This month we have been working in a village called Bung Snay. It is an extremely poor community full of alcoholism, abuse, malnutrition, and a lack of education. The children run around in their bare feet, little-to-none when it comes to clothing and full of dirt and scabs. They smell of urine and their runny noses and hoarse coughs show signs of sickness. We visit them every Wednesday morning and there are dozens that come to greet us as we ring our bicycle bells. This is fun and exciting, but honestly I wish there were barely any around to come and greet us; the fact that they are there during that time of the day, means not a single one of them goes to school. The truth of the matter is, if these kids don't get a good education they will end up in the same situation their parents are in and the cycle of poverty will continue.
My favorite part of this ministry began unexpectedly as we were leaving our very first day and I saw these two women shouting and motioning to us to come over from their house. I stopped my bike and lifted my sunglasses to notice a tiny little baby lifted high in her hands. He was only a few days old. I went over to say hi and take some pictures. They spoke Khmer and no English. They held up two fingers and then ran next door and came out with the baby's identical twin brother. Just as tiny and just as new. They were so beautiful! We couldn't stay long, but as I drove away my heart quickened and I couldn't wait to return and sit with the mother and her babies, asking questions of her pregnancy, her birth and her recovery. It is such an honor to sit with a mom and listen to the intimate details of her baby's birth story and her own story of how she was birthed into motherhood.
(Eli has the red bracelet and is the older one and Jonah is the one on the right)
The second time we went back the mother was out and the neighbor was watching the sleeping babies, and she seemed uncomfortable with us at her door step, so we said we would come back another day. The third visit mom, grandmother, the babies and her four other children were home and very excited to have us come in! We sat with these beautiful people for an hour as she told us a bit about their life and my heart just broke. This woman is only 30 years old and has 5 boys and 1 girl. My biggest concern was her pain and frustration with not being able to provide for her babies; I could see the shame and sorrow in her eyes. She wasn't getting in much breast milk at all and she had no money to buy formula for the twins, so the cheapest and fastest way to feed these 3 week old boys was to give them a mixture of cows milk and soy milk…the kind only intended for children 1 year and up…the kind people with matured tummies put on their cereal…the kind that makes a newborn constipated, gassy and colicky. I felt the boys' bellies and could tell they were so uncomfortable, which makes sense as to why she said they cry all the time. They must have been in so much pain…but for 75 cents she was able to feed each baby 6 times. The oldest boy goes to school and the 7 and 5 year old boys go to the bus station to beg for money. Apparently the dad works but I couldn't get much information on his involvement.
(the boys wearing the hats I made them)
Once again, I tried to picture this same situation in my own country and I could not. Oh of course there is poverty in Canada; I have experienced it in my childhood and in my adulthood. But in no way shape or form does what we consider poverty compare with the poverty in Cambodia. It is so severe I can barely comprehend it even though I am here in the flesh, witnessing it, smelling it, holding it. This poverty is like no other. In Canada there is governmental funding, there are food banks, clothing banks, and donations of various kinds. There are vouchers for electricity and oil and education is free. There is so much power in education and kids in North America complain all the time that they have to go to school, but if they were on this side of the world in this tiny village their perspective would be so very different. Did you know that only 20% of the world has the opportunity to even go to school???? Please, please, please don't underestimate the value in being able to learn! There are no libraries here, very little internet access and low quality education. Can you imagine living in a world where you didn't have information at your finger tips? These people believe whatever is told to them because they can't find out for themselves. Dear youth of Canada: COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS AND YOUR FREEDOM TO LEARN!!
Anywho, back to the boys…
I felt it laid on my heart to buy them some formula and all I wanted to do was empty my bank account for what it was worth, and buy as many cans of milk as I could, but I kept feeling that cans of milk is not what was needed to solve the problem. I kept asking the Lord, "in this situation what does it mean to teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime?" So I purchased enough milk to feed the boys for a month and got to visit the family for the last time. They were so happy to receive the milk and felt very comfortable with us by this point. As we were sitting there I asked what her children's names were and she proceeded to name each one but the twins. I asked what their names were and she said they weren't named yet. And then she said if I had names I could name them. What??? I figured something was lost in translation and asked for clarification. Yes, I had heard right. This mother was allowing me to NAME her children. Wow! What a privilege! And then the revelation sunk deep…wow! What an opportunity to speak and declare truth over these boys. So quickly in my heart I asked, "Lord, what names have you given to these boys?" And I heard Jonah and Elijah. I told the mother and she loved the names, especially when I explained who the men were in the Bible. She decided she would call them "Li" and "Nah" for short (a Cambodian style), but would definitely give them those names. So then we wrapped them up and took them to the "church" (which was a wall-less wooden shelter with a floor of sand) where our team, the Squad leaders and all the children were and we introduced Elijah and Jonah to everyone. It was a parade of beauty, life and declaration that one day these two boys would grow up and change their nation just the way Elijah and Jonah did thousands of years ago.
(me and Eli)
(the grandma)
(the momma)
When we left and went home, the impact of those names sunk deeper and deeper as I researched the meaning behind those names and read through their stories in the Bible. Jonah means dove and the dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, so I prayed that he would grow up to be a man that is filled with the Spirit of God and where ever he went powerful things would happen and life would fall thick on the people he encountered. Elijah means "Yahweh is my God", so I prayed that he would grow up to be a man of great faith in the Lord and that people would know him as a man who loved God deeply. I prayed that the face of Cambodia would be changed for the better as a result of the men these boys would grow up to be. I have a picture of the boys in my Bible and whenever I look at it I pray for them, I declare truth over them and I envision them growing up to be intelligent, powerful, compassionate men who are the movers and shakers in that village.
On the bus as we left our ministry site at the end of the month, I was going over the goals I had started the race with and checking off ones I've accomplished and ones that didn't happen yet. One goal I have was to deliver a baby on the race, and for a moment I was sad that it never happened, because I really felt that Africa was where I would get to do that, but then I had an epiphany! The Lord used me to essentially deliver not one but two baby boys from a life they were destined to live. Not physically but spiritually, because there is power in my words and power in my declarations. He has called me to be a spiritual mom to these boys and to joyfully anticipate hearing their success in the years to come. I will believe for these boys and will fight for these boys! They have been delivered and will never be the same.
…amazing how God takes our prayers and makes them even greater than we ever dreamed.
