In the village of Kampot, Cambodia, 6,701 kilometres away, a group of volunteers from Dubbo are permanently celebrated in a local community for volunteering time and money to support the Chumkriel Language School (CLS).
One of those volunteers is Rotary Club of Dubbo South member of 12 years, David Lomax who says the work done there by Dubbo-ites and others, includes a toilet block, a library and learning centre.
David raises some funds of his own for the project, collecting bottles and cans from a local business he owns, and a network of people who give him theirs for the cause.
“I also collect them from the Golf Course out of the big skip and from around the course and everybody laughs at me, and says, ‘oh, Dave’s out there, bin diving again’.
“I get out there on my golf buggy and people know who I am, so they’ll give me a wave to say they’ve got bottles or cans for me. A couple of people live on the golf course, and they hang bags of bottles on their gate on a Sunday afternoon for me to pick up. It’s just a network.”
The money Dave makes from recycling the bottles goes to Chumkriel. 
“Teacher’s wages are US$120 dollars a month. Before Christmas I think we sent nearly US$2000 over. For a student to go to school is $120 a year and that covers tuition, books, a bike, a raincoat, etc.”
Though the support is given in simple ways, Dave is moved by the impact volunteering can have.
“PolPot and Khmer Rouge murdered everybody that was educated. They’ve lost a whole generation, so there was nobody to teach the young people things of life.
“At the CLS, they had no sanitation, so the girls wouldn’t go to school because they had no toilets and they’d be going through puberty and nobody was teaching them about those things either, so now, the girls do go to school, and they’re getting an education. 
“I often say we spill more than what they earn. Everybody has a cup of coffee a day here, but that would buy a bag of rice for them.”
The international volunteering role came about through his Rotary network, which he loves.
“Rotary is an opportunity to give back. I come from the school of hard knocks in my very younger years, and I thought I could give something back here. I really enjoy the camaraderie and I don’t mind putting my hand up to get involved. 
“We volunteer at Macquarie Homestay too, cooking a meal for guests on the first Thursday of the month. We go out there and cook them a meal and chat with those people. It’s like a motel there but people are just happy to talk to somebody different.
“I met a bloke there from Lightning Ridge. Apparently, we used to work together where I did my apprenticeship, but I didn’t remember him!”