What did Cambodia look like for me?
Early morning bike riding to ministry, teaching kindergarten all day, missionary kids in the late afternoon; a lot going on, little time to process and an even smaller amount of time to get other things done. My expectations for the month were based off of previous months, because that’s okay, right? No. I expected our days to be shorter and a little freer like the first two months had been, however I was completely wrong. AGAIN. Do you see the pattern? Basically drop any and all expectations you have for what this will look like and even as they sneak back in, drop those too! I’m not going to lie, this particular month started as the hardest for me, but by the end of that month it quickly became a favorite. Between team struggles, long days, and random aliments, I can’t forget to mention those. From a random not 100% sure what kind of eye infection, to a constant headache for about 5 or so days, finding out I have lice, to then what was thought to be a ringworm that somehow turned into an allergic reaction to something or either a rash. Oh yeah, and getting hit by a motorbike while biking to the school at 7am, that’s fun. I had plenty of unpleasant things that I was walking through back to back. However, God has really been speaking to me and pursuing me in these moments.
How was I hearing the Father speaking to me?
Number one, you may not be able to choose the circumstances that you are walking through, but you can choose how you respond. Wow, that’s huge. I mean really, who wants to find out they have lice and jump for joy about that? Certainly not me, but to not respond in panic was a big deal for me. In Nepal, I watched many girls on the squad and how they reacted to the lice epidemic we had there. I didn’t want to be that girl that causes everyone to feel uncomfortable, but I also didn’t want to be that girl that everyone shuns because of something that happens and you can’t control it besides doing the everyday Tea Tree Oil to hopefully keep it away. Which leads me to number two, being thankful and allowing other people to serve me. After all, I can’t really pick nits out of my own hair. That’s only one example, as you read previously there were many opportunities for me to react out of my flesh. I’m still today practicing what I learned in Cambodia. Responding, instead of reacting.
Moving on from those things, I was placed in a school teaching Kindergarten, my last choice on grade level when I was in college. Isn’t God’s sense of humor pretty funny? I spent day in and day out with these little kiddos and fell more and more in love with them. I wanted so badly for these children to learn the things that we were teaching, but more importantly for them to learn about the sole reason we spent a month in Cambodia. There was one child that completely stole my heart the minute I saw her, a beautiful 5 years old little girl. Why you ask? She is just like my niece. She is so full of life, spunky, smart, hangs out with the boys, and so silly. Just being in per presence would brighten my worst days!
Let me take a minute to give you statistics on Cambodia. These are just a few of the statistics I have found. They are from World Bank, UNICEF, TIP Report, LIO, UN, ECPAT, World Vision, Love 146, Global Slavery Index, and Global Slavery Index Cambodia.
- Cambodia is situated in South-East Asia and is home to 15.14 million people.
- It is estimated that 26% of the adult population is illiterate and 18.6% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.
- The lives of children in Cambodia are also challenging with 36.1% of children working as child labor and 31.4% of children receive inadequate care.
- An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year.
- 22% of human trafficking victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 55% are women or girls.
- In Cambodia more than 6% of females and 5% of males aged 13-17 reported at least one experience of sexual abuse.
- Rape is increasing in Cambodia, and most victims of rape in Cambodia are children. The median age of rape victims in 2010 was 12 years old, two years younger than it was in 2007.
- 64% of children in Cambodia said that they knew children who had been sexually abused.
I don’t want these 13 children in this small school to become one of these statistics. I don’t want any child in Cambodia to become just another statistic. All of these statistics are stories, faces, and lives. They are lives that matter and until people begin to stand up and fight for them; it will continue to become a normal everyday thing that for some reason is overlooked by so many. Please pray for the country of Cambodia. Pray that God will continue to raise up warriors that are ready to fight for these people. People that are willing to fight for what is right. We need to quit sitting back and putting these types of things out of sight and out of mind.
