In 1984, Rob and Dorice Beren – just married and recently qualified, volunteered with Alight(then the American Refugee Committee) on the Thai-Cambodian border. Full of idealism and compassion, they arrived thinking they could "save the world." What they found instead was something far more powerful – a deep, humbling education in the realities of humanitarian work, and a lifelong commitment to making a difference.
That first experience, meant to last only three months, stretched into eight. Rob, a newly minted physician, and Dorice, a nurse with a master’s degree in nursing and cultural anthropology, were assigned to work in a hospital at the refugee camp, serving Cambodian refugees fleeing war and genocide.
The reality of the work was sobering. From running makeshift clinics and training Cambodian medics, to transporting dying patients in WWII-era ambulances, they were thrust into the heart of a humanitarian crisis. They learned about medicine, but also about suffering, survival, and the resilience of people who had lost everything. Rob recalled speaking with a civilian leader in the camp who said: ‘You can cry for one person, but you cannot cry for a million.’ What you have to do instead is keep putting one foot in front of the other. Do the doable.
The couple have countless stories to share: treating wounded soldiers disguised as civilians, handing out ration cards for rice in a system designed to prevent chaos, confronting heartbreaking decisions about who could and could not be helped. Despite the trauma, what they carried with them wasn’t despair – it was a quiet, enduring hope. “The biggest help we gave,” Rob said, “was hope. Just showing up and saying, ‘The world has not forgotten you.’ That mattered.”
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