Travel Photos and PLEASE DONATE

You’ve seen a few of our travel photos on our blog, now you can see ALL of them in our Picasa Gallery at https://picasaweb.google.com/bradroter
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On this day of givingThanks, please donate to the wonderful organizations we are working with here in Cambodia. We are working first-hand with many suffering from malnutrition and untreated disease. Many cannot afford to buy rice, or medicine for serious illnesses such as pain medicine for advanced cancer. They also need education to get a decent job.

Education and helping survivors of sex-trafficking:
DONATE to Village Focus International: click on “Sponsor a Participant” and sponsor one of us for the “Bike for Kids” event: http://www.villagefocus.org/bike/
Village Focus International is committed to working with and serving the poorest, most vulnerable people of Laos and Cambodia. On December 3, we will ride in VFI’s main fundraiser, the “Bike for Kids Angkor Wat Race & Ride”, which will be used to support 4 schools in slum areas in Cambodia and a shelter for survivors of sex-trafficking.

Stopping hunger, providing health care, community outreach and education:
DONATE to New Hope Cambodia on our fundraising page: http://www.gofundraise.com.au/page/bavi
New Hope Cambodia is focused on breaking the vicious cycle of poverty through free education, health care and nutritional support for the residents of one of the poorest slums in Cambodia. Veronica, Isaac and Avi are teaching English which is essential for the students to get jobs. Baruch is working and teaching in the clinic, which takes care of many very sick people that have no other access to health care.

Thanks so much for your support!
Avi, Isaac, Veronica & Baruch

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a temple complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia that my family visited. We hired a very nice Khmer guide with good English who knew a lot about the famous place. Our group started out at a smaller, less crowded structure called Preah Khan. It was nice to go to a site with less people because I could enjoy it without all the noise.

Then we went to Angkor Thom, which means “The Great City”, it contains most of the buildings in the whole complex. The place covers an area of nine sq. km and had population of over 100,000 people during the 14^th century.

Angkor Wat is one of the most famous temples within the entire Angkor Wat complex; it has a giant moat surrounding itself that once had crocodiles. It was given its name after the word ‘Angkor’, which means 'city' and ‘Wat’, which means temple hence the name, “City Temple”.

I find religion in Cambodia interesting because while the vast majority of the country is Buddhist, there are Hindu and Buddhist sculptures throughout the country and in Angkor Wat. The blend of religion happened because India used to control this part of the world and then Buddhism was introduced. Inside and throughout the exterior of the structures you can find carvings of ancient battles or people in marvelous garments from the period the figures were carved.

Though my brother and I played around most of the time, I did appreciate learning some interesting facts about the city. Overall I think Angkor Wat is an amazing destination and I'm grateful that I was able to experience it. 

The Recent History of Cambodia

Near the end of the Vietnam War the North Vietnam Army and the Vietcong were operating out of Cambodia. Because of this America decided to bomb and launch a land invasion in Cambodia. This was very bad for Cambodia. In April of 1975 the country was taken over by revolutionaries known as the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge believed in creating a peasant-dominated nation, centered around agriculture. Unfortunately the way this was carried out was by marching everyone out of the cities, even the young, old, sick, and disabled. They were then forced to work on farms 12 to 15 hours a day. They wanted to also get rid of everything that had come before them. Anyone with any sort of an education was killed, including those that had glasses or could speak two languages. The Khmer Rouge treatment of the Cambodians was horrific and by the time their rule ended in January of 1979 almost 2 million, one-third of the total population, were murdered, died of starvation or disease. In addition to their terrible treatment of the Cambodians, the Khmer Rouge also planted landmines all over the countryside that have plagued the Cambodians to this day.

Although the total rule of the Khmer Rouge ended in 1979, they continued to have holdouts throughout Cambodia. Sadly the Khmer Rouge were not completely defeated until the spring of 1998. Then the Cambodians were finally able to begin to rebuild their society, and try to heal their injured psyches after all the awful things that happened to them. Because all of the educated people were systematically killed, it has been very difficult for the Cambodians to continue to develop their society.

