Washing the feet of Huckelberry Finn... and other tales and PICTURES from Cambodia.

Washing the feet of Huckleberry Finn

The evidence of Cambodia’s war torn past is still showing all across the country. In 1975, a dictator named Pol Pot and his regime the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. He set into motion a genocide that according to the CCDO killed 25% of the population or over 2 million people, everyone in the country that had an education including doctors and teachers.This ended in 1979 and left the country for rebuilding. It is hard to imagine this place just 33years ago as a horrific war zone.

S-21 was a high school that was converted into a concentration camp where over 20,000 people lost their lives. (picture right)

It’s hard to see the face of so much pain and still not know what to do. It does something to you to look in the face of the beggar on the street and be at a loss of what to do. To see the little kids run around the streets with stories behind there smiles that are anything but happy. To have to turn way the ladies and kids on the beach trying to sell us pedicures and bracelets when you know that that might be there only source of income for the day. To see hair shops full of girls getting ready to head out to “a night of work” that no girl should have to endure. It’s hard to know that there is so little that can be done in the short month that we are here.

Then I am reminded, when I look in to the faces of the friends that we have made here, instead of sorrow I am reminded of words like:
Hope
Redemption
Peace
and
Joy
Words of Jesus and what His light brings.
When I found myself overwhelmed and at a loss, my team reminded me that when we say a pray for them, maybe this is the first time that the people that we encounter on the streets have ever had a prayer said for them.
So I choose to believe in the power of prayer when I have nothing else to give.

Mum Sy

CAMBODIA
Mum Sy (one of the boys in my English class) rides around on his bike all day like a little Huckleberry Finn. His homemade sling shot is tightly pulled back, ready to fire at a moment’s notice or in his back pocket for easy accessibility. He is 12 years old and has lost both of his parents. His sister cannot afford to send him to school so he spends his days fending for himself. He hangs out around the base a lot and they have started to provide him lunches. He is a very sweet boy and has definitely won over my heart in the time that we have been here.

There have been a few days that Mum Sy brought some of his friends around for us to wash up some infected wounds. A little soap and a lot of band-aids later, they are off again to shoot more birds with their sling shots.

Shalom

We live at the YWAM base where they have a ministry called Shalom. They are teaching women how to sew to provide them with an income. They are now able to have a job other than working in the sex industry or other bad situations. They are beautiful and we have the privilege doing devotions and worship with them every morning and to play with their sweet babies during the day while they work.

English Class

Meet the faces of my favorite time of the day. These are the kids that come to English class every day. Oh my goodness do they light up my life. The moments that I sit sounding out C—A—T—with them are the moments that I stop and say to myself that there is nowhere else in the world that I would rather be.

I can’t lie and say that we did not take advantage of the blessing that we were only 10 min away from the beach. So here is a snap shot of what our off days looked like.