Cambodia, 3rd time returning

Returning, not visiting  

There is something grounding about landing in a place where you no longer feel like a tourist. It changes how you notice a place 

This time it was the small things. Familiar faces. Remembered names. The drivers who knew my usual lunch stops. The teachers and students who looked at me with recognition. 

Cambodia strips life back to essentials. Community. Gratitude. Resilience. Perspective.  

The school that keeps pulling me back  

A big reason I return is the rural school we support through the NGO network I support. Each trip I bring donated laptops. 80 laptops in total to date. Devices that might sit unused in corporate offices & households. They become tools for children hungry to learn, curious about the world and eager to build skills that skills that could genuinely change the trajectory of their lives.

Seeing technology bridge that gap never gets old.

What stayed with me this time was not only the excitement of receiving laptops. It was how much more capable the students are becoming with them. The progress is steady. It is also undeniable. 



Watching that change across three visits has been quietly emotional. Growth does not always shout. Sometimes it simply shows up.  

Listening to stories that matter  

What also deepened this trip was time spent talking; properly talking - with the drivers, and local Cambodians who are part of the charity or network. As trust builds, stories emerge. Many carry loss from the Khmer Rouge era. Family members who never came home. Two generations stolen. Gaps left across education, leadership and opportunity. 

Hearing this firsthand is sobering. It is also clarifying. Cambodia’s present cannot be separated from its past. The resilience you see every day exists because of that history, not despite it.

Understanding this context makes the work feel even more important. Education isn’t about skills; it’s about rebuilding what was deliberately taken away.

Sharing Cambodia with my family  

This trip carried an extra layer of meaning because, for the first time, I brought my family with me. My husband, my daughter, and my daughter’s boyfriend.  

They have always supported this work quietly in the background. They’ve heard the stories, helped where they could, and understood why Cambodia matters to me. But this was the first time they truly saw it.  

Seeing my daughter and her boyfriend connect with the school, the children, and the community was incredibly moving. Watching them take it all in; not as observers, but as participants filled me with pride. My husband, in true form, went all in. He assisted in house builds, organised a fabulous lunch for the school, sourcing everything from the local markets, chatting with locals, and turning it into a shared celebration rather than a transaction.  

Beyond the school, we experienced Cambodia slowly and properly. Time spent at temples, magical waterfalls, on the farm, long motorbike rides, spectacular sunsets, cold beers at the end of dusty days, beautiful beaches, and those quiet moments that do not make itineraries but end up meaning the most.  



Sharing Cambodia with my family reminded me that impact multiplies when it is experienced together. It is one thing to carry these memories alone; it’s another to watch the people you love embrace the place, the purpose, and the perspective with open hearts.  

Lessons Cambodia teaches (every single time)  

Cambodia has a way of recalibrating your internal compass.  

• You don’t need much to live well.  
• Time and presence are often more valuable than money.  
• Gratitude grows when expectations shrink.  
• Progress is not always fast, but it is powerful when it’s consistent.  

It is impossible not to reflect on how insulated our day-to-day lives can be back home. Cambodia doesn’t judge that. It simply offers contrast.  

Why this won’t be my last trip.

While I was there, I also crossed paths with another Aussie farmer who runs a separate learning centre for children in Cambodia.  

We talked about education, access, and the very real challenges these schools face. She asked, quite simply, whether we could help her raise another 25–30 laptops for her students.

This is how the laptop project continues to grow. No grand, strategic plans, but through consistency, relationships, trust, and saying yes when you are able.  

If the first trip opened my eyes, and the second deepened my commitment, the third cemented something else entirely: responsibility.  

• Responsibility to keep showing up.  
• Responsibility to keep collecting laptops.  
• Responsibility to use the privilege I have. The access, networks, resources; in ways that extend beyond my own world. 
• Responsibility to give the people of Cambodia hope, knowing others want to help.

Cambodia does not ask for saviours. It asks for consistency. That is something I can offer.  

How you can help   

Our Elements for Good cause continues to shine through. We support learning & education in communities. And donating laptops in Cambodia is just one way we show up.  

If you or your organisation have unused/old working laptops and they are no longer needed, please don't send them to E-waste or leave them sitting in a storage area. If security is the issue, I know of firms that can securely clean all devices.

We would love to put old devices to use where they can genuinely change the future of student’s, families and generations to come.

Please reach out to me. I am always up for a chat and if donating a device is not the right fit, there are other ways you can support the project too. 

Until next time  

Leaving Cambodia is always bittersweet. I always leave tired, dusty, emotionally full, slightly heart-heavy, and quietly certain that I’ll be back.  

Some places do not just change how you see the world. They change how you choose to move through it.  

Until next time, Cambodia 💚