Literary Traveler is a website that speaks to me because it builds on the crossroads of two of my favorite things: books and traveling. This week, they featured an article of mine that discusses the importance of empathy while exploring new places. Read the full article here, and scroll down for a sneak preview.

While I was working for an agricultural non-profit organization in Cambodia, I spent a lot of time in rural villages. I interviewed locals to learn how modern technology has juxtaposed with traditional farming methods to increase their crops. I heard stories that were both difficult and challenging, as well as beautiful and enchanting. Eating under the raised thatch home of a rice farmer in the middle of his vibrant green rice fields, I could also picture the Ung family hiding quietly above me for fear that Khmer Rouge soldiers were standing below listening for “traitors.”