The Land of Smiles

I was sitting in the modest kitchen at the boys dorm talking with one of my English students, Makara, the son of rice farmers from a rural village in southern Cambodia. Knowing that I have travelled to many different countries in the past year, he asked me if I could compare Cambodia to any of the other countries I have been. After a moment of thinking, I realized that I could not.  We had met countless amazing people on the Race, but the consistent joy of the people here was something I had yet to come across.

 

“Cambodians are the happiest people I have been with. I have yet to find anyone as genuine as your people,” I responded. 
“Teacha,” said Makara, “You can see many different kinds of people around the world, but we are the land of smiles.”

I sat there for a moment in quiet reflection of how right he was.  I don’t even know where the hi’s and hello’s come from half of the time and the smiles we see every day just melt my heart.

 

This woman gives me the biggest hello each time I walk past her shop, which is down the street from where we’re living for the month.  We replenish our water supply from her stock.  

 

Just around the corner from our little water store down the street, this little guy seemingly waits for our arrival.  He raises his right hand energetically as he says hello to us.  Here, he holds a balloon that my squad-leader Molly gave to him.

 She lives next door to the boy’s dorm where we teach English.  You hear her squeal from 20 yards away when she sees us coming.  She gently places whatever she is playing with at the time on the ground and runs with all her might and jumps into my arms.  

 

Teaching English is such a pleasure when your students willingly and joyfully learn.  We have so much fun practicing conversation and laughing with each other about our cultural differences.

 

Between English classes, I sometimes go out to play with the neighborhood kids, and one of them snapped this picture of a girl who was looking at me as she walked past, smiling all the way.

 

Bou Meng is a former prisoner at S-21. He is one of seven survivors of the 20,000 that were kept at the prison, and he smiles on, despite the torture he endured.

 

I met Don through a fellow World Racer from Chicago.  He drives my team around Phnom Penh in his tuk-tuk and is a fellow believer who gives all of the credit of our meeting to God.  

 

Even on days off from ministry, our students bring so much joy to us.  When we visited them at a charity event they held at their university to raise money for the poor, we were greeted with delight! I 

 These are just some of the people we see every day here, and in just three short weeks, they have brought me more joy than I could imagine.  

I don’t know how you could find a friendlier bunch than the people we have met in Cambodia.  From 2, to 22, to 82, these people are an amazing group, extending love and joy and welcomeness that is not easily forgotten.