Hello Everyone:
Prior to coming to Cambodia, the country was a sort of “black hole” to me. I was fairly aware for Thailand and feel confident about Vietnam; however, in between was a space that I had no idea about. But it turns out the unknown is quite familiar and welcoming. As a side note, it seems I am carrying a lot of heavy thoughts about many elements of how we perceive Christianity today juxtaposed with my nightly reading of Freud, but I will save that for another post and keep this one fun and light. Cambodia is also a very pretty country, and even though it is far less developed than its friends to the east and west, what it lacks in paved roads it makes up for this in the smiles of strangers on the streets and untamed natural beauty (I will post some pics in review at a later date as well). So, for a synopsis of what we are doing here, I am happy to explain.
There are two ministries, well, technically three, I am a part of. This first is teaching! When we got our assignments, Matt and I were tasked with what we thought would be teaching English at a local private school. As we ride our bikes that way, we meet the administrators who are lovely people, and are given a tour. As they are showing us around, I noticed they kept mentioning a shortage of native speaking English teachers. While I thought nothing of it at the time, since I figured I would be teaching English with the other school teacher, the tour remained. As we get to the second grade class, the principal tells Matt the current teacher was borrowed from another school and needed to return to his normal class, so Matt branches of to assume teaching duties for that class. As I was shown the 3rd grade class, I learned that there was no native English teacher there, and since I speak English I was the perfect choice. That being said, Matt and I now have our own classes from 7:30 to 11:30 (we have Khmer Assistants who teach in the afternoon in the native Cambodian language) and it is a real joy. Rather than teaching just English, we get to teach Math, Science, Geography, and as I found out 30 seconds before, Art. I am a firm believer knowledge is power so it is a blessing to help each of those children learn and hope that one day they can grow up and work towards a better society. So, back to the Art class story, once I learned I was teaching Art, the choice of what to do was simple. I recalled my favorite artist from childhood, Bob Ross and the Joys of Painting (hence the title), and pulled an episode up on youtube and let the class draw along. I tried to follow on the board with my own version which I think turned out ok. Anyhow, that is a look at the children we are teaching, and the other is freestyled science and geography lessons, and they seem to be following along pretty well.
Another of our ministries is in the afternoon, we go to a small slum and essentially just hang out with the people there. Since we will only be here for a short while, it is tough to address the structural problems of poverty; however, that is still not an excuse to interact with people and bring a smile to their faces. I do not have any pictures at the moment, but I can say my strategy has been to take a soccer ball and the response is always so well received. There is just something so wonderful about having a moment of joy with someone, despite everything that is happening in life, it is still so important to let that go for a moment and laugh, and that is what we are able to do. Other people on the team have their own wonderful and unique ways of brining joy to others as well, so the ministry there is really good.
Lastly, we went today (and will go one more time next Sunday) to a local university and help the students in English and debating. Today was really great in that it was nice to hear the stories of the two students I met. While their English was not the best, we still managed to have a pretty deep conversation over their assignment, which was to talk about the saying that “the world is so much smaller these days.” Of course, we mentioned about how while the statement is not literal, figuratively it can be true for many reasons, whether that be technology making communication easier and travel faster, but I think it worth mentioning again because I actually was saying the same thing to myself a few days ago. It seems to me the author is also talking about maturity, about how when we are children we think of these broad new horizons that seem to far away because they are so unfamiliar with us, yet the key to what the author is saying is the words “these days” because that symbolizes growing older and in many ways crossing those once new horizons, and perhaps saying the phrase as a sigh of maturity, or perhaps even a loss of curiosity or adventure. At any rate, I want to speak one or two lines on familiarity. Since we have been in Cambodia, it has really been incredible how welcoming the people are. As we bike down the streets, all the children yell hello and wave, and even the most intimidating looking stranger’s countenance change when they smile back at you. Another example of the good nature of humanity was shown last night when Matt’s bike chain came off. I stopped with him on the bridge and while it was an easy fix, a stranger stopped on his moto and helped up. After we fixed it, he smiled and drove away, not wanting anything or expecting anything; therefore I think too the world is a small place, for the reasons mentioned above and primarily because the goodness of humanity.
To everyone, I hope this blog finds you well and while I am not naïve in thinking there is no evil in the world, and it is often easy to dismiss the world, it is also possible to find a lot of beauty and compassion and it is my hope it reveals itself. Also, for anyone wanting an inspirational read this Christmas season, I suggest starting with the Christmas Truce of World War I and if anyone has any others to pass along, feel free to drop them in the comment. Thanks again to everyone and I am glad to share in the work WE both are a part.
