Our host this month was Sok Eng and Khema. They are a young couple with two little children. They moved their family to Khom Pong Thom a week before my team arrived to stay at their new home. Sok Eng has a Master’s in Education. Khema is working on finishing her Doctorate of Medicine. They have a son, Omnor who is three years old and loves to talk. He knows both English and Khmer. Their youngest child is Haradae, who is one years old and loves to take everything you own and call it her own.
(Nhor (our driver), Sok Eng, Harade, Jabe (Sok Eng’s cousin), Jabe’s mom, Khema, Omnor in the back)
They both left the comfort of their jobs, home and family in Phnom Penh. They desire to be “Friends with Community”. Sok Eng and Khema are fluent in English. Wanting to learn English seems to be the common denominator with Cambodians.
We spent our time at two churches and three schools. At the churches there were two different groups we taught English to: the youth and children. The vision is that by investing in the youth they will in turn invest in the children of the church. The youth will impact the future of the church.
(Youth group + children night. The power went out so we improvised with our cell phones.)
There were three schools we taught English at. One of the schools is a government school. It so happens that this is the largest government school in the province. What a privilege! Cambodia recently released a law that requires students to start learning English in fourth grade. We were there to teach the teachers English so that they could teach their students. The teachers English levels range from none to proficient. Another school we had been teaching English at was Clever Child International school. This is a Christian English school. The kids had some basic knowledge of the English language. We taught both the students and teachers English. The third school we were at was held in a colleague’s house. The people who came were a range of English levels and age.
(Some of the teachers at Clever school learning English.)
I decided to title this blog “Friends with Community” because the statement sums up the month perfectly. This month, was coined “Woman-istry” month. The squad separated boys and girls. This gave the men alone time together as well as women alone time together. I was on a co-ed team for the first three months. This was my opportunity to be on an all-girls team.
I loved this new community. Being with only girls has been refreshing. The women on my team all exemplified Christ. There was a greater level of intimacy, trust and vulnerability with each other. This month, required everyone to be a team player and leader. We were all teaching our own English class four hours a day, five times a week. We would help each other on create English lessons, learn new games and songs to sing for our classes.
(Team Kornweh. left to right. Sequoi. Amy. Anna-Bonita. Brittany. Danielle. Hayley.)
Our host’s vision for the month was to become “Friends with Community”. This was their first time partnering with The World Race. They went above and beyond when caring for my team. It was an honor to help them plant roots in the community. Cambodia is a Buddhist country. Our house was down the road from pagodas and a monastery. Almost every business and house had some kind of alter in their yard for their gods and ancestors. The amount of places that we were able to teach English at was amazing. Our host had only been in town for a week before we came and they had already made so many contacts.
One of the contacts that our host had made was with our driver Nhor. We needed a truck to get around town and Nhor was willing to drive us. Nhor used to know English but over time had forgotten a lot of it. We would invite him into our English classes while he waited for us to finish, to drive us home for the night. Nhor was not a Christian. Anytime someone would try to talk to him about Christianity he would not listen. It makes me wonder why he even agreed to drive missionaries around town to teach English. One answer. God.
Nhor noticed a difference in our character: Our drive to work and help others, Our community which was full of kindness, passion and laughs. Nhor accepted Christ. Praise the Lord! He has been so kind to us. He helped us buy groceries and find the best bananas at the market. When we asked to go to a bakery for breakfast before teaching, he always brought us to the best bakery in town. When we had an hour break in between teaching he brought us little treats like watermelon or vegetables from his house. I could just go on and on about the kindness of this one man.
(Nhor. Our new brother in Christ.)
Friends with Community. What a powerful phrase. I have become friends with my new team, my host, Nhor and the community. So much work has been done and there is so much more to come. Please pray for my host and his family as they continue planting roots in Kampong Thom. Pray that they are able to find jobs. Pray for the churches and the youth that they will remain strong during difficult times. Pray for Nhor as he begins this new life in Christ. His family is not Christian. Pray for the country of Cambodia, that their hearts will be healed and open to hear God’s word.
**If you want to learn more about the genocide that happened in Cambodia in the late 70’s watch the movie or read the book called “First They Killed My Father”. **
