Cambodia - Hope Springs Eternal

Cambodia – Thailand – Hong Kong

Hope – Springs Eternal, by Johannes Wagner

In Cambodia you can travel from one place of Phnom Penh, the capital city we stayed in and experience complete hopelessness and upon entering another area, feel Hope rise within you.

It is really a metaphor of different areas of our lives... In one area of our lives, perhaps finances we feel hopeless, yet upon experiencing love in real relationships we might feel intrigued with hope.

The country itself has a bad history, with a lot of bruises and in some extent the country is still in ashes, with many a heart still broken over the genocide that took place some 20 years ago.

We had variety of ministries/activities in Cambodia.

Having one week there, we stayed at the Bible League in the centre of Phnom Penh and were received by Brother Andrew, a South African gentleman living there for almost 3 years now; he also married Chea recently and has a boy, Benaiah (2 Samuel 23>20-23) on the way.

The first night, Monday, we flew in from Sri Lanka to Bankok and had to “overland” from there to Poiket, the border town on the Kingdom of Cambodia. That night our 4 unmarried boys slept in one hotel room... We bought a few snacks and had a picnic while enjoying the movie Invictus, which really made us proud to be South African!

Early the Tuesday morning we set out for another whole day in the BUS...

Wednesday we saw the genocide museum that explains a little about the history of Cambodia.

Basically it explains the “Khmer Rouge”, which is the Communist genocide movement that took place in  1975-1979. The ideology was influenced by four interrelated principles:

1.     Total independence and self reliance.

2.     Preservation of the dictatorship of the working class.

3.     Total and immediate economic revolution and

4.     Complete transformation of Khmer social values.

After taking power over as government, the Khmer Rouge set out to immediately revamp the Cambodian society. Their first step was to rusticate the cities so that the urbanites, suspect for their “regressive” class background, could be reformed through hard labour. These reformed subjects could then contribute to the new agrarian economy, focussed primarily on massive increases in rice production.

Thousands of people died during the evacuations! The Khmer Rouge transferred Cambodia into a rural, classless society in which there are no rich, no poor, and no development. To accomplish this, they abolished money, free markets, normal schooling, private properties, foreign clothing, styles, religious practises and traditional Khmer culture.

A national bank was destroyed. Public schools, hospitals, pagoda, mosques, churches, universities and government buildings were shut or turned into prisons, stables re-education camps and granaries. There was no public or private transportation, no private properties and no non-revolution – related entertainment. The Khmer Rouge claimed that only PURE people were qualified to build the revolution. Soon after seizing power, they arrested and killed thousands of soldiers, military officers and civil servants from the Khmer Republic led by the Marshal Lon Nol, whom they did not regard as “pure”. Over the next three years, they executed hundreds of thousands of intellectuals, city residents, minority people such as the Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese. Many of their own soldiers and parties members were accused of being traitors (Khamboly Dy 2007).

Interesting...?!

The next day we had a worship meeting with one of the local churches. What really blew our minds was the fact that the FACES of the youth church gathering looked lit up and HOPEFUL unlike the ordinary, non-believers we saw on street.

One day we taught an English class. What a lot of fun doing the “Banana dance” and “Chooka Cha” with them and in this manner teaching them different body parts...

Then we had a few children’s ministry opportunities which we pursued. We played a variety of games with different age groups at different places.

One day we visited the Daughters ministry... This is a ministry for “EX- sex workers” that come to this day-care centre to receive training in social skills, sewing skills, business etc. in order to get their lives back!

Here is one amazing story of one of the girls:

When I was fourteen, I came to Phnom Penh to work as a housemaid in the home of wealthy Cambodians because my parents were poor and they had left home to find work in Thailand. My employers didn’t pay me a salary, but gave me two meals per day. Then the husband began to make advances towards me so I ran away. I had no job and no money. I met a girl working in a Karaoke bar who offered me a job and. The job involved sitting with customers and playing CD’s for them to sing. But all the customers liked me and tried to touch me on my legs. If I objected, they threatened to call the bar owner and demand that I lose my job. They would make derogatory comments saying, ‘why can’t we touch you? We have a right to touch you because you are cheap. This is what you are here for’. One customer asked me to go to a guesthouse with him, and I refused. But he had a gun which he pointed at me, and threatened to shoot my legs if I did not go, so I had no choice. The bar owner never intervened because this was a normal occurrence in these places, it happened all the time. After that it was often like that, I had little choice about who I had to have sex with because they were wealthy or threatened me. I was filled with pain in my heart. It was so hard to bear. Customers often made derogatory comments to me; they didn’t care if I was crying and if I asked them to stop they would not. If I asked them to wear a condom they said they would rape me. There were customers who pinched and twisted my skin and some hit me. There was nobody willing to help me and I cried alone every night with no one to care about me. I started to think I was crazy. I was often so depressed; I felt I had no worth or value and my life was cheap. I cannot describe the pain.

Since I came to work at Daughters, I feel I am living a different life, like I am a different person. I used to cry at night and be unable to sleep; now I still cry but then I pray to God and I feel peace and am able to sleep. I feel so much better in my life than before. At Daughters I find comfort and strength, the staff value me, I have close friends and I know many people here love me and care about me.

Now upon reading the above, I reckon there is more than enough stuff to be discouraging...

It can even make us think about things in our own lives that are unfair or remind us about times in our lives where we have been treated/felt like garbage.

Jesus assures us in John 16>33

These things I have spoken unto you, that IN ME you might have PEACE. In the world (flesh) you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

So if we know this, we realize that when things happen in our lives that are not easy to face, we can face it because of the PEACE He gave us and the fact that...

...He already overcame the world (earthly, temporary challenges).

When I thought about the Christian Hope, I came upon the following Word:

I HOPE this makes SENSE to you...

I’ll leave it up to the Holy Spirit to make this a RHEMA Word to you. Soak in Him.

After Cambodia

We were in Bankok for 4 days. We gave the team a challenge, which to some caused a lot of frustration, because Bankok reminded us of Sodom and there is enough Buddha’s to drive you crazy and to contemplate the LOSTNESS of the society.

Finishing in Hong Kong, our last of 11 countries, the highlight was the heavenly worship gathering we encountered and engaged in. One of our girls, Zania, has family in Hong Kong and they invited us to their church, City Church International www.citychurchinternational.com. For three hours we just danced before the Lord, bringing an offering of thanksgiving unto Him. What a blessing.

We met really cool people here – a lot of South Africans too. The Sunday morning, our last day overseas we spent with them in their church service. They called us out at the end and prayed over us. There also went out a lot of prophesies, seriously accurate.

2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

Praise the Lord for confirmation and His Holy Spirit.

This marks the end of our Global Challenge

80 Days ministry for this journey.

May the Lord show us the road ahead and if we should embark on yet another such a journey later the year.

But for now we continue to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. 2Pe 3:18