Impact around the world

One of the things that has amazed me about traveling so much is the people that don't leave.

In Costa Rica there were people that went to the cloud forest to study for a semester or even a summer and just never left. They ended up staying for a year or so just cause they liked it. In Morocco I met a guy that went to China for 3 weeks and ended up traveling all over Asia and north Africa for over a year. There were people that stayed to teach English and one guy that moved there for 20 years.

While I love to travel and see things around the world, I love coming home. I've seen Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and Central America...and I like home best.

Something about coming up the escalator at Hartsfield-Jackson brings warm and fuzzies to my soul; and the idea of Bob's pancakes before church with all my friends makes me feel nestled in.

Andrea and Brandon Ross are the people that own the bed and breakfast here. They moved here from California 7 years ago and now have a 4 year old daughter and a 3 year old son. Now that grandkids are involved they take trips back to the US every summer to see the grandparents.

Many years ago Brandon and Andrea wanted to take a trip abroad. Brandon wanted to do Africa, Andrea wanted to do Europe. So they came to Cambodia as a compromise.

They saw all the poverty and disease and decided that Cambodia needed their help. So they moved here. Indefinitely.

Now, next to the bed and breakfast, is Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC). It's the philanthropy the Rosses have started to help out in Siem Reap. Their slogan is, "See a problem, fix a problem." And they live up to it.

The work they do includes:
- scholarship funds to send Cambodians to college
- a clean water initiative where they have put numerous wells in the surrounding villages so that the people can have access to clean water, decreasing disease
- art classes for children- creativity in kids isn't encouraged here at all compared to in America so they do this class for free every Sunday to give the kids a creative outlet
- massage classes- they have free massage training for poor women so that they can have a career
- sewing classes- same as the massage training but to train people to sew and maybe be tailors one day
*the suicide rate at the women's prison was really high so Andrea thought it would be a good idea to start free sewing lessons there, too. It not only decreased the suicide rate but other NGO's saw the impact and have started teaching other kinds of classes to the women, too.
- microfinance program where they give small loans to the people so that they can afford to build a better house or buy something that will help them start a business

I'm sure I'm missing some things but that's pretty impressive in itself.

The point is, some people can do it. They can move away from home and leave the life they knew for the good of other people. The Rosses are changing and saving lives over here and no one even knows their names back in America. It's incredible how selfless they are to sacrifice that nestled-in, top-of-the-escalator feeling to impact a community halfway around the world.

So here's to Andrea and Brandon. I am duly impressed.