Rubbish Mountain (Part 1)

It started out as a typical Cambodian day….pancake breakfast @7am, team prayer time, tuk-tuk ride to ministry…but not for long!

Ministry was going to be a little different today. It wouldn’t be like any other day. It was going to be a real eye-opening and life changing experience. We were suppose to go to ministry in the morning, but our pastor had a meeting and wasn’t able to come meet us…we still went to our ministry site to deliver food to a lady, Sambath, and her husband who have HIV/Aids. Before we left, we were told to get our masks, wear shoes and get ready for our afternoon….an afternoon unlike any other!

This is what I was waiting for. This is the heart of my ministry. This is real, dirty, smelly and life for over 500 Cambodians. Rubbish Mountain…just as it sounds. A heap of trash. Burning trash. This is home. This is where they live, work, eat and sleep. Some kids even go to school up here. This is life as they know it.

You would not have to be here long to see what we saw, smelt what we smelt or touched what we touched. It was different. It was an experience. It was a challenge. It was worth every minute!

Walking up to this place was heartbreaking. Some of the kids that we’ve been working with even came up with us…and to see them playing in the trash struck me. This is what they are used to. Here we are, a bunch of Americans…wearing shoes and masks to “prevent” us from breathing in and stepping in anything that may be harmful to us…yet these kids and people working up there run around bare foot and sit in it like it’s no big deal. They smell. They are filthy. But it’s who they are…it’s what they do. It’s everything they know!

Who am I to judge? To turn and walk away from the needs of these people because of the way they look or smell would be critical of me. They have nothing except what they find in the heaps of garbage. The phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” has come to life. Watching a child find something and get a huge smile because what someone threw away as garbage is now a special toy for this boy. Makes me think about what I throw away. The food we waste. The “junk” we have that just sits there.

I had the blessing of stopping to talk with a family who lives and works up there. Day after day in the hot sun, they work long hours to try and find something salvageable to put in their sack to try and get money for. They scrounge around for food. They are filthy…yet I had the blessing of hugging them and praying for them. I got to put a small smile on their faces – even if it was for a brief moment. Even if it gave them hope for the day. God brought me to my knees, humbled before him, showing compassion to the least of these. Loving as Jesus loved. Being a servant. Not caring about getting dirty or smelling like trash. I was moved to tears.

Walking by some of the homes up on the mountain was constructed of boards, tarps, blankets and anything else they could find to make a structure sturdy enough to stand and sheltered enough to protect them from the sun and rain. It’s not much. It’s nothing, really – but it’s home! A home that will not be in existence in a few short weeks. The Cambodian government is closing down Rubbish Mountain and the “community” that is built up their. Homes will be lost. What was once familiar will become a thing of the past. They will be moving to a new place, and without having knowledge of a job, other than sorting through trash, they will be trying to find one to make ends meet to support their families. Please keep these families in your prayers. This isn’t just their story. This is reality. They need hope. They need Jesus.
 
My prayer is that we were Jesus to these people. That His love was shown. That we gave them hope for what is to come. That God is in control. That God will provide.