Seeing Hope Where I See Despair

"I believe that every individual has the power to bring about significant change, good or bad. Whether we choose to use that power — and for what purpose — defines our legacy."

-Scott Neeson

Last week Scott Neeson, from the Cambodia Children's Fund, was our keynote speaker for our DirectRelief Women's event.  Scott found hope where I would find hopelessness.  Now, I have a passion for travel and I have a passion for wanting the world to be a better place.  But, I prefer to travel to indigenous villages over cities and I've recently realized why.  I am selfish.

I find the poorest of villages to be filled with hope because of the power a village has to provide a sense of joy through pride in your culture and pride in a shared sense of purpose .  When I see the poor in the cities, I feel hopelessness, despair, and oppression.  While it is not without it's value to experience this as a traveler, selfishly I don't like it. 
 
Scott saw things differently.  In 2004, Scott was on holiday in between jobs as a high profile Hollywood executive.  We are talking major success -  multiple homes, multiple cars and boats, single playboy life, the works.  While in Cambodia, he was exposed to what I would consider the most desperate circumstances possible, children living in the municipal garbage dump, many abandoned, wearing everything they own, no home, no community, and no hope.

Scott proceeded to sell everything, quit his job, and dedicate his life to helping the most destitute of children.  Today the Cambodia Children's Fund cares for and provides comprehensive services like housing, education, and health to over 1,200 children and their families in the dump region.

I have no idea how Scott found hope in the most hopeless of circumstance, but I sure am glad there are people in this world with that ability and power.  Something I noticed about Scott's approach is he didn't try to save all of all of the world's children (I imagine based on the power trip he was on he might have thought he could), or all of Cambodia's children, or even all of Phnom Penh's children.  He picked a distinct area and went really deep, and I mean really deep and he started with just one child.


We can't all be a Scott Neeson, but a few things I took away from his talk and questions to ask ourselves:

• There is always hope where it feels hopeless.  Where do you feel its hopeless and where is there hope in this situation?

• Making a difference in one person's life is making a difference.  Where can you make a difference in just one person's life?

• The value of depth versus breadth.  Where can you go deeper with your involvement on one issue or one organization?