Expert-Exchange has set up a YouTube channel.  We will be showing our projects on here via YouTube and also the Cambodian culture.  There are videos from yesterdays water festival (Bon Om Touk).  This year the boat races took place in Siem Reap, not Phnom Penh.  

​Bon Om Touk is a festival that marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River and commemorates the end of rainy season.

The picture above is of children floating down the river in the middle of the festivities.  Be sure to check out the YouTube channel below.  You can follow the channel and in addition find a permanent link on the contact section of the website.

Everyday we turn on the news and scroll thru our social media and hear about how we cannot get along as a society. Whether it's the fear mongering radical groups or the out of control wars in multiple countries, the majority of us have no idea what's going on or how to fix it. These events in return are generating a lot of conversation, but is that enough? The conversation seems to be dividing people even more instead of leading to solutions. At the end of the day I believe the majority of us want peace. But how?  

Expert-Exchange challenges you to actively play a role today in changing the future, not tomorrow or someday, but now. There's no more time to waste, we need good-hearted and motivated individuals to get to work.  The projects that Expert-Exchange is undertaking will unfortunately be projects needed in many war torn countries in the future. The beginnings of EE's emergency transportation service - for bringing impoverished locals to hospitals - is in the works here in Cambodia. This exciting idea has the ability to expand once implemented. It will require networking, education, and building of infrastructure. I'm here and doing it now! It's not rocket science, it's just getting up and doing something!

Meantime we are undertaking smaller projects and fostering sponsorships for promising individuals. One thing I am positive about is that people generally do not choose crime because they want to, but rather out of circumstances. Crime is often a rotten last-resort born from desperation, a lack of education, conflicting ideologies and extreme poverty. Expert-Exchange is by no means saying Cambodia is on the verge of war again, but a ubiquitous model that lifts individuals from poverty into economic viability is the seed to prevent unnecessary future conflicts. The integration of good people working together from different backgrounds and beliefs can dissolve dividing myths about culture, religion, or country. Add the unifying power of financial inclusion and we will see the road to a better world, tomorrow! Change is that rapid: anyone who has ever been penniless knows the instant hope that is instilled by a sudden financial improvement, that hope makes you more positive, that positivity is a motivator for living a better, more peaceful, more prosperous life.

No matter your political views, Expert-Exchange challenges you to take your strong feelings from recent events of late and turn them into proactive action. Volunteer your time in a developing country or sponsor an organization that is proactively aiming to develop communities by mentoring/sponsoring select individuals. As the Dalai Lama said about the recent incident in France and the wars around the world - "don't pray to God to fix these problems, these were caused by us and only we can fix them."  Let's get to work people!

I am back in the beautiful country of Cambodia from my trip back to the United States and ready, motivated, and recharged to help as many people as I can.  I will be undertaking multiple projects in the next few months, from the individual basis -- to working on a community-based project.  The first few projects that I will be focusing on will be individuals who want to attend school, but financially because of needing to support their parents and family cannot attend.  Expert-Exchange will be helping them with the cost to cover their school and supplies for school.  Expert-Exchange will also be teaming up with well-established organizations in Cambodia and promoting their causes to better as many people possible here.  Better to work together in this over saturated market than compete.  Competition does not benefit the people who are in need; it deters the development and change that can be harnessed with cooperation.
 
The great thing about sponsoring children for school or buying a college student their books is that this is not going to break the average persons bank.  These fees can be as low as $50 dollars a month.  Expert-Exchange has been grateful to receive a handful of donations to undertake these projects and sustain them for a few months.  After the successful implementation of these programs, Expert-Exchange will be able to assess if we can grow and impact more people’s lives and move on to other projects in different countries.
 
For the long term Expert-Exchange is going to undertake a very needed job, but it is going to take a lot of planning and financial support.  In Cambodia there is a lack of emergency health services and response systems for the local village people.  There are hospitals in place already that are in the more populated provinces and there are plenty of tuk tuk (taxi’s) around.  The idea is to hire and train these drivers in first aid and have them become essentially a 911 system for the local villages.  We will start off with a small pilot program to assess the success and also the demand for this service.  From there hopefully after fine tuning the pilot program this will spread and become something that benefits the villages that do not have medical access or aid yet.  With your help we can make this all possible!