Living in this beautifully small village has been refreshing. Seeing how the loving Cambodian people live has been eye opening. And coming from a girl that loves an organized house, daily showers, and clean and a bug free bedroom… it’s weird to say this, but I have enjoyed the simplicity and ruggedness of our time here.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think I will be asking Colin to install a squatty-potty in any of our future homes. But I have learned so much by the resilience and communal care that the families we are staying with have displayed for us. Five families (including our ministry host’s family), one dog, and countless pigs, chickens, lizards and spiders live under one palm-leaf roof. The kids of these families run around, playing with each other daily, making up games in the streets because toys are rare here. Their infants and toddlers are free to roam because there is always someone close by that will watch out for them if needed. Everyone helps everyone cook almost all day long. Parents, kids, in-laws and great-grandparents sleep side by side on bamboo beds that are one thin wall away from the family pigpen. And among these 20 or so people that share this dwelling, there is only one bathroom (no running water, no toilet). Oh… AND on top of that, these gracious people have seven hungry Americans to feed and share the bathroom with… and they do so with smiles and without complaints. Their hearts are so welcoming and happy to serve.
This is Ra’s (our ministry host) house. His family, his three brothers’ families and his sisters’ family all share this house (along with some grandparents and in-laws as well). They sell food, coffee, and gasoline in front of this home each day. This is also where we eat all of our meals, teach our daily English classes, and lead our nightly bible studies for the kids in the community.
From left to right in this picture you will see a classroom, a bedroom with bamboo beds and net hammocks, a “kitchen” (a wooden prep table and small fire-burning oven on the ground), and behind that floral sheet… the pigpen.
If you tried to live this way back home, you would be considered crazy. Some of our dearest friends, three married couples, are living in one house back in Austin and almost everyone told them they shouldn’t do it. It would ruin their relationships. It would be too hard. It just wouldn’t work.
But why can’t living in community like this work? I’m pretty sure America is one of the few countries in which we don’t live this way. We want our own space, our own room, our own everything. But one of the biggest things I’ve learned here, and that I’m continually learning, is that nothing is our own. We’ve been given everything we have by our Lord. And with all that we have in America; cars and pillow top beds and TVs and pretty much anything we could ever ask for at our finger tips; we should be willing to share more, willing to give more, and above all else willing to live in a constant state of thankfulness for what we have been given.
That’s how the Cambodian people live and that’s how I want to live.
Grateful for everything and willing to share anything.
