After about 30 hours of travel, no sleep, and attempting to function soley on lots of coffee, we were more than ready to get to our next ministry site to crash for the night. We walked out of the airport into the hot Cambodian night around 7pm and were greeted by the cutest little man named Chhay (pronouced “Chai” like the tea…yum). Our new 19 year old friend put on a smile and welcomed us to Cambodia, but I could sense that there was something else on his mind. After a little while of chatting and waiting he told us that around 4pm earlier that day a large textile factory caught on fire. We prayed with Chhay, not knowing the severity of the situation, and continued to wait on our ride. As the minutes passed, he kept getting phone calls with updates about the fire.
10,000 women worked at the factory which is the largest in Phnom Penh–the capitol of Cambodia. Chhay fights back the tears to tell us that he just got a call saying that 2,000 women lost their lives (not confirmed, but that’s what we have been told). A van was on the way to get us, but was having a difficult time trying to drive on the overpacked streets filled with people just watching the building in flames.
When the van finally made it to us, we piled our bags in and started our way towards the church. As we were driving, I had my head out of the window and noticed how many people had such a helpless look on their faces. As we neared the burning factory, I really woke up. I have never seen such huge flames. The streets were almost impossible to drive through because of the mass amounts of people. Our church was only 100 meters away from the factory so we had to stop on the side of the road in front of the burning building because the streets were closed off.
I threw my huge pack on my back, daypack on the front, purse in hand, and started down the street through crowds and towards the fire. We were about as big as a spectacle as the burning factory was. As we kept walking smiling past all the people staring and pointing at us, we stopped right in front of a gas station next door to the factory. We could almost feel the heat and another Cambodian man who was leading us didn’t know where to take us next.
As I came to my senses and was looking around the reality of what we just walked into smacked me in the face…
That there are 10,000 women out of a job and 2,000 who lost their lives.
That there are thousands of people crowded in the streets, and if this fire gets out of control people aren’t going to be able to get out fast.
That we are right by a gas station right by the burning building.
That we need to get away from here and pray.
We followed our little driver man who didn’t speak any english through alleys and dirt roads praying that he at least worked for the church and wasn’t about to kill us. This happens a lot on the race (sorry random point), but something that in America we are always taught NOT to do …that is very normal life for me.
Anyways, we arrived at the church sometime later. A lot of people were all around the building and we dropped our stuff and went to the roof where everyone else was gathered. There, we learned that the fire trucks couldn’t fit down the small streets surrounding the factory. The firemen assessed the situation and demanded $5,000 to even fight the fire! So, the factory burned because nobody would pay it.
We stood helplessly watching the burning building and praying on the rooftop. The fire is now out, but the devestation will continue. Pray for the women who lost jobs and that they will be able to find more work soon. Also pray for the families who lost a mom, wife, sister, aunt or friends. We are trying to visit the hospitals tomorrow, so I’ll keep yall posted!
