The rule of the Pol Pot regime and the genocide, still weighs heavily throughout Cambodia. During that time, the government took every piece of land from the people. Currency was no longer used and people were paid in cups of rice. People could work 24 hour days and get less than a cup of rice to feed their families on. The combined effects of forced labor, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21 percent of the Cambodian population, in just 3 years.
30 years later, poverty still holds a tight grip on Cambodia.
Butt naked children line the village streets. Their parents cannot afford clothes or diapers for them. The children that are wearing clothes are in a school uniform or clothes that are covered in holes and heavily worn.
Honor and respect come with age in this culture. The older you are, the more honor and respect you deserve. So, the children should have to go to work and earn money to support their parents, because the parents are older. Some parents take advantage of that and send their children to work or beg at an extremely young age. The kids never get an education and struggle to provide for their families. It robs the children of their right to just be children.
When the white people enter a village, we are instantly swarmed by a mob of kids. They jump into our arms, giggle, and don't let us go until the very last second. They are always covered in the powder-like Cambodian dirt, snot, and some form of cut or scrape. Inspite of all that, they are the most beautiful children I have ever seen!
The kids, often, get into physical fights. They are always covered in scrapes and bruises. We asked one boy where he got the cuts on his head and arms from. He told us that his dad drinks and beats him. The first thing I saw when we crossed the border into Cambodia, was a mother slapping her 6 month old child across the face for crying. It became clear to me that these children are just acting out what they see at home. They say and do things that children just shouldn't say or do. It's been really hard to restrain myself from taking hundreds of Cambodian children home with me. I make no promises.
We are doing our best to smother these precious babies with the love of Christ. We are playing every game we can think of, that isn't restricted by a language barrier, to give them the chance to just be children. We are holding them super tight in our arms, to insure they know how it feels to be safe. They are doing their best to show us what is like to instantly fall in love. It's going to break my heart to leave these sweet kids.
Please pray protection, provision, and most of all…Salvation over these children of God.
I pray they see that, though we may leave, their Heavenly Father will always be near to them.
I am still in need of $3,200 by March 1'st.
Click "support me" on the left side, to help!
Kisses from Cambodia 🙂
