Peppercorn

There’s something pretty spectacular about a Cambodian sunset. It might be the way that the light illuminates a land that craves it. The people of the city of Phnom Penh are vibrant and diligent. Whether it’s a mop or an Angkor beer in their hand they carry with it a merriment that makes you forget their troubles as well as your own.

Developing countries are not the typical places to find content, or simplicity. But it was exactly what I found in these people. Juxtaposed with visions of street rats, tattered clothes and tin roofs, I saw the smiles of these people and somehow felt at ease.

The first time I travelled to a developing country was last Christmas. I was undertaking a volunteer program with my boyfriend at an orphanage in Phnom Penh that was situated in the middle of a dump.

The children of this city were suffering. From their lack of accessible hygiene to their exploitative lifestyles, the school was a solace for mothers and fathers looking to give their children something more than the inevitable. Admittedly, walking in I expected to see defeated kids, desperate and miserable – I couldn’t have been more wrong. The radiance I got from these children was incomparable to anything I’d ever experienced. It reminded me of the innate human qualities we all have within us. Whether it be a slum or a suburb children possess the same innocence; they share the same light.

I came home feeling full and changed. I feel like Cambodia was an experience for the soul more so than any other place I had travelled before. And everything I had learned, all the best experiences I had all came back to the people.

Two months in this beautiful country taught me a lot about the rarity of compassion and the importance of it too. In conversations with them I found stories of horror and stories of hope. I found fuel to reignite my passion for people and the necessity in helping those less fortunate – of thinking more of others and in turn making more of myself.