Oh my goodness friends,
I’ve just been to my ministry sites that I’ll be working in this month in Cambodia. I have never witnessed material poverty like I’ve seen in Cambodia thus far in my life.
This month I will be working in three communities
- The Flooding Village: these people are fishermen and women by trade and live in a field that floods in the rainy season. In the past, during the rainy season they would drag their beds to the only high ground available to them which was a nearby road and sleep on the side of the road. Their “house” was four wooden posts and a thatched leaf roof. As of five months ago they have had houses built on stilts with bamboo sheet walls. We will be assisting with the bible study our translator conducts there and praying over their community and just loving on the people there.
- The Dumpster Divers: My goodness. This is a hard one for me. If you can get past the smell, you will see naked babies running around and pantsless children rummaging through the trash which is directly across from the shelter they live in. The children do not go to school because they prefer to “earn money” by finding recyclables and turning them in. Their house, if you can even call it that, is old rice bags and scraps of material tied with scraps of trash to wooden poles. AND THEY RENT IT FOR $5/Month. Still, they can barely make rent. The adults also rummage through the garbage for recyclables. There are 3 Christians in this community as a result of our Translator’s investment in this community. He has begun a Bible study here as well and we will help him and just spend time in this community building relationships. Did I mention our contact is only 26 years old? He is AMAZING. Our contact jokes that everyone who comes into contact with him becomes a Christian.
- The Rock Village: Golly. This one is tough also. This is more of our contact’s project. Bret has started what is called the Rock Foundation for this community of squaters who break rocks to sell. They earn approximately $1/day. These people work 12 hours a day, hard physical labor and it is Bret’s desire to break the cycle of a lack of education to get these people out of poverty otherwise, the children here will just continue to break rocks because literally its all the know to do. There is no clean drinking water, no electricity, no designated place to use the bathroom. Also in this community, Bret has begun to help building shelter with bamboo walls and has provided water filters so the people can have clean water. He shared a story with us about how he saw a mother giving her baby a bottle of brown water. He asked if it was tea and she pointed to the stagnant pond where ducks where swimming. She had simply dipped the bottle in the pond and was directly feeding it to her baby. That is how severe the lack of education is in this community.
And did I mention it is HOT here? 100% humidity at 85 degrees farenheit. Still, I can find nothing to complain about as there is rice in my belly and acess to buckets of cleanish water and soap for bathing. I have a camping mattress pad for sleeping on the floor and electricity (sometimes) to light my way at night. I have a squatty potty and toilet paper! I'm practically living in luxury folks 🙂 Be jealous.
I know this blog is a long one. But I just had to share what I am seeing. It is much easier for me to upload photos to a second blog site, www.adventureofexistence.blogspot.com. I encourage you to visit it to see what I am seeing this month. It’s amazing. Be blessed this Valentine’s Day. I hope you recognize Abba’s EXTRAVAGANT, ABUNDANT love when it comes to material provision and other provisions in your life.
In His Glorious Love,
Brittney
