When Dawn’s church, Bayside, announced outreach trips to other countries, Dawn’s first impulse was always to raise her hand but the thought that she would be going for the adventure and the love of travel instead of higher principles always stopped her. Until now; when the Agape International Mission announced that they were looking for volunteers to support their goal of ending child sexual slavery in Cambodia. This time, for Dawn, the love of travel took a back seat to the call to do something for the people in Cambodia. In particular, the children that are victimized by the shameful practice of selling young girls, some little more than toddlers, to adult men for their perverse desires.

Dawn will travel to Svay Pak for two weeks in July and be housed and fed in quarters that will not appear in a Zagat guide or anyone’s list of luxury destinations. She and her group from Bayside will work with the children rescued from brothels and their parents to provide food for these desperately poor people and to attempt to give the children hope for their future and their parents a sense of decency that would forbid the practice of selling their daughters.

Dawn is aware of the difficulties that she and her team of volunteers face; the same society that condones the practice of selling the innocents to the sex slave trade will condemn the victim as ‘dirty’ for life. Her fondest desire is to instill hope in these young girls and provide a means to return some of their childhood to the younger victims. She hopes to assist in the goal of helping them discover their own worth and to help create a desire for education.

This trip is another new experience for Dawn in that her usual preparations for a trip requires hours of research, a carefully planned itinerary and a pretty good idea of what Plan B may entail before a step is taken. When she and her husband’s tour group was abandoned by a flustered novice tour leader during their month long trip through China not that long ago, Dawn was able - because she had researched the subject so thoroughly - to announce that she and Jim were going to visit a nearby attraction and the whole tour group followed along. This time, Dawn will ‘let go’ of all that planning and researching and just follow wherever she is lead.

Dawn has been with AAA for 25 years in November, starting as an adjuster and later working with a team on a model for controlling costs and quality through an approved vendor network. She has been through all the changes the company made in the reorganizations that marked the 1990’s and seems likely to weather whatever changes the new century brings. We wish you safe travels.

Donations are being accepted for Dawn’s endeavor, and/or for Agape International. In fact, raffle tickets are being sold to help raise funds. The grand prize is a skydiving adventure with Dawn’s husband. For more information and/or to join in on the raffle, please contact Dawn directly, at: dawn.dawson@csaa.com.