I can’t tell you her name. So, I will choose a name for her. In Cambodia, like so many other cultures, names are
significant and mean something. Most of the women have names that represent a
flower of some kind. I’m choosing
a name that has captured my heart since deciding to go on this trip. It’s the word I was praying would
quickly find a face to attach itself to so that when I closed my eyes at night
I knew what she looked like.
I will call this woman HOPE.
I can’t show you her picture. So, I will describe her beauty to you. She has a tiny frame and wide almond
shaped eyes. She has tan skin
slightly darkened by the sun. Her
nose is wide and slightly flatter than mine. Her hair is raven-like. Her hands are delicate and move with the grace of quiet
evening waves when she sews and when she draws. She often brushes her bangs out of her eyes when leaning
over the sewing machine or over her sketchbook every morning while we are
working together. Hope is a
beautiful girl. She is lovely and
she has no idea. Her giggle is
quiet when she knows I am listening but much louder when she is only around her
friends. She thinks my laugh is
funny, mostly because my giggle is quite woodpecker-ish and slightly hyena-like
at times. She can say my name now
and has learned to say “I’m fine” when I ask how she is doing. When we talk we always look right at
each other even though there is a translator there to explain the details of
what is being said. I love that we
do this.
I can’t tell you her story. So, I will tell you what she’s like. Hope is a designer. She says that she wants to become a
designer “one day,” but I am hoping that she will soon realize that she already
is. She is creative, smart, and
talented. Everyday I get to sit with
her for 2 ½ hours and watch her surprise herself at what she finds inside her
own imagination. She is skillful
and yet willing to learn whatever it is I am trying to teach her. She is an incredible leader and manages
a team of men and women in the upstairs sewing room where they create their own
handcrafted T-shirts.
For the first two weeks we have simply been designing
together. Each morning we draw,
scratch out, re-design, re-scratch out, look at images on my computer for
inspiration, design, and scratch out again. I love that we are no longer fearful of what the other might
be able to do better. We simply
risk getting an idea down on paper and then giggle when it looks like a
complete mess! We are learning
design together and somehow becoming friends without being able to say all that
we wish we could say to one another.
This week we are working on making patterns for a few new
bag designs I made. Pattern making
is NOT a strength of mine, but again Hope and I are learning together. I have struggled this week with feeling
very inadequate in the skills I have, but I am choosing to embrace the
opportunity to learn.
Here is a picture of the store where the products from the
center are sold. The store is
beautiful and they have recently opened a café upstairs where my team is also
doing some work. Two of the girls
are teaching cooking classes to introduce some new recipes. If you know me, then you know I am NOT
the one teaching cooking! The rest
of us are working on some renovation ideas for the café and also making some
notes on possible editions to current products being sold in the store.
I am loving my time here in Cambodia and falling in love
with the men and women at the Daughters of Cambodia center. I can’t believe we only have a week or
so left with them! It is going to
be very difficult to leave them all.
What you can be praying for:
1)
Time is coming to an end and there are still many projects to
complete. Please ask God that He
would help us prioritize well and using our time here wisely while at the same
time giving us time to continue investing in the relationships we have been
building.
2)
Ask God to protect the staff and clients here at Daughters,
especially the director Ruth Elliott.
Ask Him to provide financially for all their needs as well as raise up
local Cambodians to fill the positions needed.
3)
Please ask God to maintain healthiness among our team,
physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.
Here are some other random pictures of some of my favorite sights here in Cambodia!
This is what it looks like to be waiting at a traffic light in Cambodia!
Monks get their tuk-tuk rides for FREE!!!
This is the WAFFLE LADY! She makes the BEST waffles in the whole wide WORLD! No exaggeration! Plus, they are fresh and only 12 cents!
