Here in Ban Lung, we are serving with a ministry that is just getting off the ground. So, this month's ministry was very much what we made of it.
Our main contact, Sam, is the owner of a small shop in Pnom Penh called The Lord's Gifts that sells souvenirs that are handmade by people in villages throughout Cambodia. On our way through Pnom Penh, we were able to stop in, look around, and make some purchases. The store had just opened a few months ago.
In Ban Lung, we got to meet one of the carpenters that makes wood carvings to sell at the store. Sam told us the story of how they got connected and how Sam helped him get some training on wood carving to increase the quality of his work. The carpenter's name is Sim. Our first week here, we traveled out to Sim's village just outside of town to help him with a few things around his house.
In addition to his carpentry work, Sim recently started teaching English in his home. He told us that he had about 30 students every day. An entire side of his house is unfinish and we were planning to help him build the wall so he wouldn't have to use a tarp. So, we spent the first week trekking out to his house to help.
But when we got there, he didn't have the one tool he needed for the wall, so we helped with some other things. Our work started as building desks and seats for the students to use in class. We built 8 total. It was frustrating for me because everytime I picked up a power tool, the locals were quick to take it from me and do whatever I was going to do. I AM capable, but apparently "it's not women's work."
Ed and Christopher hammering away with their hatchets!
That left us girls with a lot of free time while Ed and Christopher built desks. I tried to help by handing them nails (I'm good at that, I started doing that when I was in diapers!), holding wood while they were hammer… I hammered for a while until I got a nasty blister that made it impossible to hammer without pain. So, us girls occupied ourselves by going for prayer walks around the village and playing with the children. Very few people in the village know English, so our actions and charades were all we had to offer.
The first day, I went on a prayer walk with Cathy and we came across a man who spoke very broken English. He told us how he wanted to learn but didn't have the mnoey to pay for it. His neighbor had an English school and he directed us to her in order to talk more, but when we went over, she wasn't home.
After our prayer walk, I came back and brought out my soccer ball. The kids loved it! I played for several hours, just kicking the ball around the street, teaching them some moves, only stopping to let a moto pass every now and then. A lot of the neighbors came out to watch, too [I only made a fool of myself once]. I forgot my ball on the last day, and the kids were thoroughly disappointed.
Three of my soccer buddies (sadly, I never did get thier names…)
Cathy teaching some Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes while
the rest of us were working on the fence.
After the desks were completed, we helped Sim build a fence for the front of his property. This entailed digging holes about 8 inches deep, putting in pieces of wood as posts, adding cross beams, and nailing in more wood as slats. It took a couple days, and a few trips to the burn pile, but we finished!
The fence in progress. Digging holes for the posts with a pipe.
Sim then took some more wood and made an entrance way, complete with a cross overhead. It looks like a completely different house!
The finished fence and entry way
We finished the week off with a night of VBS at Sim's house. We were greeted by nearly 80 kids from the village waiting for us to arrive.
We didn't have much to go off of as there were some communication issues at to what exactly was happening that night. But flying by the seat of our pants is what we do best! Chris started the night by entertaining them with his djembe while the rest of us planned out the rest of the night.
Our contact took the lime light next, leading the kids in a few songs. We shared a few songs as well and then did a skit for them, the story of Jonah. Right before we came, our contact told us that a lot of the parents were not letting their children come to English class any more because they thought Sim was teaching them to disobey their parents (since they know he is a Christian). So, Michelle weaved in the lesson to obey their parents into the story of Jonah.
Crazy attempt at playing the uke in public for the kiddos
(it didn't go well, but the kids loved laughing at my "mini guitar")
We finished the night with a bit of dancing. The kids were teaching us some cultural Cambodian dances. It was very dusty, but so much fun! One of the older girls dragged me out on the dance floor and was attached to me all night.
My friend/dancing buddy Camra and her friend
Luckily, our tuk tuk pulled up right as Gangnam Style came on… phew!
