A prominent American-Jewish family has been helping out poor villagers in a remote Cambodian village... by building them a mosque.

The Lightman family from Massachusetts have been working with the village, Tramoung Chum, since 2003. It started when academic Alan Lightman, his wife Jean Greenblatt Lightman and their Daughter Elyse funded a four-room concrete school.

Then, in 2006, they were asked if they could help out by building a mosque — and they agreed. Said Mr Lightman: “It was strange for us to be there... halfway across the planet, and it’s a religion that’s far from our religion.” We can’t wait to see what they do for a Yom Kippur appeal.