As a volunteer helping to teach kids, I feel like I'm playing a part in the reconstruction of Cambodia. 

Please Donate to Support the Sweetest Country with the Greatest Need

We have arrived in the sweetest country with the greatest need that we have been in since we left home. When we arrived in Cambodia last week, we were amazed and inspired by the radiant smiles and heart-warming nature of the Cambodian people, despite their extremely challenging recent history. They are rebuilding their society since peace was finally established in 1998.

We are in the heart of our trip now, helping impoverished Cambodian children and families.  We’re working with two amazing, highly efficient well-established non-profits.

New Hope Cambodia is focused on breaking the vicious cycle of poverty through free education, health care and nutritional support for the residents of one of the poorest slums in Cambodia. Veronica, Isaac and Avi are teaching English which is essential for their students to get jobs. Baruch is working and teaching in the clinic which takes care of many very sick people that have no other access to health care.

Village Focus International is committed to working with and serving the poorest, most vulnerable people of Laos and Cambodia. We plan to work with Village Focus in Laos for a month after we conclude our month in Cambodia. On December 3, we will ride in VFI’s main fundraiser, the “Bike for Kids Angkor Wat Race & Ride”, which will be used to support 4 schools in slum areas and a shelter for survivors of sex-trafficking.

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION to support the vital work of these organizations.

DONATE to Village Focus International: click on “Sponsor a Participant” and sponsor one of us for the “Bike for Kids” event: http://www.villagefocus.org/bike/

DONATE to New Hope Cambodia fundraising page: http://www.gofundraise.com.au/page/bavi

Thanks so much for your compassion and taking action to help!

Avi, Isaac, Veronica & Baruch

PS  You can check out and subscribe to our blog at baviworldtour.blogspot.com

Into the Heart of our Journey

Today we arrived.

The wonderful and busy first phase of our trip has ended.

We are resting in profound gratitude for where we are now.

After a much-smoother-than-we-had-heard land crossing from Thailand into Cambodia, we were met by a friendly taxi driver (pre-arranged inexpensively by our amazing new hotel manager) and smoothly landed at the beautiful Golden Village Guesthouse in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Tears of gratitude and relief! We were warmly greeted by the two charming Cambodian women who work at the guesthouse.  We have noted each time we move on to a new country that the people have been more relaxed and happier.  This is certainly true today and we are so pleased to be amongst smiling and kind people. We have two large, beautifully appointed rooms at this gorgeous hotel for $25 a night total.  The volunteer coordinator and another leader of New Hope Cambodia, the organization we will be volunteering with starting next Monday, came over right away to welcome and orient us.  New Hope Cambodia has a school where Veronica, Isaac and Avi will help teach English, and a clinic where I will work.  They are located in Mondul 3, the worst slum in Cambodia (and I think that is saying something…).  The boys are in for a big lesson about how much of the world lives.

It feels so good to be on the verge of making a contribution for a great cause.

Veronica and I are both excited to have our own beautiful, peaceful room to relax and connect in.

What a blessed life we live!

Baruch (Blessed)

Beauty and the Beast

Chugging down the tracks, following the Nile from Luxor to Cairo, feeling a sense of relief as we move away from the extreme chaos, filth and sensory overload of an Egyptian city.  We take comfort in the timeless beauty of people working the rich brown earth by hand, growing food as they have for millennia. 

The train ride is a constantly changing view from lush green fields speckled with palm trees, donkeys, sheep and farmers juxtaposed by blocks of crudely constructed, tightly packed, often decrepit brick buildings.

We can’t help but notice how peaceful we feel when looking out at the green fields and the internal constriction we experience when we feel far removed from nature. That’s why we chose to move from Seattle to Vashon Island. Since we have been traveling through so many cities, we realize the importance of creating opportunities on our journey to connect with nature.

Baruch & Veronica