This has been the most challenging week of our lives. The mental challenge of working in the heat combined with the physical challenge of working in the heat tested every bit of our mind and body. I am sitting by a campfire as I write this, in the middle of the jungle, admiring March’s full […]
Read more "Full Moon"Day five at the sanctuary and we sadly woke up lacking motivation. We are tired. We are not accustomed to the manual labor and harsh heat. You can imagine how we are lacking some inspiration when our morning routine usually includes shoveling massive amounts of smelly poo . Today’s session was especially festive when I got […]
Read more "Spirit of the Elephant"After our morning tasks, yes more leamok, we were sent to work on the farm. We uprooted small banana trees and replanted them giving them a larger ground space for growth. An elephant eats about 66 pounds of bananas a day so it’s important to keep the trees thriving for them. We also planted bean […]
Read more "Small School"Having limited access to Wi-Fi and cell phone service we didn’t realize we would be spending International Women’s Day volunteering at the sanctuary. It couldn’t have been more cosmic. The strength of the women around us joined together with some good ol’ fashion teamwork and we have been able to complete any task we have […]
Read more "International Women’s Day at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary"Our morning starts with 7 am breakfast. Our weekly schedule is posted up in the common kitchen area and unless something urgent arises, we pretty much stick to the daily tasks. After breakfast we were divided into groups and sent to the elephant shelters to clean up leamok, the Khmer word for poop. There are 4 […]
Read more "Our First Full Day & Our First Elephant Fart"Landing in Phnom Penh was a bit hectic with the traffic here being much crazier than Chiang Mai. There doesn’t seem to be any laws and there are loads of motorbikes. It’s a true free for all. For some reason we didn’t believe it when people said you’d meet friends that you just click with […]
Read more "Cambodia"Leaving Baan Dada was hard but we were ready in a way. It has become a home to us and we could easily spend more time here but there is still so much to see in Southeast Asia. We spent the morning getting our stuff together and squeezed in one last meal. Everyone joined together […]
Read more "Leaving Baan Dada"This was one of the most difficult yet rewarding days since we started our Gypsy Givers venture. As Linds and I have mentioned numerous times, Sue and Judy instantly shared a special place in our hearts. From their quick one liners and their don’t take things too seriously attitude, to their deep routed soul sister […]
Read more "For Dionne"Today went down a little differently than the other days here at Baan Dada. We didn’t have much interaction with any of the kids but we did a lot to help them inadvertently. We also got the chance to learn a lot more about the sponsorship program they have instated here. We left for our […]
Read more "All for the Kids"During the weekdays breakfast is served after the kids take the bus to school. It’s a leisurely meal. Volunteers stumble in around 8 Thai time but not me. I’m putting coffee on waiting to see what Mame made for me this morning. We take the hour and talk about the day ahead, what needs to […]
Read more "Do All the Good You Can"
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