Well I wish it was a very exciting update, but I just wanted to let you know that I am alive!!!
On October 17th we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at 7:30am. We stayed there for a day before we began to travel to Cambodia.
October 18th we left the WYAM base in Bangkok at 5:45 am to head to the
bus station. Then at 7am we were off on our bus. At 10:30am we got off
the bus at this little market stop while our logistics person bought all
of our VISAS. We waited for 2 hours before walking across the border;
which only took about 40 minutes for all of us to get through.Then we
took a small shuttle to the bus station.By 2:15pm we were on our way to
Phnom Penh!! The ride was not comfortable, but at 8pm-ish we had a pit
stop for noodles!
Finally at 10:30pm we arrived at our destination. Our team was able to
stay in a hotel -with Air Conditioning AND a TV AND a mini art AND comfy
beds- it was AMAZING
We stayed in the hotel for a couple of days and met our contact on the 21st.
On the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd we went with our contact to his home
town! We went to one of the best church services I have been to on this
race!! They love the Lord, the worship was energetic and everything had
English translations! After doing some teaching and playing with the
children we went back to Phnom Penh!
On the 24th we drove to our actual ministry site in the province of Svay
Rieng. Thankfully it was a short 3 hour drive in an air conditioned
van!!
The organization we are working with is Kone Kmeng, which means
children. Their focus is helping communities to work with youth at risk
of human labor trafficking. They run seminars in the community about
education, human rights, child’s rights, domestic violence, human
trafficking, child protection, healthy family models, hygiene and
sanitation. They also assist to dig wells and latrines and provide water
filters. In addition they provide dormitories in 2 provinces for youth
to live in while they attend high school so that they can receive a
proper education. Last year they helped 4,094 children, 30 young adults
and 2,884 adults!! We are VERY stoked to be partnering with them while
we are in Cambodia!!
