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First of all…. Wanna help us build a playground and rejuvinate a school in Cambodia in December 2016? Aaaaand, wanna win a trip to come see the work we’re doing with the money FOR FREE (yup, flights, accommodation, transport, all of it!) Donate here to help and enter. Skip your starbucks and beers for a couple of days, and help us help these kids in Cambodia. $25 will enter your name into the competition 3 times, $10 will enter you once. THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

You can read all about our GiveBack GiveAway stuff on our website: GiveBackGiveAway.com

Travel has given me a lot, almost everything I have in life now has come directly or indirectly from my decision to visit every country in the world, it’s all pretty crazy. But travel isn’t only about seeing sights, and moving on, sometimes we need to step back and appreciate how fortunate we are to be in a position that we can travel. Strong passports, strong currencies, free education, health care. We really are blessed, the birth lottery was good to us.

THE BACK STORY

As I travel more and more, I feel a bigger and bigger calling to give something back. Last year, during my trip through every country in West Africa (wow that was hard!), my buddy Josh and I decided to stop talking about doing something and finally actually taking some action, and so the ‘ GiveBack GiveAway‘ was born.

We contacted a local grassroots NGO (essentially a charity) in Senegal, and wanted to donate some money to a worthy cause. I reached out to my followers across social media and we created an idea that if people donated $25, then would enter into a prize draw 3 times, if they donate $10 they’ll get entered into it once. Then after we hit our target of $7500, we’ll choose a name out of a hat, fly them to travel with us in West africa.

We had no idea what we were doing, had no experience with NGO work, had no experience fund raising, and had no belief that anyone would even trust us enough to donate and fly across the world! But it worked! Not only that, so many people wanted to come and travel with us in Senegal and the Gambia and help out that we ended up opening it up and selling 8 spots to come join with 100% of the profits going to the donation, we don’t make a penny 🙂

Our projects were based around building new tables for local single mothers in Kolda, a small village in Senegal. Previously, they were selling their goods sitting on the dusty, dirty floor so now they can do so with all the dignity they deserve at a proper market stall. Also, we donated computers, sports good, bags of rice amongst other things around the country. It was a great trip, and we made some friends for life.

The actual trip was brilliant, swimming in the pink Lake Retba, safari drive spotting zebras, rhinos and giraffes, swimming off the coast of Gambia, really cool backpacking stuff, and then to do good while we’re there? What more can you ask for, we loved it! You can read more about last  year’s trip here.

We also learned a lot, the entire thing was a massive learning curve actually, so 2015 was a little rough around the edges, but truly an amazing experience.  Now it’s time to do it again, bigger and better, and this time in Asia!

Our work:

The trip:

2016 GIVEBACK GETAWAY

This year we’re running the competition again, but we’re in full control of the charity processes ourselves now, as well as the logisitics, accommodation and activities. We’ve partnered up with a local school in Battambang, a small village in rural Cambodia, about 3 hours from Siam Reap. The school is struggling, the 350 kids have little to no equipment, and a local Cambodian man is their sole benefactor, struggling to stay afloat. We wanna help out.

Kids deserve to be kids, have fun, play games so we’re going to the school and we’re going to build them a new playground, which for most of them will be the first time they’ve ever seen such a thing. Also, we want to supply the school with white boards, markers, text books, pens and hopefully bicycles too. The more money we raise, the more things we can supply. It’s going to be amazing.

So this is where you guys come in, we NEED you to dig deep and donate as much as you can. Every donation will enter you into the sweepstake, where we’ll randomly choose a name and fly you to Bangkok and we’ll overland to Cambodia to see all the good work being done, not only that, we’re gonna be an epic 2 week trip out of it!

THE 2016 ITINERARY: Thailand & Cambodia

December 2nd – December 16th. We’re gonna fly the winner into Bangkok, explore the city for a couple of days, then travel over land, cross the border into Cambodia and visit Battambang where our project is. After 4 days there, helping out with the school, assisting with the English lessons, helping build the playground (as well as some AWESOME side trips to the bat cave, bamboo railway and human circus!) then we’re off to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, one of the 7 wonders in the world.

Back overland again, border hopping into Thailand, jump on a ferry and off to the Thai paradise island of Koh Chang, couple of days there then back to Bangkok for a teary farewell! Epic!

You can read the full itinerary here

So you wanna help? Sure you do! DONATE HERE, and help us help these gorgeous kids! Remember, $25 = 3 entries, $10 = 1. Hopefully see you in December, happy travels!