Rexburg family returns from living abroad

By Amy Erikson

REXBURG—When you think of Idaho what do you see? Mountains, wildlife, beautiful lakes and rivers, and… potatoes. Idaho is known for its bountiful crops such as potatoes, barley, and sugar beets. Jared Williams, originally from Blackfoot and a Brigham Young University-Idaho agriculture professor, left his Idaho roots to experience a different kind of agriculture in Cambodia.

Williams goes way back with Cambodia. He was one of the first missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be called to serve in the country in 1994. In 2014, Williams had his first opportunity to go on a sabbatical. He went back to Cambodia through the U.S. Fulbright Cultural Exchange Program. (The U.S Fulbright Program aims to improve relations with other countries and share culture and ideas).

Williams and his wife Katrina packed up suitcases full of belongings, and with their willing family left for Cambodia in September 2014. He taught conservation agriculture and organic agriculture at the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia’s native language, Khmer.

In 2019, he was up for another sabbatical and was awarded a second grant to go to Cambodia in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed until February of 2021.

Williams disclosed, “This time, instead of spending most of my time teaching, I wanted to research and learn about Cambodia’s soil health.”

He set out to answer the question, “Do the different cropping systems improve the health of the soil and by how much?”

He was determined to get a quantitative result. He enthusiastically shared “ I was very interested in the effects of agriculture expansion and climate change.”

When asked “What did you love about Cambodia?” without missing a beat, Williams responded, “It doesn’t snow.” He chuckled and went on to say that he loved the culture. He was already so connected to Cambodia from serving his mission there. He made lots of friends and kept in touch with old ones. He loved that he could speak the language, though most Cambodians spoke English quite well. He loved to take his family on excursions around the country. And he, of course, loved the agriculture.

Williams related, “Agriculture is so fascinating to me because, in Idaho, it is slow paced. But in Cambodia, you can grow all year long. You can grow up to three different crops in a year. The most common being mangos, cashews, and cassava.”

It wasn’t all mangos and cashews though. Williams and his family had to adjust to life in Cambodia twice. Both times, food was the greatest barrier the family faced. Williams remarked, “It is just a different cuisine there, and every meal is served with rice. My family had to get used to limited options.”

Another challenge they faced living in Cambodia were the sanitation issues in the country. There were open sewers and trash everywhere. It was a pretty stark contrast from the development in the United States.

The first time the Williams family lived in Cambodia, it was mostly a great experience. There were no COVID restrictions and they could move about the country freely. They went on many different excursions. They visited the Gulf of Thailand, Angkor Wat (the largest religious structure in the world), and an archeological park that his kids loved. They made friends at church and were presented with a lot of opportunities to learn about Cambodian culture.

The Jared and Katrina Williams Family in Cambodia

The 2021 visit proved to be more difficult. They were in lockdown for about 3 months with the restriction that they could not leave the capital and hardly anything was open for business. There was about 6 weeks where they could only leave the apartment 3 times a week for groceries. The last two months, the restrictions were lifted and a few of the highlights of the trip were visiting Mondulkiri’s many waterfalls and spending a day with elephants in the wild.

Overall, the Williams family made wonderful memories in Cambodia and they are grateful for the experiences they encountered.

This year, when the Williamses arrived back in the United States, their perspective had shifted.

Williams recounts, “The people of Cambodia are generally very happy people. They are very united. I think the reason they are happy has a lot to do with the fact that they are concerned about the community and others. In Cambodia, the people are dirt poor but they’ll do anything for you and are as happy as can be. It was hard to come back to the materialism and wasteful spending Americans have as a culture.”

Coming back to Rexburg, Williams realized just how quiet and rural Idaho is. He had gotten used to the hustle and bustle of the city. However, he is excited to be back at BYU-Idaho where he loves his job teaching the students all he knows about agriculture.

The Williams family had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, or, should I say, a twice-in-a-lifetime experience, living with the people of Cambodia. Even though they originally adventured there to learn about the agriculture, they left with a deep love for the people and places they saw. The memories they made as a family drew them closer to each other and opened their minds to different ideas than the ones they knew. Cambodia will always be a special place for the Williamses.