When we give, we get back, but what we get back we won’t know until it is given…

Thursday at lunchtime I found myself in the cool artsy clothing shop on St. 240. Keok’jay, meaning “fresh” or “bright green” like the rice paddies strewn across Cambodia, is owned and operated by Rachel Faller. I was doing a piece called “Shop Talk” for Asia LIFE and was surprised to be interviewing a 23-year-old American from Boston. As Rachel took me through the shop, showing me the upstairs sewing area and sharing the story of how her little shop on one of Phnom Penh’s most coveted rental-space streets came to be, I found myself in awe at this girl, barely a year younger than me. Having studied conceptual art (focus on textiles) in college, Rachel dreamed of becoming a community artist, but found herself in Cambodia after graduation, with a Fulbright to do market research and start a project in which women living with HIV/AIDS could benefit from her training in environmentally friendly clothesmaking. With little funding to actually pay the salaries of the women, Rachel found a way to make it all work—fundraising back in the States and coming across a series of events to which she remarked, “I believe when you give out, it comes back to you… You can call it Karma or God, or whatever.” The store opened in July, and here we are in December, with Keok’jay seeing profits grow slowly, but more importantly, with Rachel feeling like she’s actually doing something productive with her life. Her designs are cool and the material is recycled. She’s not selling local handicrafts, but is inspired by the collision of country and city life that Cambodian offers on the day to day. Again, she’s only 23.

 

As mentioned before, I’ve learned a lot from the people I’ve come across in Cambodia. What Rachel & my current documentary-film producer boss have unknowingly taught me is this:  If you have a gift, use it to do good… And if you haven’t figured out what you’re good at yet, then follow your guts to do what you think is right.

 

When we give, we get back, but what we get back we won’t know until it is given…