- As a missionary in Cambodia, you must remember when signaling for someone to come over you must use the appropriate hand gesture…a slight deviation in the hand direction might mean that you are calling the person a dog or making a sexual advance!
- As a foreigner in the Kingdom of Cambodia, be prepared to be racially profiled as someone who does not know how to use your two legs. You must learn to walk down the street shaking your head no as people constantly call to you, “You need TUK-TUK? TUK-TUK? MOTO? MOTO?” Also, everywhere you try to shop you will hear… “Hello, LaDY…you need something? I make special price for you!” (This is if, in fact, you are a female. If you are not…well, then you have bigger problems on your hands than I can help with in this blog).
- When visiting Cambodia for the first time you must train yourself to not make direct eye contact with anyone of the opposite sex for more than three seconds, otherwise it is considered inappropriate behavior! (Practice with me…one, two, three-look away. One, two, three-look away….”)
- I know it sounds crazy, but do not be surprised if you walk into a public bathroom at the mall and see women preparing an entire meal on the counter tops…chopping vegetables, washing noodles, the works!
- Remember when crossing the streets of Cambodia (AKA-death traps-) that the motor vehicles have the right of way…and they WILL run you over! Also don’t be surprised if you see an entire family of five on one motorcycle—with the dog on the handlebars and baby in the basket. (I wish I was kidding)
- As an American foreigner in Cambodia, you may notice that you are suddenly like a giant in Munchkinland. If you wear medium clothes back home you will be a 2XL in the Cambodian marketplace. Also, as their tuk-tuks are not used to carrying so much weight, you may encounter multiple times that it requires a large group of Cambodians to push your team up a hill.
- Please remember that when attempting to converse with someone in another culture, you should always find out how good their English is before yelling loudly in a slow drawn-out sentence… “Hiiii… Myyy NAME IS E-LAI-NA. I AM A MIS-SION-ARY. Can YOU say MIS-SION-ARY?” They may just answer you with, “Uh…yeah, I know…you’re with the World Race…what month are you guys in?” and you will feel like an “I-DI-OT”.
Cambodia was AWESOME! It was hands down one of my favorite countries on the World Race. From the first day we arrived we fell in love with the teenagers and young adults we were working with. Mostly we were teaching English at a ministry there, as well as preaching, teaching Sunday School, and doing youth group, etc. We even got to take the kids and church members to the local zoo one day and everyone had a blast.
We were also blessed this month with a wonderful addition to Team WAKA, in the form of Miss Natalie Dache. She is 22 years old from Washington D.C. and joined us from another team which was disbanded. Natalie is a dancer, a JR. high leader at her church, and has been an infusion of energy to our little WAKA family. She whipped out some amazing grammar skills this month and really spear headed the English teaching which we were very grateful for! I was also with Natalie in Romania and South Africa so it is fun to be with her for the last leg of the Race.
This country is beautiful and I was filled with love for the people of Cambodia, who are so welcoming and friendly. The kids on the street are adorable and even children as young as two years old would call out hello to us every day. One of them the last day looked up with big brown eyes and said to me, “I LOVE YOU!” I really have a heart for this country which God prepared in me as far back as 10 years ago. My freshman year of college I worked with Cambodian refugee children who had just come to Philadelphia. Every Sunday night I helped put on a kids program for them at my church and at that point I never dreamed I would be able to visit their country.
I don’t know how much you know about Cambodia’s history but these people have been through a lot to say the least. They have been wracked by years of Civil War and devastation. In the Seventies when the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh (where we were working) about 1/3 of the population of Cambodia died from executions, overwork, and disease. This era gave rise to the term Killing Fields (which if you don’t know anything about, I suggest reading up on). The regime, led by Pol Pot, wanted to return to the old ways before the modern era and all professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers were targeted. Even anyone wearing eyeglasses was killed, as it was seen as a sign of intellectualism. The families were literally ripped apart and taught not to feel emotion for each other. They learned that the less you say, the safer you will be. The civil war and its aftermath have affected the Cambodian population… 50% of the population is under the age of 21. It was obvious how the young people we worked with had been influenced by their nations difficult history, but God has used it in their lives to make them stronger. They are amazing people and they are SURVIVORS!
