4.7.11
As I mentioned in my last blog, our initial ministry contact fell through. So we met with our primary contact, Chris from YWAM, and decided what our month was going to look like. I shared I had a heart for the homeless and others on my team shared their heart for children and Chris suggested a ministry that works with street boys…perfect!
We happen to be in Cambodia during the Khmer New Year which is a pretty big celebration here. We are in the capital city of Phnom Penh and most people in the city return to their villages to spend the New Year celebrating with their families. So we were told we could work with the boys for one week (this week) and then many would be returning home. There is some administrative work we can help out with for next week and then we will be done helping out at this ministry.
This ministry has two locations and was started by a German woman named Ingrid. She told us that many ministries are working with girls and that there are many girls’ homes to prevent them from being trafficked but that there are not many ministries focusing on helping street boys so she is here to fill that gap. At the home she stays at there are several children that live there. At the other location there is a night shelter and the boys have to regularly attend school for at least 3 months to prove that they are committed and then they are allowed to live at the shelter.
There is also a training program to educate Cambodians to be midwives to help deliver children since infant mortality is high in Cambodia and many mothers die during childbirth. The midwives ended up going home yesterday, so we are able to stay in their room free of charge – praise God!
Our typical day of ministry looks as follows. We wake up and eat breakfast around 7:15am and then have some free time to ourselves. Then we go downstairs from 9-11am and spend time with the children at that location either playing games or teaching English. We have lunch around 12:30pm and then have some more free time to ourselves. Today we will be going to the “slums” for outreach. Ingrid said they would not typically do outreach today since people are going home for the holiday but said she was willing to take us to show us what it entails. On Tuesday, we went to their maternal care clinic and were able to get a glimpse of what they do there (it is run by two nurses – one from Arkansas and one from Namibia).
Cambodia oddly reminds me of Guatemala or Panama, especially when we went out near the clinic. There is the very distinct smell of burning garbage, which for some reason smells the same wherever you are. Plus, Cambodians and some more Mayan Guatemalans look similar. Around 2pm, I have offered to help the midwives learn English. It seems to be helpful since they are learning English from a German woman so she has deferred to me several times for correct pronunciation. I offered to help one girl with her math hoping that she was struggling with algebra but when she showed me the sine and cosine and a textbook in Khmer (the Cambodian language) I realized that it has been too long for me to be helpful – and that I have never had to use those in the “real world.” Then we have snack time with the children around 4pm – yay snack time! Around 4:45pm the local tuc tuc driver will pick us up to take us to the night shelter.
(Quick side note: I have been shocked by how many different forms of transportation there are in the world! I took a pic of a tuc tuc and will put them up soon – p.s. if you don’t have the web address to my pictures please send me a message via my blog through the “contact me” button on the left hand side.)
Then we hang out with the boys at that shelter until about 9pm. They are so much fun. I have noted that if you put that many boys in a house together in the states they would not be as well behaved as these boys. They are still wild but it’s pretty well controlled. A couple of the boys have figured out that I’m ticklish so that’s been fun. I have also noticed that Cambodians are really willing to love on you and are quick to show affection which has been nice since we won’t be with them for too long. I have also “taught English” while I was there, but it’s pretty loosely defined and usually just involves having a conversation with the older boys, men really since they are about 19-22.
Then we eat dinner, which is usually pretty quiet. I don’t know for sure but I think it’s cultural to not talk as you eat. And dinner is always followed by a piece of fruit which has been fun since we’ve had a different kind each night and I’ve never had any of them before. I can’t remember the name of the first one but it caused one of my teammate’s tongue’s to swell, also fun. The second night was dragon fruit and last night was a fruit they call shampoo – those last two don’t have much flavor. After dinner, I have been helping with dishes and have made friends with Vichet, who is one of the house parents. He has asked me several times now if I am going to move back to Cambodia after my trip. At this point only the Lord knows…
So that’s what we’ve been up to so far, but our month will change in about a week and I’ll update more then.
