RickyBobby wrote:All I know is that their trip and all that it cost did nothing for anyone.

You know this?

RickyBobby wrote: You made a point to define social justice and seemed to endorse their mission as accomplished. Do you really think so?

I didn’t endorse their mission as accomplished. I don’t know details of what they accomplished and i suspect neither do you.
I find your superior, know-it-all attitude weird. Maybe you are jumping in a tired bandwagon fuelled by legend and gossip. You seem to be of the opinion that visiting teams cannot do any good.
Whilst there are real issues with volunteerism, if done right it can deliver massive benefits - I have observed this first hand.

explorer wrote:It is likely that some of those students of their families will donate money, now that they have seen the needs.

Sometimes, bringing people to see the needs will result in more donations than just asking for donations at home.

I don’t often agree with Explorer but this time I do.
A visit to a less developed country at an impressionable age can result in career choices relating to social justice, or advocacy a greater sympathy to philanthropy and perhaps lead to them growing up to be less entitled little gits.

The group are anxious to return home in time to share Xmas festivities with their families, but the school spokesman says it's just one of those things that happens, and they bear no hard feelings toward Cambodia.

All they want for Xmas is home
Publication date 21 December 2018 | 10:16 ICT
Fourteen Canadians visiting Cambodia on a social justice trip, who found themselves stranded after their passports were stolen, will be home in time for Christmas.

“Somebody came by on a motorcycle, snatched the bag and (they were) gone,” said Bruce Campbell, General Manager for Communications & Community Relations for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board in Ontario.

Ten Grade 11 and 12 students and four adult supervisors from St Edmund Campion Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, were visiting the Kingdom to help construct community sanitation facilities in Sihanoukville.

Before being stranded, Fatima Gomes, aka Julio, who accompanied the students to Cambodia, documented the trip on Twitter. Gomes posted that the group had collected over 1,000lb (454kg) of school supplies for Cambodian children in rural communities.

“Yesterday we learned about the struggles of life in Cambodia. A woman working in a bakery earns $2.40 a day. Two former Khmer Rouge survivors shared their life stories,” said Gomes.

Another post showed students at a fruit and vegetable market with a caption that said: “Learning the difficulty of feeding a family on a dollar a day.”

Campbell said that the students were in “good spirits” but “anxious to return home”.

This is the second year that students from the school have visited Cambodia on a well-intentioned trip to assist the local population. Schools usually submit a proposal to a staff committee who decide on the trip based on Canadian travel advisories and its nature.

After appealing to the Canadian Embassies in Phnom Penh and Bangkok for help, the group was issued emergency exit visas and is expected to land in Mississauga, Ontario by Saturday.

“There is nothing that would deter us from returning to Cambodia in the future. The theft of personal effects could occur anywhere,” said Campbell.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... -xmas-home

Happy Ending: The kids made it home for Xmas with their families.

Brampton students stranded in Cambodia finally back home
News Dec 22, 2018
Ten Brampton high school students stranded in Cambodia after their passports were stolen during a social justice trip arrived home on Saturday, Dec. 22.

The Grade 11 and 12 students from St. Edmund Campion Catholic Secondary School were helping build latrines in a rural community. They also took 1,100 pounds of school supplies to be distributed to students.

They arrived Dec. 8 for what was supposed to be an eight-day trip, but on Saturday, Dec. 15, the day before they were scheduled to leave, their passports were stolen.
https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news-s ... back-home/