Month Six: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
February 2016
In Cambodia we lived in a house with our host Jack & Somedy, their daughter Daria. They share a three story house with her father, her younger brother Jared, and her family friend Darlene.
My team and I spent weekends working with Jacks ministry. Jack was a pastor of a new and growing church that was made up of twenty something year old’s. Every Saturday night we would get two soccer games going. One game for all the girls to have fun, and one team for the boys to play and get competitive. On Sunday mornings we would attend his church, my teammates Gabrielle & John would help lead worship. Sunday afternoons we would help teach English, guitar, and piano classes. It was so much fun getting to hang out with every single person, really living life and laughing with them.
On the Monday mornings we would wake up early to drive out to a small village about 45 minutes outside of Phnom Penh. We would take turns assisting the teacher in one of the three classes. They have a pre-kindergarten class, kindergarten class, and first grade class. Every other morning, four of my teammates would be out doing manual labor around the grounds of the school. We would clear weeds, cut grass, and helped keep the school grounds clean. In the afternoon we would play with the kids and teach students English.
The school is in an impoverished community. They do not turn any students away, they even provide transportation to students who wouldn’t be able to come to school without it. The school is funded with supporters primarily from Brazil. There is four missionaries that are here to help build the school, teach, or run the school.
Their vision for their school is to build an additional two story building. This will provide more space for additional grades. They would also like to build teacher and student housing for staff and students to sleep in during the school week. This would provide three meals a day, a safe and clean place to stay, and would help each of these children to learn more.
Top Eleven Moments from Cambodia
1. Soccer ministry every Saturday night. The screaming, laughing, smiles, and more laughter playing with all girls. None of us were super good at playing soccer, but our relationships deepened because of the time we spent together.
2. Running around the school at night, riding the bike to the bathroom, or dancing in the field with the water hose.
3. Running home from house visits with Somien. Somien is the pre kindergarten teacher at the school. We ran through people’s crops, dodging holes, and tried to not step on the plants.
4. Crashing a Khmer wedding in our stinky soccer clothes. We immediately were handed warm drinks, shuffled onto the dance floor, shown how to dance a traditional Khmer dance, and had pictures taken with the bride & groom. It took several attempts to escape the dance floor. I still laugh looking back on that.
5. Somedy. I love this woman, she is an incredible wife, mother, principal, and friend. I loved getting to know her and her heart. I loved watching her interact and love on her daughter Daria.
6. Watching Christina go to work one night in our room with the mosquito bug zapper. The bug zapper was in the shape of a tennis racket, which made it even more fun.
7. Getting on the bus, missing my bus stop by like twelve stops. The older woman on the other side of the bus asks me where I am going, helping me realize I really missed my stop. Then the older man sitting next to me speaking to me in Khmer, us just laughing, smiling, until he got off the bus. That day made me realize that its fine to miss your stop, because laughter, relationships, and better things can happen.
8. We had a giant traditional Khmer dinner prepared by Somedy and the women of the church. That evening was spent eating on the floor surrounded by 25 of my friends, laughing, and playing games.
9. We had an evening worship session with three different continent’s represented. From South America Everson and his wife Juliana, Helida, and Francisca from Brazil. From Asia, Somedy and the teachers from Cambodia. From North America, my team and I. It was absolutely beautiful experiencing so many different people worshiping all at the same time.
10. Everson & his wife Julie Ann took Jack, Somedy, and my team out for Cambodianbarbeque!! So delicious! Two of us hopped out of one crammed tuk tuk(it had 6 of us crammed in) and we jumped into Eversons car– in the middle of a traffic jam.
11. Going on house visits with Somedy. We had to visit every home to gather information for each student. Each visit was getting information on how the student was doing since being at the school, information on the family, and the needs of the students. All of this information was gathered to create an online sponsorship program.
