Jonathan Delaughter recently started working at DNA Communications for our fellow Rotarian Ahmed Kamel...who snapped him up, when he heard about his experience in working with the poor internationally.
Delaughter served on a mission to Cambodia on behalf of Hope Expeditions; this religious mission brought him to some of the poorest locations in the country, where he and his fellows were able to supply schoolchildren with badly needed school supplies, backpacks and shoes.
They also went to a regional youth home which allows students to attend high school or college; it enables them to live close by, when they would otherwise have to stay in their rural homes...or fall prey to living on the streets, and getting involved in crime or human trafficking.
While on hand at the youth home, they were able to clean up and expand the kitchen area -- making it more livable for the students who reside there.
He also says the Cambodian economy has all but completely collapsed, and an American dollar goes much further than the local currency.
In thanks for his efforts, one of the local leaders spontaneously gave him a traditional drum; the drum head is make of snake skin, which can actually change the sound of the drum depending on the temperature and climate.