So, I haven’t written many posts about the people of Cambodia. To be honest, I have been so out of my element, it was hard for me to talk about the people of Cambodia because I dont want to misinterpret them or their culture. I have been wanting to write about the people I have encountered or have become friends with. For instance, the people I buy my food from each day in the market, or the cleaning lady that comes every other day, my teacher that I work with, my students, or even my ministry host. But to be totally honest, I am still getting to know them. It can sometimes feel defeating when I try to write a blog about someone I encounter or talk with because I don’t know much about them. The language barrier is hard and life is moving so fast sometimes it’s all I can do to just make sure I say hello let alone try to start a conversation. But even though those conversation or hello are sometimes short because of a language barrier are times when God really speaks to me. It’s weird how even in a foreign and sometimes dark place I see the Lord in miraculous ways. I guess thats why I have been telling y’all more about what the Lord has been showing/teaching me is because it’s a big part of my day to day in Cambodia. When I am in Cambodia I have to listen to the Holy Spirit all the time. I have no idea what to do most of the time so I just have to keep leaning back in the spirit. God has also be showing me though that just because I’m not sure what impact I have had thus far, doesn’t mean I’m not impacting people. In the Bible it talks about a little yeast going a long way, and we are called to be the salt of the World. Both point to the fact that the smallest of something, once its been worked through, can make the biggest of impacts. So, I think about my grain of salt. In a “world” of poverty and Buddhism, the smallest of conversations can lead to the extraordinary.
For example, my teacher friend Meyneang Chhun. She is 18 she is teaching here with me at Good Seed International. She has never been to college and I’m not sure if she really has even finished high school. See in Cambodia, education is not free. The implications of that are interesting. When we hear about the land of the free, I have always thought of “freedom” as in, from an oppressive government. It is, but so much more. The right to education means we are free to become nearly anything. I can see that so clearly now. Meyneang’s family farms in a rural village. Her and her siblings with there. She was very fortunate to be able to have education. Most cannot afford education, and just to put that in perspective of how little most Cambodian actually have, college here is $3,000 all together. Because her family are farmers there is no possible way for them to move beyond that without schooling. Most of the teachers have told me that some of them are actually younger than 18 but the y lord on there applications so that they could work to support there family’s. My teacher works from 6am – 5pm at Good Seed and then heads over to her 2nd job at another school and works 7pm- 10pm to help support her family.she works so hard and values and loves her education. This experience has made me more appreciative of the USA. I have always loved America but If possible I love it and appreciate it more than before I got here.
America gives us freedom to vote on things that effect the right to basic dental care and the quality of our water. I had NO idea how amazing that is. I see these children, these sweet 3-4 year old kids I work with, afraid to smile because their teeth are black and falling out (and these are the privileged ones).
I see people working on the streets, in the markets. Some are defeated, living with a reality that this is it. I see others with nearly nothing, smiling…even without their teeth. My friend Meyneang who has little, just gifted me a beautiful bracelet. She says it is a “friendship” bracelet.
It makes me immensely thankful for our country, it makes me realize happiness is not what you have but a state of mind, that we always have something to give, and God is showing me, I may not have much to offer, but for now, my friendship is my grain of salt.
