He gestured behind him as he spoke, “I live there.” I looked to where he pointed. It was a alley littered by a few cardboard boxes. “Those boxes are my bed,” he informed me through the translator. This twenty-one year old boy lived on the streets. His thin body appeared to be maybe 16 years old. His face, already becoming worn and haggard, gazed back at me.
Christina and I were in the middle of Phnom Pehn with our translator and a missionary from the Teen Challenge. We had spent the past two hours searching for street children to talk to, intending to befriend them and tell them about Teen Challenge. Finally, when we had just about given up finding anyone, the missionary spied two street boys that he was familiar with. We pulled over and walked to were they were sitting and engaged them in conversation. The younger boy, who was eighteen years old, was quiet but the older boy talked with us.
“How do they live?,” Christina questioned. “They search the streets and alleys for anything that salvageable and then attempt to sell it. With the little money they make, they buy food and glue with.” “Glue,” we questioned the translator. Before she could reply, the young man pulled out a old, used sandwich bag containing glue. He held it to his nose and inhaled, demonstrating for us foreigners how to sniff glue. Christina and I were horrified.
“Tell him that it’s bad for him; that’s he’s killing his brain” we cried. The translator relied the message and the boy replied. “He said that whenever he sniff’s the glue, it causes his chest to hurt”, our translator told us. “Why doesn’t he stop then” we queried.
“It’s an addiction,” she replied, “glue is cheap and easily available. Many of the street children become addicted to it.” We asked, “has he heard about Teen Challenge before? They can help him kick the habit.” Our translator replied, “he spent six months there before he ran away. Sometimes the boys want the drugs more then they want freedom.”
“Can we witness to him”, we asked. Our translator asked the boy and then replied “he says he heard about Jesus when he lived at Teen Challenge.” “Tell him that Jesus still loves him and so do we”, we replied. “Can we pray for him”, I asked. The boy and his friend both assented, so we gathered around them. Laying hands on them we prayed that God would reveal himself to these two homeless boys and that He would bring them freedom from their addiction. “Amen”, the boys echoed as we ended our prayers.
“Could you ask him if he would be willing to go back to Teen Challenge”, Christina asked our translator. Our translator questioned the boy. “He said he’ll think about it”, she replied. We began to say our goodbyes but before we left, the boys posed for a picture with us.
They waved to us as we drove away. Sadness for them filled my heart as I realized that many, many children live like this.
Please pray for these two Cambodian boys. Pray for their protection. It is a dangerous life on the streets. Pray for them to have open hearts to the Gospel and to the ministry of Teen Challenge. Pray that they will have strength to leave their drug habits. Pray that their lives will be changed by the Good News.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
