It was an epiphany moment. My 7-year-old simply said, “but mom, why should Ratanak get my old clothes? Shouldn’t he have his own new ones?”

Ratanak, one of our two sponsor children, lives in a shelter in Phnom Penh. We have visited there a number of times, and my sons enjoy just hanging out with the kids, who have been rescued from various situations of abuse, neglect, and extreme hardship.

Like most parents, I want to teach my kids appreciation for the great things that we have, and to not take so much for granted, as I assume they do. Yet, it turns out that I am the one who would learn an impactful lesson here.

Later, as part of supporting this NGO, through my business I put out a ‘call to action’ on social media for kids’ violins – music and art play a huge part in the kids recovery and adjustment to a new way of life after being rescued. An example of the astounding impact of the Internet – 14 violins were offered by people, then unknown to me, around Singapore. When something resonates, and a connection is made, giving becomes natural, instinctive and empathetic.

As if to reinforce the lesson I was starting to learn, my older son quietly asked if we could purchase Noemie, our other sponsor child, her own new violin, rather than giving her a used one. Again, like my kids receive new things, why shouldn’t our sponsor kids? They are all equally kids.

(FYI – we totally encourage recycling of items and reducing waste of any sort, but that’s separate to the lesson being learned here.)

Then it struck me – my epiphany moment – it’s all about connection. Here were my kids telling me that they are no more important than the poor kids in Cambodia who they know and care for, which of course they’re not, and that they all deserve the same.

For the baby boomers and early Gen X among us, remember pen pals, who were our special friends to connect with through writing letters? Some of us may have been lucky enough to visit them, and often there was an exchange of little gifts of some sort because we cared about them and vice versa.

Conceivably, we could encourage modern day pen pal relationships using technology. Hardware is cheap; Wi-Fi and social connectivity are readily available even in the poorest of countries. Why not get our kids to form relationships so that hope can be given to the millions unfortunate to be born into less privileged nations.

Maybe someday, using electronic pockets of some sort, our kids can transfer ‘small change’ to their pen pals. This small change goes a long way in many countries, and many pennies from a lot of people adds up.

The possibilities of what we can do collectively really excites me – I truly believe that through our kids connecting with other kids, then we as parents are more enthusiastic about sharing our time, resources, ideas, and potentially money with our fellow underprivileged.

To find out more about Liza’s business, visit the Health & Vitality page.

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