I know I haven’t updated you all in a while. I am in Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia. I’ve been living here for about a month now and have a month to go. There is not an overwhelming amount of tourism but I definitely don’t feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere so it’s a nice balance.
My team and I have been working with a ministry called Crossing Cambodia. Crossing Cambodia focuses on helping street kids here in Battambang. There are twenty-three kids who are in the program from the ages of five to thirteen. The ministry I’ve been serving with here is by far the most tangible and visible work that I’ve been able to be a part of on the race. It’s been very rewarding to be able to see the fruit of what we are doing so tangibly in a smile, hug, or giggle from a sweet child. To get the full picture of everything that Crossing Cambodia does, I decided to do a quick walk through of what an average day looks like here.
5:30 AM: My team and I climb into the tuk-tuk that will take us to the center. It’s usually still dark out. The fifteen-minute ride is peaceful and quiet.
6:00 AM: Two of us get into the truck with two staff members to go pick up the kids. We make stops at the town square, a neighborhood of small shacks, and an abandoned building by the railroad. A staff member will usually get out of the truck and go wake up the sleeping children. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get them up in the morning, just like it would be with any other sleepy kid. Some of the children even sleep walk to the truck! All is quiet as the heavy-eyed kids start to wake up on the way to the center.
6:30 AM: We arrive at the center with the children. We help them bathe, get dressed, and do their hair. The girls always have specific ways they like their hair combed and braided which we’ve come to learn over the past month. They eat their breakfast and by 7 are back on the truck to be taken to school.
8:00 AM: My team and the staff gather together to do a small devotion. We switch off days where my team will give the devotion and where one of the staff members will. It always reminds me that even though we speak different languages and are from different cultures, we are united in our purpose and through our Father.
9:00 AM: This is kind of our slow time at the center. We play with three younger boys who aren’t old enough to go to school yet and two of the older kids who go to school in the afternoons because they are too tired in the mornings. Oftentimes most of them will be asleep all through the morning. We usually hang out with the staff, take some time to read, clean, or just rest.
Sleepy kids.
10:00 AM: We usually start helping make lunch. One of my favorite things is sitting on the floor mat with some of the staff members and watching them cut up fruits, vegetables, and meat for the meal. They are so good at cutting things!! Sometimes I try and I usually am not as good as them. Most of the time, I just keep them company, observe, and help when I can. The food is always so fresh! Just the other day, I was able to accompany the staff to the local market to buy the ingredients we needed. The fish were still alive a minute before we purchased them! Sometimes I even get to try some kind of interesting Khmer food, like ‘Khmer cheese’: fish, chilis, and sugar mashed into a paste (not my favorite).
Helping in the kitchen!
11:00 AM: The kids return from school. We eat together around tables or sometimes sitting on the floor of a platform. After we’re done, we help the kids do the dishes.
12:00 PM: The kids at this point are energetic and crazy, running around, chasing each other, and being silly. They each have a small tablet that they can play on for about a half hour a day. Their game of choice is called ‘Subway Surfer’. At this point, I feel like the background music to that game will never leave my head because I’ve heard it so many times!
They love this game. My team feels a little differently about it 😉
1:00 PM: It’s time for English class! We have two classes at Crossing Cambodia: one with the older kids and one with the younger kids. My teammate and I teach a class at a different center during this time that is just a short walk down the street. It is called Lighthouse and our students are teenagers from rural communities who live at this center in order to go to school. At Crossing, we’ll often make English worksheets and the kid’s love them! They’ll finish and run up to you to show you how well they did. They get super proud of themselves and it’s very sweet to see.
2:00 PM: The kids break into small groups to do their homework and get tutoring. Sometimes we run around with them beforehand so they’ll settle down and be able to focus and get their work done.
3:30 PM: We take the kid’s home. It’s bittersweet watching them hop out of the truck and go back to their homes on the street. At the end of the day, I’m exhausted but always excited for another day!
One day, it rained and the kids had a great time playing in the rain. It gave me so much joy to watch them. It was one of my favorite days 🙂
The days are long, there are significant language barriers, and energy is often low. Sometimes I wonder if what I’m doing is actually making a difference and if I can get up and have enough energy to do it all over again the next day. I’ve found that God gives me what I need every day. I may not understand what the kids are saying, but I’ve been able to see how at the core they are just like any other kid. They laugh over silly things, they argue over silly things, and they ultimately want to be loved and cared for. I have arms to hold them and a voice to laugh with them and my prayer every day is that God will use me and the things He’s given me to bless them and show them His love for them, even if that’s just in a single moment.
Join me in prayer for these kids and their futures! Pray that God would use Crossing Cambodia as a way to change the pattern of their lives and the lives of their families. I believe He has great things in store for each child and I believe that He will do incredible things in these kids that are greater than we can ask for or imagine.
