After a long day with meetings from 9am until 6pm, I took myself down to the Mekong and ordered a large beer Lao with some morning glory, shrimp and sticky rice, and still came out with change from $4. I thought I deserved it. The rat, pig’s ear and wasp pupa, compliments of my northern Lao experience, although tasty, won’t be joined by any other local delicacies between now and my departure.

As I watched the sunset and a team of rowers trying to scull themselves against the Mekong’s heavy current, I could hear Michael Buble blaring in the background. As I contemplated my five week journey, I certainly felt it was “like I’m living someone else’s life” but the only difference was, I didn’t want to go home.

Marcel Proust said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not only in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes”. I don’t want to go home. The more I learn, the more I want to keep learning. And the more I have my new eyes open.

As I dig into my bag for water, I sift through the samples of children’s books being delivered to rural villages, graphic pictures of UXO (unexploded ordinance) victims who have lost limbs, silkworms still spinning and a camera filled with over 600 photographs of places, faces and change. I recollect a movie I saw today: the depth of a mother’s grief as she recalled the death of her child through a bomb explosion. I will never forget the eyes filled with tears, the bowed head, the silence. The anger inside of how a ’secret war’ could still be causing so much devastation, was quite overwhelming. Estimates predict that it would take another 400 years to clear the country of all the UXO hidden underneath the landscape. And yet the exhibition I saw focussed on the approach of education and allowing us “into the lives of the people that it serves” in order to reach out and create change.

The realisation that I have new eyes really hits me, along with that of not only the journey I have travelled, but the adventures ahead and the desire to ensure I fulfill the commitment to myself and others to make this project a success.

Apart from the fact I have spent five weeks researching, writing and experiencing the world of change through the eyes of those who are creating the change and those whose lives who have been changed, I have also hung out in brothels, slums, communes, villages, walked the streets at night and learned about some incredible projects. Why would I spend 11 hours in a car travelling 250km dropping off silkworm eggs (and that’s just one way) when I could have just sat at home and learned about these projects by email?

Because unless I travelled the path, I could never truly understand. I spent five days with a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, who, despite calls of “crazy woman” from friends and family, has persisted with a lifetime of commitment to providing opportunity to those who have none. This is something that you just cannot learn via email. You have to follow the path and see, hear and experience the work being done.

For one who has spent years experiencing the privileges of travel, it certainly has had a different purpose this time around. I would encourage anyone contemplating a journey to travel with new eyes, or at least, be willing to have one’s eyes open to learn and see a little more than just the major sights and culinary delights of any new destination.

My American friends, Jen and Trev, introduced me to the tunes of Sister Hazel, and I now find myself humming to the tune of my favourite song “you should see the world inside my head”.  As I so often do, tonight, I watched the sunset, “like it’s a big surprise”. And not because I have an extremely vivid imagination, but because I have different eyes.

This will be my last post on this blog for a while. I have a lot to do. Websites to finish. Stories to write. Products to code. Accounts to be finished. Photos to be selected. Wrapping to be decided upon. BAS to be done. Braces to be fitted. A job to find so I can eat. And a return to Melbourne to contend with.

The vision of give.com.au has been strengthened through the humbling, moving and powerful stories I have witnessed. There is still a lot to be done. There are still more stories to be heard. There are still more countries to visit, partnerships to be strengthened and projects to support.

Thank you for your support. Thank you to my friends who continue to encourage me. Thank you to Rob McIntosh, my knight, for his creative support and genius. And importantly, thank you to Frank and Mary.

I look forward to the next twist of the rollercoaster as it spirals upwards full throttle and with the element of unknown as to which way it will twist next. Let’s hope you will continue the ride with me.

So as Sister Hazel sings, I encourage you to get up early tomorrow and “watch the sunrise, like it’s a big surprise”. Think about your passions, what you love to do, and something you are always talking about but never get around to doing. I guarantee you will get a little more than you bargained for. Perhaps it’s the first step onto your very own rollercoaster. Trust me, it’s worth it. You’ll never be afraid of them again. The rollercoasters, or the mountains!

There will be hard work. There will be tears. There will be pain. There will be journeys down one path to only hit a dead end and have to turn around and come back. There will be opportunities to dig deep and push onself to new limits.

And besides. Rollercoasters and mountains both have great views from the top! I’ll see you up there.

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