11 Days. 11 Takeaways.
Our Creative team just returned from an incredibly productive (and sweaty) trip to Cambodia. And it. was. a. whirlwind.
In 11 days, we visited five different communities. We toured our local partner’s headquarters, field office, and sand production facility. We attended hygiene and sanitation trainings. We watched villages working together to construct their own BioSand Filters. We saw those same BioSand Filters get installed in homes and transform dirty water into clean water. We took thousands of photos. We had an amazing time.
But we can’t share much about it yet.
The purpose of this trip was to capture content for this year’s charity: ball gala, (which is about the things you don’t usually get to see… the parts, pieces, and people behind every single water project you help fund), and most of it is top secret until December.
To hold you over in the meantime, here are some of our favorite takeaways...
1. Cathay Pacific is incredible.
Our trip began with a wonderfully generous in-kind donation from Cathay Pacific, who flew our entire team to and from Phnom Penh... for free.
As a long-time brand partner, Cathay Pacific has helped us with individual flights in the past, but this was another level of generosity. Not only did it save charity: water thousands of dollars, but it also enabled us to do even more work.
It was an unbeatable start to the trip. And we cannot say thank you enough.
2. Next time, bring quick-drying clothes.
“High of 91” isn’t the same when you factor in the humidity in Cambodia-- which feels a lot like the inside of a kiln. We spent every day sweaty and did much more laundry than usual.
3. You’ll love all of the fresh fruit!
One of the best parts about Cambodia is the amount of strange-new-fruits! Every breakfast or marketplace boasted something new -- from longan and mangosteen to rambutan and durian.
4. You will not love all of the fresh other things!
On the flip side, every marketplace also seemed to feature its fair share of strange-new-fried-bugs -- from grubs and grasshoppers to tarantulas and cockroaches.
5. This team is willing to do anything for the shot
We hung out the side of tuk tuks, shot video from motorcycles, staged photoshoots from cherry pickers, and setup portrait sessions inside pagodas. And it was worth it every time.
6. The award for ‘most-committed’ goes to our local partner team
Our local partner, Clear Cambodia, has these incredible teams who live out of field offices across the country. These are 26-47 year old men and women who have spouses, young kids, new babies, and babies on the way -- who they only get to see on the weekends because they want to help bring clean water to other families in Cambodia.
We spent time with each team member talking about the their work and why they do it, and every person said they wouldn't choose to do anything else. That they love their job. That the impact is too important. That the team is their second family.
Talk about inspiring.
7. BioSand Filters are magic
The solution that we provide in Cambodia is called a BioSand Filter. It’s incredibly simple -- a tall concrete box with layers of sand and gravel inside. And it transforms dirty water of any color… with any amount of debris… from any water source into bacteria-free, clean and clear water instead.
8. The community buy-in is even more inspiring
In order for a family to receive a BioSand Filter, they have to contribute a little bit of their own money and then come and construct it themselves! It’s an awesome scene -- people of all ages pouring and stirring cement, working together to make clean water a reality for their family.
9. You can fit 100 people on a motorcycle
Okay... maybe not 100. But families of four or five are very common. And we once saw a group of six!
10. Everyone in the world should own a hammock
One way that families beat the heat in Cambodia is hammocks. You’ll find them at almost every house -- or anywhere there’s a fair amount of shade. And it’s glorious.
Work hard, hammock hard... that was our slogan.
11. It’s all about the little things
The best part of trips like this is the company. In addition to an inspiring and helpful local partner team, we were also fortunate to have an awesome content team -- four of us from charity: water and two freelancers (a photographer named Jeremy Snell and a videographer named Brad Knull).
It made for a successful trip, but it also made for a lot of lovely meals, silly moments, and memorable experiences together.
