Read Into It

Don’t judge a book by its cover. The cover of Cambodia is not the most beautiful, but its contents are some of the most unique things in the world. The Andong Village is outside and all around the orphanage. We call it the slums and we walk through it in order to get to the school and library where we babysit, tutor, and teach. I was disgusted by how ugly and smelly it was because I’ve never been to any place like that. Yet when you’re walking through it, almost every time you pass by, the people who live there wave at you. You are strangers who are virtually inside their home, and the only way they treat you is kind. I am nearing the end of my trip here, and I feel so grateful to not only have been chosen to read this book, but also for everything I have back home. Walking through the slums I realized that. I’m not so happy that it took me seeing the slums to understand, but I’m really happy that I did.

Yesterday a boy named Nerot who had met Nikko Weiss on a previous trip had gotten a present from her. We had him open it, and the look on his face was absolutely unforgettable. It made me feel so happy and I wasn’t even the one giving it. The present was what we would think of as a few simple things but to him, you could tell that it meant the world. You see, the cover of the present was not the most diverse, but to someone who cares enough, the “book” becomes a treasure, and the treasure becomes happiness.