Introduction

During the month of June 2012, I will be taking a leave of absence from my job at a local children’s hospital in Indianapolis to volunteer at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This blog will be a place where I plan to share this adventure with my friends.

Last November (2011), my son, Logan, and I took a vacation together to a little country in Southeast Asia called Cambodia. The trip was my second attempt to visit a country that has long held a special place in my heart (which I’ll explain in the next few blog entries). Our trip last year was a true vacation under the guidance of a reputable travel agency and a tour guide. My son and I were safely escorted through the country as tourists. Cambodia today (along with much of Southeast Asia) has become a popular vacation destination for Westerners, and is a safe and exotic place to visit. But this was not always so.

In fact, during the late 1970’s, Cambodia was possibly the most dangerous place to be on the planet!

A couple of years ago I came upon an opportunity to go on a medical mission trip to Cambodia. As a registered nurse, I had already been on several medical mission trips to Latin America through a wonderful Indianapolis organization called the Timmy Foundation, now called Timmy Global Health (http://www.timmyglobalhealth.org/). But I was ready to try something new. The trip to Cambodia was organized around doing some support work for a relatively new orphanage mission called the Cambodian Children’s Fund (http://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org/).

Unfortunately, the organization in Indianapolis planning the trip took a bad turn (to put it nicely). After canceling the trip twice, they tried to keep the money I had paid in full for the trip. Over a year later after several legal maneuvers and with the wonderful help of an attorney friend of mine I eventually got the money back. After that, I decided to plan a new trip to Cambodia, and invited my son to come along.

My trip to Cambodia with Logan was a wonderful experience! We were able to see all the of the places in Cambodia I had been reading about for the past twenty years. I even was able to make a short, but satisfying visit to the Cambodian Children’s Fund orphanage site during one of my free afternoons. It was also a great chance to have some quality adult bonding time with my now grown-up son.

But I left the country dissatisfied.

While we were in Siem Reap, I noticed there was a children’s hospital there called Angkor Hospital for Children. When I returned to the US, I went online and found the hospital’s website. I discovered that they welcomed volunteers to their hospital (as long as they paid their own way). And I found out that their theme for the second quarter of 2012 was hematology/oncology (I work on a hematology/oncology floor)! So I sent them an email along with my resume, and a couple of days later I received an email back inviting me come visit and help train their medical and nursing staff!!

One thing I have learned since becoming a nurse several years ago is to take these opportunities as gifts. It's just plain rude not to accept them in the spirit they are given!