Siem Reap is flooded with tourists. It has a vibrant nightlife that sends me into sensory overload- bright lights, loud music, tuk tuks and food vendors everywhere. The Night Market and Pub Street are sights to see. Visitors from all over the world are out late into the night buying elephant pants and bugs to eat, cheap beer and street food. The energy is exhilarating.
What visitors often choose to ignore are the people who are there night after night trying to make just enough money to survive by whatever means necessary. There are countless food carts selling local dishes and smoothies, hundreds of vendors all trying to sell the same souvenirs, thousands of men and women working in prostitution, and beggars lining the sidewalks and roads.
It’s easy to look past these people without even meaning to. During debrief we would visit the night markets to shop, taste new food, and go to Pub Street to go dancing. I can hardly remember going out of my way to meet someone on the nights I ventured out. But my unawareness didn’t last very long.
Our hosts this month run the Adventures in Missions base in Cambodia. My team and I have had the privilege of helping launch the women’s ministry by going out into the city late at night and looking for women being prostituted or in poverty. Before we go out, we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to the people he wants us to meet, open our eyes to see what he sees, and to break our hearts for what breaks his heart.
Returning to the same streets I had been exploring just the day before with a different goal in mind was shocking. It’s like I couldn’t see anything but hopelessness. I walked back and forth with my teammate Michelle, unsure of what to do or where to start. I saw two Cambodian women who were scantily dressed, walking together and allowed myself to assume the worst- maybe these women were being exploited in some way. I turned to Michelle and said, “let’s follow them and see what happens”; she agreed to it without hesitation. (Sounds a bit creepy but we needed a starting point!)
We never talked to those women, but following them led us to a bridge across the river that led from one market to another. It is busy with tourists and highly populated by beggars. Michelle and I walked all the way across the bridge once just to take it all in. We both noticed the same young woman lying on the bridge with a baby sleeping next to her and a basket to collect money in front of her. We decided to walk back and try to talk with her.
I sat down on the ground a few feet from her and said hello. She sat up and propped herself up on her arms. Before I could say anything else tears began to stream down her face. She wouldn’t look directly at me, but instead stared right past me as if she was looking for someone.
“I’m afraid we’ve scared her, Michelle…”
A young Cambodian man approached us as we sat unsure of what to do next. He told us she didn’t speak English and began to speak to her in Khmer. She seemed to snap to it when he spoke to her. We asked if he would being willing to translate for us, but he didn’t understand enough English. Michelle sat next to the young man and started to talk to him, but I just sat helpless on the bridge next to the young woman who I made cry. I didn’t know what to do. So I just sat there and smiled at her whenever she looked at me.
Eventually, she turned to me and asked through hand gestures to find her baby some milk. My first reaction was “Absolutely!”, but was reminded of a scam in Cambodia of people trying to help by purchasing milk for the babies, but then the mothers returning the milk for the money. We had been asked to not give the women anything without opening it for them first so they couldn’t return it. I asked her if she too was hungry, making an eating motion. She nodded. So Michelle and I left to find dinner for mom and baby.
We never found milk, but we brought back fried noodle from a vendor down the road. We set down her food and I took my seat next to her, a little closer this time.
As she ate, the baby began to stir. She awoke, looked up at me, and smiled! She was one of the most beautiful baby girls I’ve ever seen! The mother let me hold her. She was wrapped in a soiled blanket. I could tell the baby was weak just by holding her and my heart broke. Her mother watched as I held her child and began smiling. She leaned closer and poked her baby in the belly and laughed. We played until it was time for them to leave- to where I don’t know. When she stood to pack her things I realized that she was also very pregnant.
I found out later that she was 7 months pregnant. This woman lives in extreme poverty. She wore no shoes and ill fitting clothing, has a 10 month old baby and one on the way, and spent every night begging on this bridge. My heart broke for her circumstances, but I was overwhelmed with the love that I felt for her. Even though I couldn’t talk to this young woman, I was able to love her and spend time with her when hundreds passed her, ignoring her existence night after night. It’s what Jesus would have done.
On our way to meet up with our team, Michelle and I stopped by a massage parlor so she could say hi to some girls she had befriended the previous week. While Michelle caught up with her friends, I noticed a man leaving the parlor. He was a young white man and he was a little hunched over. As he passed me I nodded and said hello to be polite. He stopped and talked for a few minutes, asked us what we were doing in Cambodia. I asked him in return and he said he was just here on holiday, but he was suffering from chronic back pain and was searching for any relief he could find. After a few more exchanges we said our goodbyes and he walked away. I thought almost nothing of this interaction. But this was a divine appointment…
TO BE CONTINUED!
