You know those too-rare magical moments, where
everything lines up with such beautiful, one-in-a-million precision,
that it can't be just luck or chance? I had one of those moments today.
OK, the first image here (a series of three, taken from a video) is from November 30th, 2006, exactly 7 years ago. That's me with little Pich, then 11 years old, on the garbage dump. I'm talking to her about coming to school.
Pich had never been to a school and worked and lived on the garbage dump. It must have been a surreal moment for her - the offer of an education when she never expected to ever to set foot in a classroom - but even though she listened, she never stopped picking and scavenging, knowing the consequences of stopping work, even for a moment.
Needless to say, she started with CCF the following week. Pich is now in high school, loved by all and very shy. That alone would be a good story, no?
But as luck would have it, the skateboarding legend Tony Hawk became her sponsor!
As any CCF sponsor knows, you have to write regularly, you have to engage and participate, and you have to care. Even by these standards, Tony excelled. He writes, cares, video-Skype's each Christmas, remembers her birthdays and Tony can tell you more about Pich than her own parents.
But in all those years, they never met. OK, the first image here (a series of three, taken from a video) is from November 30th, 2006, exactly 7 years ago. That's me with little Pich, then 11 years old, on the garbage dump. I'm talking to her about coming to school.
Pich had never been to a school and worked and lived on the garbage dump. It must have been a surreal moment for her - the offer of an education when she never expected to ever to set foot in a classroom - but even though she listened, she never stopped picking and scavenging, knowing the consequences of stopping work, even for a moment.
Needless to say, she started with CCF the following week. Pich is now in high school, loved by all and very shy. That alone would be a good story, no?
But as luck would have it, the skateboarding legend Tony Hawk became her sponsor!
As any CCF sponsor knows, you have to write regularly, you have to engage and participate, and you have to care. Even by these standards, Tony excelled. He writes, cares, video-Skype's each Christmas, remembers her birthdays and Tony can tell you more about Pich than her own parents.
That just changed. Tony is on tour and made the trip to Cambodia. Yesterday they met for the first time. It was magic. Pich was all tears and shyness, all overjoyed and not-quite-believing it was happening.
Today was Tony's media day.
Take a look at the photo on the right. Who could have guessed the world was capable of creating a moment of such perfection?
For a once-forlorn child of the garbage hills, hers has been a seriously wild and wonderful ride.
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