The month we were in Cambodia was full of more English classes and relationships. We lived on the top floor of a church and shared the space with the pastors and students who lived in the same building. I taught a class to younger kids and also one class to young adults with one of my teammates. We were in Phnom Penh (penom pen) and it was quite noisy, full of people and traffic. Every night we would be serenaded with a nearby restaurant’s live band singing “Happy Birsday” as they pronounced it. We were blessed to also attend our first wedding on the race. It was an interesting experience all around with many traditional outfits by the bride and groom (they changed about five times) and a fruit processional that some of my teammates and I were a part of. This assortment of fruit, even Coca Cola and meat on trays, was given by the groom’s family to the bride’s family. The bride and groom also washed both mothers feet as a sign of honor and respect.
It was a bit challenging to teach English to the kids because we didn’t know the translation of words so we used pictures instead. The kids were very studious taking meticulous notes with a protractor in their little graph paper notebooks (they didn’t use line paper for some reason). They came after their regular school so many of them came with a piece of bread and jam or a shake or drink from a street vendor. They really impressed me with their hunger to learn, even after a day at school already. The youngest student was five but he looked even tinier. The older class was a bit more advanced and the students learned phrases and rules of the English language. They were really great and even brought us donuts with candles in them on the last day of school.
On our off days we explored some of the countries history which involved a genocide occurring 1975-1979 all throughout Cambodia. About 2 million people were murdered. We visited a prison that was once a high school called S-21. In this place many people and their families were tortured and killed. We also visited the killing fields where trucks loads of people would be brought and killed by the masses. They targeted religious people, artistic people, urban people who couldn’t farm, intellectuals, foreigners living in Cambodia, anybody they felt “infected” their pure culture. They called back some of their professionals living out of the country and would put them in prison when they came to help with what they thought was a revolution helping their country. They tortured people for “confessions” saying they were spies for the CIA for example even when they were just minding their own business and living their lives prior.
This month we were left with tender notes about the impact the team made and how it made them want to pursue the Lord. We got to share the gospel in our English classes and our host gave a presentation of the good news in their language in each class as well.
After a few weeks in our ministry site, we went to our second debrief in Siem Reap. There we met with the whole squad for a time of refreshment, teachings, and a team debrief. The place was called the Overflow and it was a beautiful oasis.
We went to South Africa afterwards for an “Awakening” conference for a few days and now we are in Botswana!
*A video of all my Asia adventures will be coming soon once I have better wifi*
