My favorite photo from Cambodia of course had to be of these amazing kiddos. (pic creds to Alivia)
Due to school policies we are not allowed to post pictures of the kids faces, so my actual favorite photos of them I can’t show you – but just know they are a million times cuter than this photo shows!
Getting to spend time with these kids as our ministry every day has made these last three months incredible. I can honestly say that when I’m not at school, I’m missing each and every one of them.
I walk up the drive to school and feel like I’m getting greeted by 40 tiny friends who haven’t seen me in months, when in reality it’s barely been a day. They give the best hugs and run over the rocky path in bare feet just to see us. I hear a thousand “good mo-ning tea-cha!”’s every day, and about a million more “good aft-a-noon tea-cha”’s after that. I get hugs before school starts, after first class ends, after recess, after second class, and again after lunch. Multiply the hugs by 3, and thats how many high five’s I get throughout the day. Each interaction makes my smile bigger and my joy grow.
I chant “bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish” and “down by the banks of the hanky panky where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky singing a, e, i, o, u, ker-plunk” about a million times each recess period – and never ever grow tired of it. Sometimes we run around in silly games of tag, constantly getting poked and tickled in the sides by little fingers. We play connect four, and jenga, and jump rope a lot. Sometimes we use the jenga blocks to build towers and slide them across the floor in a game of “knock over the tower”. Once in a while I’ll sit by the girls as they doodle in their notebooks, trying to spell my name and teaching me to write it in khmer. Other day’s I sit against the wall under the white board and say english words when the little kids gathered around me point to different pictures in a book. Those are the best days.
On Wednesday’s I come home with my bag full of popsicle stick puppets, or paper bag houses, or pop-up kite drawings, or lion face paper plates or paper dolls because it’s craft day and the kids are so eager to give away what they’ve made. Other days I arrive at school to have a bunch of coloring pages with the words “I love teacher Jacee” across the top placed in my hands. My teammates joke that the area above my sleeping pad looks like a 5 year old lives there with all the crafts and notes I have taped up – including ones from kids back home.
On Thursday’s we teach dance class to the kids. Somehow the minute class starts my teammates and I all turn into crazy, wild, loud, and laughing little kids just like the ones we are surrounded by. We watch just dance videos or play musical chairs or freeze dance, we’ve even taught the kids the cupid shuffle – 20 little voices screaming “to da righ to da righ to da lef to da lef”. The room is probably 110 degrees, and smells like elementary school gym class, but it’s definitely the highlight of my week. We dance and dance and dance until we collapse on the floor exhausted and surrounded by the most happy kids in the world.
Each day I sit outside in the heat and serve soup, loving the chance I get to smile at each kid as I serve them lunch. I watch as they set the table themselves, taking the time to pour water into each little mug. I watch them wait to eat until everyone has been served, quietly standing beside their seats. I watch them thank us before sitting down to start their meal. I watch them come back up for seconds and can’t stop from smiling because it makes me happy to see them getting full. I watch them bring their plates over to dump the scraps, dunking them in the rinse bucket before bringing them over to the washing station – a series of buckets they they fill themselves each day. I watch them take turns washing each plate, fork, and cup – chatting and laughing as they sit and work. I watch them sweep and wipe down tables and restock the chairs. They do everything without being asked to, without complaining, and with a whole lot of joy. They inspire me.
Realizing that we only have four days of ministry left at the school has made me extremely sad. I know I’m going to miss these kids more than I’ve missed anyone from the race so far. Somehow they grabbed my heart the minute I walked in, and I know they won’t let it go. 40 pieces of my heart are staying in Cambodia, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
