The Power of ONE.
the power of one
We’d like to introduce you to Caitlin. She is from Australia and works in a travel company, booking corporate travel. She, like all of us, is just one person. But, wow! Does she have the power!
Caitlin came to Heartprint near the end of 2022 - just about a year ago - with a friend. They were here to help build house Number 82. While she was in Siem Reap, Caitlin also spent time with and got to know many of the children in our Community Centre, as well as our Heartprint team. She felt a bond with us and the beginnings of a real love for Cambodia and her beautiful people.
Of course, all holidays, even working ones, must come to an end, and Caitlin had to go back to Australia to her house and office and her day job, as we say, which wasn’t building houses.
But it just didn’t sit right with her. She told us it felt wrong to parachute into our little corner of Cambodia, build a house, and take the next flight out. It seemed transient and incomplete to her; in her heart, she needed to do more.
She made a pledge to raise enough money to fund three more Heartprint houses. That’s massive for one person to do. Yet, do it, she did.
Even so, that wasn’t enough for Caitlin. She still felt a tug to do more. In addition to funding the new homes, she wanted to help build them.
So Caitlin asked if she could set off for Cambodia for a while to work remotely and help build Heartprint houses on her days off. After all, she didn’t really need to be in a physical office to book travel; she could do that from her temporary home in Siem Reap.
And she flew back to us.
With the funds Caitlin raised, we had built one new home before she arrived. While she was here, she helped us build the second, Number 98.
We are now on Numbers 99 and then 100 - both being funded by other donors and volunteers.
But we think it is fitting that Caitlin’s third home will be ONE hundred and ONE. The first house in the march to our second “Centennial” celebration of raising up safe, stable, and sanitary homes within our wonderful community here in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Caitlin has shown over and over how one person can take steps for good change that ripple through communities with an incredible force. We are all so appreciative of and grateful for her.
She’s left us now for more adventures, and we miss her. We hope to have you back soon, Caitlin!
Of course, not everyone can help fund three new homes or arrange to work remotely to help build them. But the Power of One can be joining a volunteer group to help raise up a home (see the details here) or making a small donation to help fund one. It might be spreading the word among friends, family, and colleagues and asking them to pitch in a few dollars to help us in any of the many ways we carefully use all of our donations. All donations can be directed to an area of your choosing. All of your donations create good things here. Every single one of them.
We ask that you think about the power you have as One person to help our community here at Heartprint. And, as always, we thank you.
