However, this interest didn’t evolve until I had resolved my restlessness on the Great Barrier Reef. I had the epic epiphany that this life of self serving indulgence wasn’t enough to sustain me (c'mon, I played on the beach every day and got paid for it) and I wanted to infuse more meaning into my life…by following my dream to fill someone’s need! The next step was how. What was my dream and what was the need?

2 weeks after my epiphany I was presented with the opportunity to go scuba diving for $20 with another guest on the island (oh the benefits of staff discount!). This guest was a sweet-looking Asian lady who I quickly connected with.

‘So, what are you going to do after the island?’

‘I’m thinking about doing some volunteer work with an NGO…just don’t know which NGO or what to do…’

‘Oh, I have a friend in Vietnam working for an NGO. They deal with displaced Vietnam War refugees who ended up in worse situations than they ran away from. Or something like that.’

The clouds opened up and the sunrays beamed around her. The angels sang. Doves flocked. The crowd went wild.

MY parents were refugees from the Vietnam War. THEY ran away from the same war as those people. But they were lucky and ended up in Australia. I was lucky to be born under THEIR parentage. There were still people out there living my parents’ past suffering!

I found the NGO online and an email address:

My name is Debra Ly. I have a Bachelor of Education and 6 months of my time to donate. Are there opportunities at present? Please let me know.

Hi Debra! Thank you for your expression of interest. We’ve just opened up a preschool in a Vietnamese Ep Chai slum village in Cambodia. You can run it! When can you get here??

Kingdom of Wonder? Why not?!

Previously on…LIFE

I’ve finally gotten around to reporting on the NOW. Hmm…actually not yet. I’m going to catch people up on how my NOW came about. This is a story I want to share because I believe everyone is destined to follow a path to serve a role and create and find meaning in one’s existence in this world.

Not many can do this, but I can pinpoint the exact date when everything changed. August 25^th, 2008. That was the foretold date of my coming of ‘good fortune’. (I was approached by an Indian fortune-teller 3 months previously who told me what I was thinking and stated 25/8…and then asked for $10).

On that fateful day, I received a text message from the new guy at work. ‘Let’s run away. We’ll get into your car and get lost in the sticks. It’ll be an adventure! =)’. That text represented a cross-road: yes or no.

Yes: runaway with a complete stranger from my cookie-cutter, spoon-fed life and open myself to a world of infinite possibilities.

No: stick to what I know and take the 5-lane freeway towards the white-picket fence all us middle-class, Asian, Catholic school-girls are conditioned for. (FYI, I’m spiritual, not religious)

mmm...YES.

I roamed Victoria, pitched my first tent, fell in love, climbed a mountain, flew to Queensland, got a job on a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef, fell out of love, connected with the nature, found the Universe, had an epiphany, sent an email, flew to Cambodia, ran a preschool in the slums of Siem Reap for displaced Vietnamese children, got kicked out of the country for ‘terrorism’, wallowed in ambivalence back in Melbourne, flew to India, landed again in Cambodia.

My first tent

My sunset life on the Island

The Island

My preschool kids

Henna tattoo in the mountains of Himachal

Cambodia round 2 with my new gang outside Angkor Wat (Unfortunately I can't post pictures of my current work due to its sensitive nature)

And now I’m Country Director of NGO Senhoa, providing vocational training and life-skills education for survivors of human-trafficking. All in a course of 2 years. I haven’t looked back once.

Wrapping India Up

I’ve been out of India now for nearly 8 months and haven’t even touched Cambodia, so it doesn’t make sense for me to keep slipping back in time and neglect reportage of the NOW (my blog’s title ‘Today’s a Gift’ for crying out loud!). I’m going to wrap up my Indian adventure and catch everyone up to my more recent goings-on. However, I do want it to be noted that my speed-blog on Mumbai no way justifies my experience there.

After the wedding, Karin and I were handballed over to the in-laws. We couldn’t have been welcomed more warmly. Kiwi’s new mother-in-law threw her arms out and crushed me against her big bosom and cupped my cheeks so that my lips made a fish-kiss, and told me to call her Aunty (by that point I had already adopted 5). For the next week in their cosy apartment, she proceeded to feed us the freshest, most deliciously prepared Indian meals YET.

The In-Laws

During our time with the Babbu family:

• we were taken to the National Park within Mumbai where temples were carved out of the natural rock

• taken on the Mumbai Safari. (awesome laughs and memories. How else can you pray at a Holy House of Hinduism and then get shipped to an entertainment centre to watch a 4-D children’s film, get caught in a monsoon down-pour, get sprayed by a toilet flush button AND watch sea turtles scrape against the glass of their1x2 meter tanks that was their new habitat?)

• weaved through the roaming cows on the wild streets

• drank fruit beer (with 0% fruit)

• welcomed the new neighbor (they lived across a cemetery)

• found out the meaning of ‘choda’

On my last day (10 July), I was accompanied to the airport by Anku, Meenu and Karin. It was a nice way to say goodbye…if I’d actually left. I was 20 minutes late for check-in so I was locked out and stranded from my flight out. The airport staff weren’t helpful in the least, constantly pointing me in different directions and finally made a cross with their arms in my face so that’d I’d get the message that I was clearly NOT GETTING ON THAT PLANE. Thank goodness I was not the only one though. Another family was fighting to get onto the same flight, but to no avail. Thank even MORE goodness that the father was generous enough to help me find a solution. I had no phone, no number to call, no cash, NO IDEA. I had a flight booked from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap the next day. I couldn’t afford to miss another flight! I had another dousing of kindness that day though. The father, Amil, went out of his way and looked up flights for me online (he had his laptop with a Dongle), made calls with his phone, convinced the security guards to let me pass to get to the international ATM, waited for me for 45 minutes (!!!) to get my new tickets to KL and double and triple checked that I had the right flights at the right prices. I was NOTHING to this man but he was so chivalrous and made sure I had a way out of India. 12 hours later (and bored out of my MIND) I was on my way to KL to my connecting flight to my awaiting life in Siem Reap, Cambodia.