Trip update from World Vision's "Spirit of Christmas" team in Cambodia

Since November 19, World Vision and thousands of people around the world have been traveling the globe in search of the Christmas spirit as part of the Christian humanitarian agency's "Spirit of Christmas" tour.

The month-long tour features interviews and stories with children and families in the United States, Ecuador, Cambodia, Zambia and Ethiopia. World Vision's team will be highlighting both the heartbreaking circumstances of the poor and the inspiring impact even small donations of a few dollars through World Vision's Gift Catalog can make in helping families around the world care for their children.

Here is the team's story from the third stop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

We've just arrived in Cambodia, and I thought I'd take a minute to take stock of where we've been and what we've seen.

New York was a reminder that poverty and desperation exist right in our own backyard. Ines and her family are just some of the 15 people who share a one-bedroom apartment. They have little income and struggle just to provide the basics, and Christmas is looming right around the corner.

Through donations to World Vision's Gift Catalog, we were able to provide backpacks and school supplies for the children there, as well as assure Ines that Christmas presents would follow. In New York, we also saw how hope was kept alive for many by people like Jewel Jones.

Jewel had a couple of Top Ten R & B hits back in the '50s with a group called The El Dorados. After a career change or two, he ended up at The Love Kitchen where he and his wife feed hundreds of New York's poor and homeless every day. At 72, Jewel is in his twenty-first year of demonstrating the true spirit of Christmas all year long.

We left New York for Ecuador where we met some beautiful people high up in the Andes. Jose leads a community who raise alpacas, an animal similar to a llama, whose wool makes soft, warm clothing. Just what's needed at 11,000 feet. Alpacas with their soft, pillow-like feet, are also easy on the environment because they don't erode the grassland and allow the water table to stay high. World Vision's Gift Catalog has helped the people in this mountain community by providing animals that make their life better while also helping to protect the natural surroundings that they love so well.

Also in those beautiful mountains we met Rosa. This pretty 12-year old treks miles everyday over rugged terrain to attend school. Thanks to World Vision's Gift Catalog, Rosa has money for school fees and supplies. She dreams of being a teacher someday and helping others.

We spent a non-traditional Thanksgiving in Ecuador before leaving for Cambodia. Guinea pig is a dish Ecuadorians sometimes eat on special occasions. This was one of them.

From Tim in New York to Pato and Cristina in Ecuador, our hosts around the world so far have been gracious and helpful and we offer them a special thanks. I hope you'll keep following us as we continue to bring you inspirational stories from some of the many exotic and far-flung places World Vision works. Thanks for your support, and may God bless you.