Travel the world, discover yourself.

As I uncover the world's beauties, I discover my own. The beauty of knowing myself is the main reason for my slow pilgrimage throughout the world. Cambodia had a special appeal to me, which was certainly related to the strong energy emanating from the temples in the forest, together with a feeling of maternal love towards the country. Many years after visiting Cambodia, on my birthday, I was in Malaysia when I met Singh Lai, a woman that through her humility, love and devotion to her family made me understand a little more about Cambodia.

Singh Lai is a simple woman who likes seeing a job well done and loves her family very much. Her story, like many other Cambodians, was strongly marked by the terror of war. She herself did not experience it, but, whilst pregnant, her mother had to constantly flee away from persecutions and bombings to safeguard and maintain her family united.

Cambodia is a country that went through a series of adversities in recent history. Initially, the war in neighbor Vietnam made Cambodia an easy target to bombings and army occupations. Subsequently, the Khmer Rouge period, ruled by the Khmer Rouge Communist Party severely damaged the country’s heart and soul. During this period, known as the Cambodian Holocaust, many civilians prematurely died as a result of forced labor, starvation and political executions.

Singh Lai left Cambodia at the age of 17. Born in Kampong Thom, in Cambodia’s countryside, she left behind five sisters, a mother and a 93-year-old grandmother looking for better income opportunities abroad. Singh Lai does not carry any formal education, even though by her willingness to learn and life experience, she can speak four languages. She works two different job shifts, sends most of her money to her family back home and feels great proud and joy of her accomplishments. One day, she hopes, “I’ll go back home to run a small beauty salon with my sisters.”

Usually in my journeys, it is the people I encounter that truly mark an experience, and everyone that crosses my path shows me a different part of myself that I was unaware of.

When we speak from heart to heart we truly share the world. Singh Lai gave me the greatest birthday gift I could hope for by exposing her soul to me. This strong woman showed me how beautiful it is to build a life through service, humility and compassion despite all adversity and for that I will always be thankful to her.