The Bio
Claim to Fame: Once a Hollywood executive who oversaw the marketing of Titanic and X-Men, he gave it all up to help Cambodian kids.
Founder: Cambodian Children's Fund, providing education to child garbage pickers at the Phnom Penh Steung Meanchey dump.
Winner: 2007 Harvard School of Public Health/Quincy Jones "Q" Prize for his work on children's issues.
Launched: Vocational programs teaching cosmetology, computer skills, bread making, and graphic design.
Goal: To create an agricultural training college in Cambodia.

Travel Log
Last Trip: To Thailand's Golden Triangle, where I saw amazing Thai compassion toward an ever-increasing number of Burmese refugees.
Next Trip: To the United States, to raise money.
Favorite Trip: Bali, in 1980, my first time overseas. Ubud was paradise. The fishermen on the beaches at Nusa Dua were surprised to see a Westerner.
They took me to view the foundation for the first of dozens of five-star hotels.
Takeaway: Travel broadens the mind and cures intolerance.

CNT: How did you first get involved in Cambodia?

Neeson: I began to sponsor a family whose daughter was begging in restaurants. I rented them an apartment and gave them a television, a motorbike, clothes. But I discovered that it all got sold off. The parents pulled the children out of school and were gambling with the money.

CNT: So the way you were trying to help was naive.

Neeson: Yes. Then I saw kids picking through garbage at the Steung Meanchey dump, and I realized that you couldn't help unless you had control over feeding them, their health, making sure they stayed in class.

CNT: What advice do you have for travelers who confront beggars?

Neeson: It's impossible to resist giving money sometimes. But remember, kids don't keep it: The money goes to the people running the racket. And you're reinforcing a life of begging, which keeps kids out of school. It's best to give to a well-run charity.

CNT: How has the increase in food prices affected Cambodia?

Neeson: Prices have gone up some 300 percent over the past year. Cambodia is the poorest country in the region. People barely managed to scrape by last year.

CNT: What can be done?

Neeson: We need more resources through the World Food Program. We need more attention.

CNT: In your view, how does tourism help people on the lowest rungs?

Neeson: It's income that can't be taken away from people by corruption. A forestry contract is a single transaction that can easily go into the wrong pockets. But tourism money goes to thousands of people, including the guy driving the tuk-tuk. That said, if hotels aren't taking care of the environment, travelers should speak up.