There's also a feel-good story included related to his charity, so in the interest of making everyone's day a little brighter......
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyl ... e94f81c895
August 8, 2022
The Cambodians tell me we are the biggest cattle owners in the whole country.
Cows for Cambodia is essentially a bank, but instead of loaning money we loan cows. If you have a cow in Cambodia it will give you a calf each year. You can then sell that calf for around $600 USD which is the average family annual income in Cambodia. Therefore give a family a cow and you double the family’s annual income. But they have got to work for it.
Whilst we were walking through the back roads of Cambodia checking on our cows I came across this family. We began to chat to them as we noticed their young daughter had issues with her eyes. The conversation that took place next surprised us all. Through our Cambodian interpreter we started to learn the history of this family.
The mother was visiting a friend in hospital when she was informed of a baby that had been born and left alone in the hospital. She started tending to this baby’s needs to help the understaffed nurses. She purchased milk powder with money she didn’t have to help keep the baby alive.
She would travel into town each day to feed and care for the baby at the hospital and after three weeks no one claimed or wanted the baby so the lady took it home and has cared for her ever since.
Sadly the little girl has a string of health issues with stomach problems, eye problems and general illness. Despite all this the mother and father care for her as one of their own. It is a selfless act that had my group speechless. This family knew by taking on the baby it would greatly affect their lives but they did it anyway. So kind.
We paid the upcoming medical bills for the little girl and gave her family a surprise they did not see coming. We gave them a cow (pictured). Can you imagine bumping into a group of Aussies where no westerners ever go then suddenly scoring a cow and doubling your family’s income.
When they are being told in Cambodian they will receive a cow I always look at their eyes. You can tell the moment it sinks in as their eyes either light up or they start to cry. It’s an amazing thing that I have been blessed to see hundreds of times but I never get sick of it.
During our trip we gave away another 12 cows, all to women. Our charity aims to empower women by choosing 95 per cent of cow recipients as females. This is twofold, it helps improve the status of females in the villages (if you are walking around the villages with a cow it’s like driving around in a Ferrari here in Adelaide) Secondly I have found the females to be the core of the households we work with so I find they do a better job with the cow and keeping records etc.
On this trip we also vaccinated and drenched our entire herd, no mean feat! Cattle were coming from miles to get up to date with their healthcare. It is very important to us that our cows are the happiest and healthiest cows in South East Asia and we work hard at it. We spend $300,000 USD building the best cattle facility in Cambodia.