This is Manech and Manet – the daughters of the pastor at New Life Church here in Sisophan, Cambodia!
MADE IT TO PHNOM PENH!!! Our contact Darra, and his family, greeted us with signs at the airport, and brought us to our hostel where we had dinner and stayed the night. At this point I felt: exhausted, nervous, homesick, ill, and really unlike myself…
By the next day, we had packed up and jumped into two airconditioned (such a treat!) cars to head to Sisophan, Cambodia where Darra would introduce us to one of the several New Life Churches. On the way we stopped at an NGO project that Darra helps to direct, which pours into building sustainable lifestyles for Cambodians all over – a grassroots farming project.
When we arrived I felt: relieved that the bulk of our travels for the week were over, still so tired, headache-y from that sore neck (any other head-bobbing car-sleepers out there??), hungry and unsure of what to expect…
We met a bunch of the youth from the church on our way in and proceeded up to the church part of the building (the second floor of a large building in a rural area) where we set up our tents and unpacked. Dinner was so delicious (food has been all weekend!!) and went to bed super early. The next morning I awoke – with that same darn headache, and only a couple hours of sleep due to the heat. By this point I felt: not convinced that I have 11 more months of this, and it was ONLY the first real day – also somewhat anxious…
BUT THEN SATURDAY happened. On our walk around the village meeting different church members, the group of youth with us had speakers and were playing their favourite Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber songs – the perfect opportunity for us to join in singing – and we bonded just like that! That afternoon, we spent time just exchanging different silly songs with actions, games (that required few instructions…haha) and when one of the youth pulled out a guitar, we sang along with the worship songs we knew. Most of them know at least a tiny, tiny bit of english which makes it easier to communicate – but even with that language barrier, we’ve still been able to really get along!
Sunday’s church service was really cool – and they asked our group to sing a song. So on the fly we decided on ‘Mighty to Save’ and it went smoothly! That afternoon, we travelled to a nearby village via ‘mottos’ (motorcycle-bike-things) and shared some songs, games, and the bible story of Zaccheus with the children. It was so fun, and the kids really enjoyed it! Also, motto rides are super freeing…nothing like the wind in your hair, the greeness of Cambodia passing you by, and people taking extra long periods of time to stare at you because you’re clearly NOT from around there…haha! The day ended with a soccer game – my favourite. And in the evening the youth had come up to our tent area to show us some card tricks and just hang out – officially friends! I was even teaching one of the boys, Peap, some contemporary dance…it was BEYOND fun. I can’t believe we’ve only been here 3 full days – they’ve been such long and great days that I feel like we’ve been here forever! So neat to be building these relationships!
And now I’m feeling: READY. EXCITED. COMMITTED. REAFFIRMED. ENERGIZED (…but I’m a fan of a good night’s sleep for that to happen) and reminded of why I chose to do the World Race. Cambodia is beautiful, and the church family we’ve met are so welcoming and determined to mould a better future for their sons and daughters – it’s incredibly inspiring. More to come soon!
