As most of you know, I have been traveling through SE Asia for the past month.  As I saw so many amazing things, nothing affected me more than the poverty of Cambodia, especially its children.  Living in the landfills, digging for food and scraps to recycle, malnourished and filthy wearing nothing more than rags.  Most of these impoverished and/or orphaned children are kept far away from the beautiful hotels and rich tourists.  Others, both boys and girls as young as five years old are quietly sold into the sex trade fueled mainly by foreign pedophiles.  I looked at these kids and thought to myself that the only thing different between my life and theirs is simply where on this earth I was born.  How fortunate I am.

Some quick facts on Cambodia:

·  70% of population does not have access to safe water

·  45% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition

·  The average age of Cambodia's estimated 20,000 sex workers is 14

·  570,000 children have been orphaned. 75% of all rapes are committed against minors.

·  1.5 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 are engaging in child labor - 40% of the child population

May 1st I celebrate my 32nd birthday while still in SE Asia.  To celebrate, most of you would treat me to a drink, buy me a cake, send me a card or maybe even pick up a little something special for the occasion.  This year I would like to do something special.  I have absolutely every material thing I could possibly need and Lord knows it wouldn't hurt me to pass on both cake and cocktails.  Instead, I would like to ask you to help me raise money to help the children of Cambodia.  

I have done quite a bit of research on Cambodian charities both online and through some ex-pats living out there and I believe I have found a solid foundation: The Cambodian Children's Charity.  Take a moment of your busy day to look at their website and you will see that they do great things and that 95% of their money is spent where it's supposed to.  http://www.camkids.org/

Please reach deep into your hearts and then dig deep into your pockets and help me celebrate my birthday in a meaningful way. 

It's easy to donate online with a credit/debit card or PayPal through this website and all of the money goes directly to my charity.  It's a UK-based organization, so they charge you in Pounds, so keep the conversion rate in mind when entering your donation amount.  Also - send this along to all of your rich friends and relatives :)  Perhaps your company has a matching donation program.  I will be matching the first $200 in donations.

Thank you, I love you all and am blessed to have each of you in my life.