I give for two reasons: because I am able to and because I know there are many people in this world suffering a great deal who need it more than I do. My grandmother taught me this lesson day in and day out when she helped raise my brother and I after our father took his own life. Through watching her example, I learned that even people with so little money can make such a difference for people in need through giving things like compassion, time, understanding and so much more.
Over the years, I came to learn for myself that life is really all about circumstance and luck - luck as to where you are born, when you are born, what family or gender or ethnicity or state of health or economic level you are born into, and so on. For this reason, it is up to the people who are lucky enough to be able to give, to give to the people who are not so lucky and to remember that at any point, that could be you.
This is what humanity is all about which is why I have chosen to dedicate my life to becoming a global development and aid professional.
The first nonprofit I was fortunate enough to work for which led me to this lifelong path was Angkor Hospital for Children, a truly inspiring nonprofit children's hospital in Siem Reap Cambodia providing high-quality and compassionate health care to children who may not be able to receive it otherwise. Previous to this job, I was working on Shanghai's Wall Street and my life was going in a very different direction which all started to change after just one long weekend trip to visit a friend from high school living in Cambodia. I saw abject poverty for the first time and decided to move there to try and find a job at a local nonprofit. With only 1 percent of the staff at the hospital being expatriate, I am forever thankful to the Director of Development who saw something in me of value that I would be able to bring to the hospital's mission of providing free health care for all Cambodian children. That one year changed my life and redirected its course forever. After now years later being involved with many different nonprofits, I have come to value the work of the hospital even more for not only do they provide Cambodian children with quality health care regardless of their family's ability to pay, but they are focusing so much of their efforts on rebuilding the national healthcare system since its demise under the Khmer Rouge. And just this year, they handed over the reigns of the hospital to its first ever Cambodian Medical Executive Director. It continues to be a world class nonprofit children's hospital that I couldn't be more proud to support and confident that every dollar they receive is spent wisely with treating all Cambodian children as their top priority.
Review from #MyGivingStory