CAMBODIA | Siem Reap
So I am on my second week of teaching. I am finally getting the hang of lesson plans and starting to remember all the names of my students (though, pronunciation is a different story). I feel like am getting a routine down which is nice to those of you who know I like my plans. Every Saturday we have been asking the students to meet us at the park to go play random games of ultimate Frisbee (which we got to teach them), volleyball, and various games with the sai (a Cambodian like hacky-sack).
This last weekend we were also able to take them to the dollar market for dinner. The dollar market is a long street of outdoor eating places on the sidewalks and all the meals are $1-$2. It was so good to just be able to sit with our students and talk to them about their lives and get to know them on a personal level.
As we were sitting there, a small girl (we guessed to be around the age of 8) came up behind Leslie. She was obviously hungry as she peered over Les’s shoulder at amazement at the heaping amounts of food that laid before her. Across the table, Tara noticed her and offered her to come over by her and have some soup. The child quickly ran over and started devouring the small bowl of soup. Seeing that she was eating so quickly Les gave her the rest of the smoothie she had ordered, and then I gave her the rest of my meal.
We got her a chair and began asking her questions, which was easy with the Cambodian students that were sitting around us. We found that she lived just a little bit from here. Michael quickly decided that he wanted to take some food back to her family and our students were quick to tell us where to find the best things. One girl even thought it would be a good idea to get her some warm clothes for the upcoming winter.
That night, we were able to help a child and her family, but even more importantly we were able to do it with our students. They were able to see the eagerness of my fellow teammates to not only help but to love. James 2:26 says that “…faith apart from works is dead.” We were able to show through these actions that the faith and relationship with God that we have and have been talking about the last two weeks in class with our students is not dead but very much alive.
