While University of Idaho ROTC cadet Blake Engle was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, recently, he and a few other U.S. cadets got the chance to attend a World Cup qualifier game.

It was his first time out of the U.S., and it was certainly his first chance to go to a country that loved soccer so much, he said.

At the match, Engle was surrounded by revelry, rivalry and excitement — one thing that stuck with him though was seeing a little girl alone, picking through the garbage for food.

“And you’d see that pretty regularly,” he said. “It made me think, at least I’m over here helping out in some way.”

Engle spent three weeks on a Cambodian military base teaching English as part of the Cultural Understanding Language Program, a summer training course for cadets.

Learn more about Blake's experience in Cambodia here.