LOCAL Griffith woman Sarah Taylor’s love for travel attracted her to go to Cambodia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Miss Taylor said the trip was always on the cards having been at the top of her bucket list from the beginning.
During her journey, she decided to make a worthwhile contribution the community of Siem Reap by helping to build a home for a less fortunate family.
“A friend and I went over to Cambodia in October 2016 and we built a home for a homeless family,” she said.
“A lady who was around 25 years old she had two sons and her husband had left her while she was eight months pregnant.
“She was struggling so what we did was rack together a couple of thousand dollars and we built a beautiful villa.”
Miss Taylor said there original home they lived in sticks and leaves and straw as and they cannot afford shoes.
Unfortunately, according to Miss Taylor, this is all too common right across Cambodia it is like stepping back in time.
Now the family are living in a two bedroom villa on stilts which allows the family to cook, dine and spend all their time underneath the house.
Miss Taylor and her friend, Raechel Lyon did this through an organisation called Volunteer Building Cambodia.
The program focuses on helping those in the poorer areas of the country with around 80 per cent of Cambodians live in rural areas where a staggering 85 per cent of people do not have access to adequate sanitation and 35 per cent cannot afford to access safe water.
Miss Taylor has encouraged anyone heading to Cambodia to take part.
“What the foundation do over there is just incredible,” she said.
“What they do is they encourage you to raise money as much as you can to pay for the materials and equipment for the home.
“They put you up in accommodation and they organise daily transport to and from the site.”