Cambodia Ministry - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

We started out the month of December in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for debrief. Up to this point I had run the race with team Meraki, which consisted of my good friends Braham, Josh, Hector, Carmen, Bailey, Mariah, and myself. But now it was time for team changes. It’s very common for World Race squads to have one to two team changes in order to encourage continued growth both spiritually and in community.

And so…. at the end of debrief I joined team Joyful Awakening! I was so blessed to be placed with five women who have literally become sisters to me. My friend Carmen stayed with me and we were joined by Hana Beth, Brittaney, Gabby, and Naomi.

Due to both a debrief and Leadership Development happening in Cambodia, our month was cut a bit short, but wow was it an amazing month!

We partnered with A Greater Hope Orphanage, which is run by Kit and Ream Carson. They are located just an hour and half south of Phnom Penh in Takeo Province. Their story is absolutely amazing! Kit is from the states, but Ream was born and grew up in Takeo Province. Her brother heard the gospel from a missionary in Phnom Penh. He then shared the good new with his father and the rest of his family. As a result his family chose to follow God. Ream’s father established the first church in their province. Kit met Ream while visiting Cambodia on a missions trip. After they were married they established the orphanage in Ream’s home town. They then opened a private Christian school for students grades Pre-K to 12th grade. Currently they have about 600 students from all over the province who attend, and there are many more children waitlisted to get in. Unfortunately they don’t have the resources, space, or teachers to accommodated more students. Many of the students who attend the school come from Buddhist backgrounds. However, each day they come to school and start the day with worship and hearing a Bible based message.

While we were there we lived at the orphanage, which houses about 35 children from ages 7 to 18. They also have a few young adults who grew up in the orphanage and have stayed on as volunteers.

Each morning we would get up and be ready to walk with the kids to school at 7 am. We started the school day with worship, led by the older student’s worship team, and then the 6 of us girls took turns giving a short testimony or message. We then worked in pairs for the rest of the day. My partner for the month was Gabby! Each day looked a little different, but essentially we assisted the English teachers in their classes. Gabby and I mainly worked with the Middle and High School age kids. We also got to help with the occasional PE and art class as well. There was a lot of rain when we first arrived. So for grade 8 PE one day we helped smooth out some gravel to fill in the pot holes that had developed on the dirt road just outside the orphanage. It was really good exercise! At the end of the day we walked home with the kids, only about a 5 minute walk down the road. After a short break, and a chance to change clothes, it was time to do chores. There were a variety of tasks that needed to be completed. The pigs had to be fed and cleaned up after, the rabbits too, the trash needed to be burned, we needed to cut grass for the cows, there was a large garden that needed to be watered, and we also added to the garden by planting pumpkins and preparing new pieces of land for planting. It was so neat because each of the kids new what their job was and got it done without complaining. After about an hour of chores, it was then time for dinner! And that was basically our day. We also got to take turns once or twice and do home visits in the village.

As you may have guessed, we celebrated this little holiday called Christmas while we were in Cambodia. Unlike American schools, the kids did not get two weeks off of school. But they did get Friday off, and we had a big celebration at the school on Thursday. There were 2 traditional Cambodia dance routines, one from the younger kids and one from the older kids. There was also a short drama about the birth of Christ that was put together by the kids from the Orphanage- the whole thing was in Khmer, but we followed the story ok and it was so fun to watch our kids play the various roles of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and so on. After this we had a giant dance party, which included running around and throwing cooling powder (looks like baby powder, but it’s not) at each other. Later that night our team got to help wrap all the presents for the kids at the orphanage, and make sugar cookies. On Friday Hana Beth and I made several cakes while the other girls decorated the sugar cookies. We sent the kids to bed early that night, and then spent a few hours decorating and putting the presents out. Because Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we celebrated Christmas on Saturday instead. Everyone was up early so they could take a peak at the tree. The boys got ready in no time, but the girls weren’t quite as fast. After our team got ready, we went to the girls room so we could help them finish their hair and make up. Once we were all ready we went downstairs. After a few family photos, it was time to pass out presents! Apparently I was a good girl this year, because I even I had something to unwrap! I got a very pretty pink and white scarf, a Heart for Wisdom school t-shirt, some earrings, and a few sugar cookies. After all the presents had been opened, we spent the rest of the day playing games. For one game we had a team of girls and a team of boys. They had to line up and lay on the floor and then pass a banana with their feet- first team to get their banana to the end of the line wins! If your wondering, it was the girls who won every time. We also had them get in a group, sit on the floor, lock arms, and then try to stand up. I think the most entertaining game was called eat it or wear it. 3 kids from the orphanage and Carmen played. They had to try things like a spoon full of mustard, jelly fish, and so many other things. If you ate it, then it got put on the head of the other three players. If you didn’t eat it, it got put on your head! It was quite entertaining. On Christmas day we were off, so we spent our time relaxing by the pool, and then had a really delicious team dinner of scrambled eggs and french toast.

We did a few fun things as well. Our first weekend at the Orphanage, a few of the kids took us out back into the rice fields. We went hunting for crabs! And no, we were not on the coast line. Apparently there are a variety of crabs that like to live in the mud. It was a lot of fun, and we returned home with a bucket full of crabs that were prepared and eaten for dinner. We also tried a few interesting foods. Carmen and I each tried a spoon full of fermented fish with rice, it’s a national dish. I finally tried frog, it was fried and did indeed taste like chicken. In Siem Reap Carmen and Brittany each tried a cooked tarantula. I was talked into trying the tiniest bite of a leg….

During debrief in Phenom Penh I rode in a Tuk Tuk, visited the Russian Market, and toured a prison, from the Khmer Rouge, called Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I love the opportunity to learn more about our world’s history, but so often our history is full of very sad times that should never be forgotten. While we were in Siem Reap for our leadership development, I completed the top activity on my bucket list. I visited Angkor Wat. It’s an ancient Buddhist, and at one point Hindu, temple that was built over a thousand years ago. It was an absolutely amazing morning. We also visited 2 other temple sites in the area. It’s sad to me that these temples were build to worship false gods, but it was also so amazing to get to visit such a big piece of our world’s history.

It was a full month, but a great way to start the next part of my journey with team Joyful Awakening.