CAMBODIA: seeing the hope for change

Cambodia. At first when you think of Cambodia, you would probably think of the horrific things that have happened here in the past. When I first realized that I was coming here, I thought the same thing. Now that I am here, I don’t think of that at all.

Yes, you see the remnants and the results of it, but it is not who the country is anymore (at least in my eyes). It is a country full of beautiful scenery, people and culture. The panoramic view of the country is beautiful. It is full of green open level fields of rice with acre after acre of workers working for their harvest. And the people, the people are lovely. Around every corner is a small child saying “hello” in that high pitched mickey mouse voice that only a child can make, vendors on the side of the road trying to make jokes with you while you are in your tuk-tuk about buying their crustacean fried pies, and always an English speaking Cambodian volunteering their help in a communication situation that is struggling. But, I have seen and experienced life inside the household. Family night seems to be no stranger. Kids run in the streets playing with neighbors till the sun goes down while parents sit and talk. Women go to the market together for a day out, and food is the center of life. Homes seem to be quite hospitable to guests and “stranger” doesn't appear (to the foreigner) to be in their vocabulary.

     To me, this is Cambodia. I have learned this from getting to be a part of family life during our Luke 10 journey and have observed it through some of the projects we have been blessed to be a part of.  Since our team’s ministry started, we have had a wide variety of experiences here in Cambodia. The first week we worked alongside a missionary from South Africa that has been living here for 15 years. Because of this, she has played a major role in bringing “Veritas” Bible study method to the Khmer people of this country.  Over the last 4 years numerous pastors and church leaders have been part of the program and more recently people from the provinces have been being trained as well. As southbound, we were given the opportunity to have this missionary invest in our lives. For 5 days she equipped us with tools to study the Old Testament.

Between lessons, we were able to be part of some ministry. One day, we went out to a village outside of Phnom Penh. That particular village is known for being thieves and therefore is considered by Cambodians to be worthless.  A Cambodian Christian sister had a vision to go into this impoverished village and work with the people. This is a population that has been given land because they are so poor, but the land that they were given is located over a huge gnarly. We had the opportunity to go into this community and help build up their houses to prevent them from being flooded in the future, and adding walls to the houses that were previously just tarps hanging. I really can’t even describe to you what we saw that day. It was unlike any poverty that I have ever seen before. It was a great opportunity to serve people and help in whatever way that we could.

      In the second week that we were here, worked with another South African missionary. With him, we did more work with children. We went to children’s homes, Bible studies, and community children’s groups and played with kids, sang songs, performed dramas, and shared the Word. There was one little girl in particular that stole my heart. When I first saw her, she was sitting with her unclothed brother and holding another younger brother in her arms. Though she appeared to be about 7 years old, it was obvious that she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. They were dirty, and because of their condition, the other kids seemed to shun them. As we started to play games with the kids, I tried to show them extra attention because no one else would. You could tell the little girl wanted to play the games, but was kept from playing out of the responsibility of taking care of the  sleeping pbaby in her arms and the reject brother sitting beside her.  As her baby brother started crying, I took the baby from her arms and she went to play. In that moment, it was as if the weight was lifted from her shoulders. She could run, play, laugh and not have to worry about anything else. I saw her smile and start to laugh! When the program was over, she gathered up her siblings and left. That was it.

    The next day we returned to the same group of children. When our tuk tuks arrived, we were greeted by a group of children screaming because of the excitement they had inside. So, we screamed back. J  They were so happy we were there, they were loving every second of it! I looked down after being there for a few minutes and there was the little girl from the day before tapping me on the leg. She was there along with her (now clothed) brother and she even brought some friends along this time. This time, there was a huge smile on her face. No remnants of the little girl that I first met remained.  Though the little girl had smiled, I had yet to see her brother smile- only looks of fear and rejection were in his eyes. Today, both siblings began to join in on the games. AS they played, they seemed to be accepted by the others unlike the previous day. I saw them smile. The little girl practically smiled the whole night! At one point, I look down and saw that scared, rejected little boy smile and laugh. He was having fun. I think he could feel the love that was in that place.

That was worth it for me. To see those two kids smile and laugh and forget the immediate cares they had at home was absolutely beautiful! They experienced love and it changed them.

I could go on with story after story of the beauty that I experienced in Cambodia…but I won’t (but I would be glad to talk to you about it if you ask me). Though this is a place that is war torn, full of broken relationships, loss of hope, and deemed by some people as worthless, I see hope here. The Buddhist temples are numerous and the oppression is incredible, but I see that God is moving and loves this land.