As all my student’s know, Teacher Dave has “5 Rules of Cambodia” this month… which they like to recite for me during class and recess in their strongest possible accent.
“Teacher,
Rule #1) Cambodia is HOT!!!
Rule #2) Cambodia have tuk-tuk
Rule #3) Cambodia have good teachers
Rule #4) Cambodia have good students
Rule #5) Cambodia have tasty ice cream!!!”
MINISTRY:
This month we are teaching at a Christian school/orphanage. We have 15 orphans who live here at the school house with us (9 boys and 6 girls). The school in total has grades K-8 and there are approximately 150 students. We have split into classes, with each Racer teaching a different grade or class type. I teach Computer skills to grades 4-8. We have been creating Word documents, Powerpoint slides, and Excel spreadsheets. I tried having them write reports about the history of Cambodia since 1970 but with far from perfect translation, that proved a bit of a struggle and got dumped after a few days. Instead, they are creating a Powerpoint based on the children’s movie “Frozen”. It’s going well and I show short clips via youtube each day and then have them organize and prepare slides based on what they have seen in the storyline.
Grades 6-8 have been doing active internet searches, creating email address, creating blogs, and we are now working on teaching them how to create a website using .html code on DreamWeaver. To be honest, I didn’t even think the class would have any computers at all and that we would be teaching on our own. Luckily, they have a few that are ok and a projector. Class is going well, the students love me, and we play games and jokes with each other often. I’m more like Billy Madison than a teacher… which is perfect for me.
Our alternate ministry when we are not teaching is to build a set of dorms for the children and future missionaries to sleep in on the backside of the school property. We have been laying brick, creating foundations, erecting the frame, and leveling the floors inside the dorm rooms so that we can prepare to cover them in concrete. It’s been hard work, I’m not gonna lie. There are more than a few blisters and calluses but that’s good.
Aside from our assigned ministries, I play with the kids allllll day long. Seriously. My back is getting strong enough that I can probably carry a refrigerator around for a few miles after a month of these monkeys jumping and hanging all over me. I love it. And I love them. They are the most adorable and well-behaved group of children ever. I also let them take my phone and run off and play games for about 30 minutes at a time. I’ve even downloaded a few kids games which now I’m getting addicted to. But, any form of quality time is ok with me. The kids take the phone, sit in my lap, and play. And it gives me a breather from playing Jungle Jim (<see what I did there…). I’ve set up the projector and played a movie for the kids and I intend to do it again soon. They absolutely love it and they make all they “boom, boom, zoom, bang bang” sounds while they watch, which cracks me up.
We may have our assigned ministries but my biggest ministry, as always, is quality time with the kids. Many of them grew up with abusive parents or none at all and so I can only imagine how much joy, love, and comfort they get out from me treating them like my own. Not to mention how much joy and love I get from them. I can’t go around a corner without some little 5-year old wrapping me around the legs and yelling “teacher, play!!!”
SHOWING GOD’S LOVE AS BEST AS I KNOW HOW:
In addition to playing with and loving on the kids all day, I got a chance to do something else that made me feel really good inside. We have our own little room where we sleep at night and the kids sleep in the big, open-air school hall. A few nights they asked me to come out and sleep with them, which made me feel really happy. But, when I came out to lay down my sleeping pad, I noticed they were all sleeping flat on the ground with nothing but a straw mat between them and the concrete floor. The same had been the case with the kids in India and it just made me cringe to wake up and see them tucked in little twisted uncomfortable balls all over the floor.
So, I got with the pastor, pulled out some money, and we and picked up 4 mattresses and a couple sets of fleece blankets for the kids. We went out to the market to pick them out and they ended up being a fair amount more expensive than I had figured (much of Siem Reap is equivalent to American prices, sadly). We picked them up and brought them home where I stored them in our room while the kids were in class. That evening after dinner, I brought them in and showed them the mattresses… and I have never seen kids so happy in my life. 🙂 They’re cool designs with some pink super hero girl for the girls and a couple of robots and ninjas or something for the boys.
