Quick highlights of Cambodia:
- Noodles basically everyday for lunch or dinner in an effort to save on food money YAY noodles!
- Playing with children from orphanges and villages
- Seeing people wearing their PJ's during the day
- learning so much from Gods word and new ways of how to study it
- resting, relaxing and catching up on missed journalling
And the longer version:
Ok and so by the time we were done with the challenge of Luke 10 it was very exciting to be reunited with the rest of the southbound team. In the time away I realized how much they had all grown to become very close family. At the same time, coming back into the big group was also overwhelming, having to go back to sharing that one shower with all the girls and even once again getting used to some of the accents from the others... It is crazy to think that as we have traveled around the world as a team we have truly developed our own little mixed culture, and going out of it then coming back brings abit of culture shock. So during the first week back together I was really challenged by alot of things all at once; processing Luke 10, finding my place again in the bigger team and super challenged by the week of bible study that we had. The first week of Cambodia we spent with a South African missionary, who runs the Veritas Bible College in Cambodia. We were able to go through the second module ( the first we did in training). It was based on the first five books of the old testament, the highlights were continuing to see how much all of it points to Jesus, being challenged to sit and summarize a book of the bible in one night (our team got Leviticus which was insane!) and just being able to sit around to discuss and learn from each other.
During the week we also got to spend some time helping at ministries, one was Daughters- a cooperative involved in giving girls trapped in the huge Cambodian sex trafficking industry a way out. Where they are given a place to work (sewing t-shirts, making jewelery, screen printing etc) and extra support networks to be able to leave the destructive industry they end up in. It was amazing to see the difference in so many women's lives and that there is hope, even if it is a small drop in the ocean at the start. We also were able to go out to rural villages, one to help rebuild some of their houses and the other to lead the children's ministry at a small church. The village where we helped build houses was probably where I have seen the most
poverty this year. The people have been given "land" to live but it is actually just where there is a dirty swamp, so they put shacks up on poles and just hope that when it rains the water levels don't rise too high. Walls where made of weaved bamboo and the entire house was so simple, as a team we could have finished about three in one day. Comprehending the incredible difference between the living standard in that village and basically anywhere in NZ is so hard. But the crazy thing is that the people were quite happy, they had nothing but where so welcoming.
The second week in Cambodia we moved to stay with a different missionary, further out from the centre of Phnom Penh, where we got to spend the time helping out with different children's ministries, schools and orphanages. It was such a fun time just being able to play with the children, share stories, dramas, songs and new games. Especially at an after school program we went to each afternoon, being able to see the same kids each
day and build relationships.
We were also exposed to the history and culture of Cambodia, visiting the genocide museum and killing fields from the Pol Pot/ Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970's. It is out of control the destruction that went on here and I really realised how much that would continue to effect this country. During a period of 4 years about 2 million Cambodians were killed, in an attempt to create a giant labour force. With mainly intellectuals being sought out, for example from the whole country only 40 doctors were still alive when the regime was over thrown. SO CRAZY! We also were able to learn a lot more of what the Buddhist religion is about, which also has a huge impact on the culture in most of south east Asia.
At the I am super thankful for this week at the moment where we have been able to take free time, to explore and rest, to journal and spend time just reflecting. I am also very thankful because Mum and Dad happen to be in Singapore right before we fly from Kuala Lumpur to China, so I am able to go and visit them for a short time!
Ok so that is a quick run down of what I have been up to. If you have time I would love to hear what you have been up to. You can be praying for the travel time as we get there, for continued growth in our team and for my personal finances that am still raising to be able to complete this year.Thanks heaps for taking teh time to read through this :)