We're sure you've heard the term 'turning lemons into lemonade'....

Well, that was the case in 2009 when Steph decided to join her high school's project to volunteer to build houses in rural Cambodia. For personal reasons she submitted her application past the deadline and her school principal, determined that the lesson for Steph was, that if you fail to submit your paper work on time in life, you'll miss out... While we agreed, we also thought otherwise - when a 14 year-old wants to give of her self and her time to volunteer in an impoverished country she's never heard of, to us the lesson was one of unconditional open-hearted giving......

So we thought we would turn the volunteering in Cambodia into a family mission - and in the internet age, that took very little time. Two months later, 6 of us left Melbourne Australia and arrived in Siem Reap Cambodia to spend two weeks volunteering at a rural school and orphanage - two weeks that changed our lives.....

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We travelled back to Cambodia several times over the next two years, volunteering and supporting various projects and NGOs. While some of the organisations we assisted were run by well organised, responsible and accountable people, others appeared to be a front to enrich the NGO's directors at the expense of the kids.

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So in 2011 we decided to set-up out own NGO - the Cambodia Rural School Trust (CRST). This enabled us to provide the most assistance possible to the most needy, as well as be fully accountable and transparent with where our funds are going.