So, that night, they asked me to come out and sleep with them again… and of course I did. It was so nice to watch them roll around and play on the mattresses and giggle and laugh and have fun. They played games on my phone for about an hour and then we turned off the lights. As I was starting to drift off, I heard them say “Teacher, no pray?” “Teacher, you pray. You pray. For us.” It was one of those moments where a smile just came across my face and I thought “I love these kids”. Sometime late in the night I woke up to one of the little kids screaming real loud because he was having a nightmare. So, I went over to him and grabbed him and and laid down on the mattress and snuggled him until he fell back asleep. Well, it turns out I fell asleep too… and I woke up in the morning to 4 little heads laying on my chest. Hahaha. Again, I LOVE these kids. For all I do to try and pour my love into them, I will never be able to compare to how well they love and take care of me.
WEEKENDS AND NIGHTS OUT:
As most of you know, Siem Reap is home to the ancient Angkor Wat temple, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world (If I’m not mistaken). I’ve been wanting to go and visit for many years and we will finally get a chance to do that this weekend. We’ll show up at sunrise to see the sun come up over the temple and will spend all day walking around the temple grounds. If we tried to see all of it, it would take at least 3 full days, so we will try to do our best to get as much as possible in in just one day. I’ll be sure to put up some photos of that next week if internet is working.
So far, our nights out have consisted mostly of exploring the city nightlife, wandering through the expansive old markets, and enjoying some incredible local food. Last week we found a street vendor selling tarantulas and we each ate one. Honestly, they tasted like grilled chicken. I’ve really enjoyed just being out, exploring the area, and trying to get good deals on a t-shirt or canvas painting of Angkor Wat here and there (Like $2 and $4, respectively, although they start the prices at about 4x that).
Update: Went to Angkor Wat this morning for sunrise and it was phenomenal. But, if I went and did it again, I would shell out a little cash for an educated tour guide. I made friends with one of the Police and he walked me around and explained things at one site, but I love history and without a guide it was kind of just a “snap, snap for FB” experience.
SUMMARY AND CLOSING:
I love Cambodia. I really enjoy teaching, I have a great time in the night markets, but more than anything, I LOVE being around these kids. They just keep me smiling all day long. I’m looking forward to Angkor Wat and some other things we will get to see.
Needless to say, it’s crazy that just 39 years ago, the Khmer Rouge were taking Siem Reap and Phnom Phen and preparing to start a reign of terror which would ultimately end in the genocide of more than 2.2million Cambodian men, women, and children. I took several classes on the politics of Southeast Asia while at Berkeley and I learned all about the Khmer, the CIA operation that led to the ouster of Sihanouk, how Lon Nol failed miserably, the US leaving the Cambodians to fend for themselves, the Khmer Rouge (CPK) violently murdering and torturing anyone who stood in their path, the abolishment of time and money, the desire to return to an agrarian state which led to tens of thousands being pushed out of the cities into the country side where they starved and died, and how still none of the CPK leaders including Pol Pot have been brought to justice despite millions of dollars and years of “UN hearings”. It’s hard to imagine these people fighting against one another. They are some of the sweetest and most polite people I’ve ever met. But, then I remember that such genocides are still going on in our world today in Darfur and Sudan. I’m reading “The Killing Fields” now and although I’ve seen the movie, they never seem to do books justice. So, I literally find myself laying in the hammock in the late afternoons after school, with a kid in my lap looking up at me and playing with my face, while I read about what happened here less than 40 years ago. It’s weird. But that’s why we are here.
FINAL DEADLINE IN 3 WEEKS, STILL NEED JUST $2,000
My final funding deadline is in 3 weeks. I have to have the full $15,500 in my account by June 1 in order to complete the Race. I am currently $2,000 away from that. It would suck to be so close and then miss the mark. Please spread this blog and my story to your friends, family, church, and anyone else whom you think may want to support me. Thank you so much for your prayers, comments, and support.
Support me by clicking here: https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For%20Dave%20Smith
God bless,
Dave
