Building a Better Future

Witnessing poverty first-hand is not a new experience for Vanessa Vandekerkhove, but what she recently saw in Toul Krous, a small village in Cambodia’s Pursat Province further deepened her appreciation of the power of giving.

“Seeing the need, and more importantly, the opportunity we have as volunteers and donors to bring positive change to the lives of families living in poverty is highly motivating,” says Vanessa, a young Trinity Western University graduate with a deep appreciation for education.

Vanessa co-lead a UNION team of 14 volunteers this past summer. The team traveled from Canada to Toul Krous to live and work alongside Cambodian families, helping them construct an addition to a small school in the village.

One of the most memorable moments for Vanessa occurred while working alongside a young Cambodian girl at the school site.

Vanessa and the girl were working on the foundation when the girl suddenly told a boy attempting to carry a basket of earth toward the foundation to stop right away.

“At the time, I didn’t know what was happening. But later I found out that the young boy was her brother and he was terribly sick, racked with fever and covered in open sores and blisters,” says Vanessa.

It turns out the young girl had good reason to be concerned about her brother, recalls Vanessa. “ I was told that the little girl had lost so many siblings to disease and sickness she had actually lost track of how many had died ,” says Vanessa. “This is why it’s so important to give. It makes me very sad, even now, when I think that the smallest things we often take for granted in our country, a pair of shoes, a shirt, a meal, even a primary education, are well beyond the reach of so many children in Cambodia.”

When Vanessa recounts her experience you can tell she is passionate about helping families caught in a never ending cycle of poverty. When speaking about the abject poverty these families and children are forced to endure simply because of where they were born, Vanessa is candid about what needs to be done.

“It’s obvious that we have much more than we need and these families have so much less than what they need, even at the most basic level,” says Vanessa. “But what’s really striking is that those who have so little seem to have so much more appreciation and thankfulness for what they do have – something we could definitely learn”

During her time in Cambodia, Vanessa and her fellow volunteers also had the opportunity to visit villages where the support of HOPE International Development Agency donors has enabled families to construct schools that are educating village children, dig water wells that provide abundant supplies of clean water, and participate in programs that enable parents to learn how to generate income.

“The support of donors is making a huge difference in the lives of these children and families,” says Vanessa.

 Learn more about volunteering with HOPE International Development Agency's UNION (Understanding Needs In Other Nations).