An Exploration of Community Health in Siem Reap, Cambodia – Dec. 2005
Professional Adventures Cambodia 2005 was the experience of a lifetime. Participants interacted with the host country’s culture and people on a personal level and experienced authentic opportunities to change and improve lives through improved cultural competency and the art of giving.
Practicing or aspiring nurses could earn CEUs while exploring community health and cross-cultural nursing practices. Provider-approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider Number CEP13941 for 39 Contact Hours).
The five-day study tour focused on exploring the intertwined relationship of community and environmental health in Siem Reap, Chong Kneas floating village, and surrounding rural communities. While being immersed in the cultural wonders of the region, participants applied the elements of cultural competency in analyzing human, environmental and occupational health hazards in Cambodia and in their home country.
The program was designed to reveal sources of commitment and caring by investigating the devotion and success of international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work to create better health, education and economic opportunities for the Khmer people.
Travel days began with meditation or journaling at sunrise amidst the ruins of Angkor Wat and concluded with community sharing and reflection. Inclusive alternative-learning opportunities not only changed the participant’s lives but also helped improve the lives of members of the international community through mutual assistance, exposure and charitable giving.
Cost: $1,350.00 per person, double occupancy (airfare not included).
View a slideshow of photos from this trip »
Micro-Lending in Nicaragua – 2001/2003
This Professional Adventure was based around a giving circle – an informal group whose members donate time and money to nonprofit agencies as a way to improve conditions and increase opportunities for those less privileged.
In 2001, seven loosely connected friends came together to form a giving circle focused on improving conditions in Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere. We traveled to Nicaragua together for 12 days with the goal of exploring its socio-economic underpinnings and economic plight, and also selecting some nonprofits to work with.
Our host was a young Nicaraguan who had been attending UC-Berkeley when the Contra-Sandinista war broke out and returned to work as a journalist. He had connections, and arranged for us to meet with several national leaders. Our travel reading list included The Sandinista’s Daughter, The Blood of my Brothers, and The Jaguar Smiles, so that we could understand the war from different perspectives. A highlight of the trip was motoring six hours by boat to visit some remote villages along the Coco River.
The giving circle decided to form the Nicaragua 2001 Foundation, which is focused on giving time and money to Nicaraguan NGOs in an effort to enhance economic self-sufficiency and well-being through micro-lending programs. Our first donations went to two micro-lending organizations, one called Leon 2000 and the Siskyari Community Bank.
Two of us returned in 2003 to check up on the progress of our donations to the lending organizations, and were pleased to find that Leon 2000 had opened a satellite office in Chichigalpa with our funds.
Read an article published by one of our members, Steve Forman »
View a slideshow of the entrepreneurial projects we support »
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