The Life I Live: Cambodia
Our squad traveled to Cambodia in March and joined Cambodians in sweating as it is the hottest month of their year.
We arrived in the middle of the night after traveling by bus for roughly 30 hours from Chiang Mai, Thailand.
After stumbling into a hotel room that cost $3.75 USD per person and relishing in air conditioning, I drifted off and caught about 3 hours of sleep before I woke up again to grab sim cards for the squad’s phones with our logistics woman, Lauren.
We weaved in and out of traffic trying to cross streets, looking blindly for a place that would be open at 8 am and carry 13 sim cards for our needs. It was after dodging cars and running across a couple of streets that I decided this was the craziest traffic that we had seen yet on the Race.
[Yes, everyone, it even beats Hyderabad, India (though I cannot compare other large cities in India, and let’s face it, I’m sure there are probably atrocious drivers there too).]
We arrived back to the hotel with enough time to grab wifi that we didn’t know existed the night before and after reading an important email, run around madly knocking on room doors looking for the right squad mates. Turns out our advice to wake up and be ready to depart at 10 am after arriving at 4am into the hotel was not premature enough. Four of the teams were being picked up at 9. Oopsies.
Once everyone started moving out the door and departing, I realized I needed to get my stuff downstairs and the world’s slowest elevator was not helping. Seven flights of stairs and 65+ pounds of stuff later, I hurriedly gave a hug to my co-leader Jill before she jumped in a van and I crowded into a tuk tuk with the women of Team SetAFireSC (#SixChicks).
We rambled down the dusty streets of Phnom Penh and where Thailand had met me with some green and blue skies, this city greets everyone with dust and a haze. We pulled up about 15 minutes later to the Bykota House and met the Benz family.
We lugged our stuff into our apartment and Rhonda (our contact) gave us a brief tour of what would be our home for the next few weeks. We had our own side of the house, a kitchen to use equipped with a crock pot, and air conditioning to use at night. (Did I mention that it’s hot in Cambodia? – Praise the Lamb for AC #BeachTeam)
There was a roof that we could work out on and the family was extremely generous with everything, offering cooking spices and helping us out at the local market. They had been working with the World Race for about 6 months before we arrived and they went above and beyond providing us with a washing machine and REAL towels. At this point, it’s the little things in life that make us feel at home and real fluffy towels will do it every time.
Our ministry was to teach during the week at the children’s home – Rene and Lacey working with the preschoolers, Emily and I with the primary, and middle school students and Bri and Hailey with the special needs children. Kelsey was to help home school the four oldest of the Benz family’s adopted children.
The children’s home was down the street and depending on the age, school happened on the ground floor of where we lived, with the Benz family doing life in the other half of the upstairs, and back at the children’s home. For the most part during the week, I did not leave the apartment or building unless I was crossing the street to pick up a cold drink or walking down the block to visit the kids in the evening at the children’s home.
I helped teach five kindergarten students with Emily and a full time missionary, Micah in the morning. In the afternoon we taught 10 crazy rambunctious middle schoolers. Eight of them were boys and while they often drove Emily and me nuts, I also could not help but laugh most of the time. We taught Bible stories, and English primarily. And intermingled in a dose of discipline and love wherever we could.
These kids all have different back stories as to how they arrived at the Bykota house, but since arriving, they have been welcomed into a home with loving people, including the children’s home staff that love these children incredibly well and they have the opportunity to learn both at a public Khmer (pronounced Kuh-may) school and English in a Christian environment. The children behave as each others’ brothers and sisters with tight bonds and lots of squabbling and goofing around. It was so much fun to be a part of and because of it, we tried to visit fairly often in the evenings to spend time with them outside of school. For some of them, the fact that we were women was off-putting but by the end of the month because we were consistent in how we cared for them, they came around and even let us hug them at the end.
Here are some of the different things that we experienced in Cambodia:
The currency is USD. It was weird to see this month and I also discovered that there is a new $100 bill being produced. Who knew?
There are no coins in Cambodia, so change from a full dollar bill is in Cambodian Riel. 1000 riel is roughly equal to a quarter.
An ice cream man passes by the Bykota house each morning around 8 am. It plays the same song every time. Every time. If you listen closely, you will realize it is the song of arrival in the movie Pocahontas.
The Russian market is a big fun market to buy pretty much any and everything. It was about a 25 minute walk from our house (Did I mention that it’s hot in Cambodia?) and we went there every weekend to buy our fruits and veggies. The name comes from when there were several Russians living in Phnom Penh and this became their favorite shopping destination. You can buy everything from souvenirs, clothes, food and car parts here. It’s big, jam packed and if you are the least bit claustrophobic, don’t go.
Buying fruits and vegetables was fun at Russian. If the stall didn’t have what you wanted, you merely would let the word fall out of your mouth and make a mental note to grab it from someone else, only to look up and realize that the woman you are buying from is bartering across the aisle for what you just mentioned. It’s one stop shopping at its finest.
We could buy massive quantities of fruit and vegetables for 7 of us for one week for under $30.
Once said massive quantities are in hand, grab a tuk tuk. There are already 9 drivers nearby shouting at you to give you a ride anyways. Go to the one that looks most likely to know where you need to go. He will say he knows. He doesn’t. Get in anyway and direct them back home at every turn.
The average tuk tuk ride is $3-4 depending on the distance and the number of people.
Also, the best way to get around the city in terms of knowing where you are going with a tuk tuk driver taking you is to:
Get in after they emphatically tell you, “I know. I know.”
Drive about 5 minutes down the road.
Let them ask again where you are wanting to go.
At this time, pull out a team phone and call the location’s phone number (This involves forethought and internet access on your part).
Hand the phone to the driver and watch as he shouts into the phone (Everything is done with shouting here).
Watch as he nods and take the phone when he hands it to you.
Travel about 10 more minutes down the road and arrive at the location. Pay the man and kindly refuse his offer to wait for you. Don’t do this, you’ll pay for his time.
Repeat process heading back home… but direct the driver to Russian market and then give directions at every turn from there.
The Killing Fields were a requirement for our ministry and I would recommend them to anyone that visits Cambodia. They give so much insight to the country and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have gone.
Cambodia suffered a horrible genocide in the late 70s, in which the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed well over 1.5 M people that strayed from their idea of religious, social and political purity. It eliminated nearly 25 percent of the population and in many ways this terrible period in Cambodia’s history still shapes the nation today.
Foreign aid is vital to the country’s well being but the country is still considered highly corrupt and in 2013 statistics from various indexes by the UN, is considered the second most corrupt nation in Asia, ranked only after North Korea.
It is a constitutional monarchy.
Human trafficking is a major issue for the nation as it serves as a transit location between Vietnam and Thailand, has its own reputation for sex tourism and many girls and boys are smuggled out of rural areas as well as in and out of the country for the purposes of exploitation.
My team witnessed children being used as beggars by a European man just outside of the King’s palace in the heart of Phnom Penh. We also heard several stories of the children we were working with of how their lives were marked by the global issue of human trafficking.
Over all it was a great month in Cambodia. I loved working with the Bykota house. The kids are adorable and funny. And the Benz kids have a special place in my heart – especially after they let me play Settlers of Catan with them, multiple times and they shared a love for kettle corn. God bless them.
No swimming this month – but there is a pool at the Olympic stadium (it’s just called that, no olympics here… that I’m aware of) you can go to.
I didn’t catch how to say Jesus Loves You in Khmer… but maybe I’ll ask someone someday.
