Born in Cambodia, Richard spent the first 13 years of his life being cautioned, as all Cambodian children are, about where he could and could not play, and seeing on every street people who were maimed to one degree or another. Cambodia has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the world – with an estimated eight to 10 million land mines in the country. The challenge is that land mines are easy to make and place (costing as little as $3 U.S.) but challenging, expensive, and highly dangerous to remove. For Richard, it became a personal mission to figure out a better way to rid the world of land mines. "Never let passion dictate your work ethic."