My month in Cambodia was incredible to say the least. It was filled with children, laughter, love, sweating, resting, games, songs, more sweating, heartbreak, smiles, sugar cane juice, and some more sweating. Did I mention it was 115 degrees every day?
My team was located in a village called Kampung Chhnang, and we lived with Pastor Prach and his family. There was minimal electricity, no running water, an outhouse, and really great homecooked meals by a sweet old lady! Up until 10 years ago, this village was enemy territory. Christians were not allowed in the village, let alone live there. That’s when Pastor Prach and his family went all secret-agent, and moved there to pray over the village. Two years ago, they opened their church and work with the neighboring community. We had the privilege of doing a vocational bible school with the kids and praying for the adults afterwards.
Let me tell you about these kids. These kids have the most joyous smiles I’ve ever seen. They have the best laugh; the kind that is contagious and makes you laugh when you hear it. They also have next to nothing. The kids came in the same dirty, torn shirts every day. The were rarely, if ever, clean, and didn’t have enough to eat. Yet, they came every day twice a day and sang and danced and played like no kids I’ve ever seen before. These kids are the best demonstration I know that shows that joy does not come from material possessions.
During our off time we got to build relationships with the family, too. With Pastor Prach’s sons we go to play cards, with his nieces we got to paint nails, with his youngest daughter we sat around for hours and watched her dance and act out plays (in Khmer) for us. It was such a sweet time of fellowship that truly demonstrated that love goes beyond language barriers. Pastor Prach spoke broken English, and his family even less. Holy Spirit didn’t let that stop us from bonding over mutual interests, though!
Cambodia is one of the most interesting countries I’ve ever been to. It’s culture is so laid back, the people are so friendly, and it also has the most recent dark past of any country we’ve been to. About 40 years ago, there was genocide that slaughtered 40% of Cambodia’s population. The affluent, the educated (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc) were killed, and everyone else was sent to the countryside to become farmers. We got to hear in detail accounts of that time from Pastor Prach who lived through it, and we also learned so much at the Genocide Museum. The encounters I saw and heard are unbelievable, and not in a good way. I felt physically sick at the museum, and seeing the look in Pastor Prach’s eyes as he described the spoonful of food they got a day was heartbreaking.
If this blog seems all over the place, that’s because my mind and my heart are, too. Cambodia is one of my favorite months, but it was also a really hard one. It’s hard to understand the poverty the people in the village live in, knowing you can’t do anything but pray. It’s hard knowing these beautiful children live with buddhist parents and go to spirit doctors when they’re ill instead of knowing Jesus’ overwhelming love. It’s hard asking your host why the kids never smile in pictures when 5 seconds earlier they were laughing, and hearing him say it’s because their lives are so sad and stressful. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the fact there’s an entire generation missing from this culture, and that the generation growing up knows nothing about it. It’s hard seeing first hand the children who are trafficked in the village, and seeing their abusers at a New Year’s party touching them. It’s hard knowing a country that is so beautiful is still so broken.
But the good news is that God is moving so rapidly in this country, and it’s so evident by the people we’ve met doing His work. The stories of redemption here are incredible; He really does make beauty out of the ashes. So that is a brief overview of Cambodia. We got to experience so much, and a piece of my heart will always be with those kids. Hopefully the video below will give you a better look at the kids and their beautiful smiles, enjoy 🙂
My squad is off to Africa on Tuesday! We’ll be in Swaziland for the month doing sports ministry and working with AIDs victims right now. Our host said wifi will be scarce, and if we do find it, extremely slow, so there might not be any blog posts next month. I’ll do my best to update when I can! Thank you for your prayers!
God bless,
Jenna
