Life in Phnom Penh […see photos at bottom…]
Cambodia marks our 5th month on the World Race. We’ve been in the country for about two weeks. Each month continues to bring a new mission and adventure. This month we are partnered with a church that teaches English. We are primarily building relationships with teens, teaching English to both kids and adults during the week, and preaching and teaching at the church on Sundays. It’s been a great month and I continue to count my blessings.
We are in the southern part of the capital, Phnom Penh. I’ve heard of other teams working in extreme rural conditions (no electricity, bucket showers and a handful of creepy crawly creatures to avoid) and I daily count my blessings for this month's living situation.
My team of six girls is sharing a hotel room that is about 5 minutes from the church where we teach. We have three beds and a mini fridge we share amongst the six of us. We have an air conditioned room. Again, I count my blessings because it is HOT here. At some point throughout any given day, I find myself feeling beads of sweat running down my back. But we have minimal mosquitos and ants to deal with in our living space. And while our location is in an industrial area with limited food options, we are a short tuk tuk drive away to a variety of options. Meals cost us between $2 and $4, a bit more expensive than Thailand. We usually eat two of our meals in our room (grocery store items) and sometimes grab a meal out for the third. Finding the bakery and local market (for fruits and veggies) has helped as well. As a devout coffee drinker, on our budget, I’m learning to enjoy instant coffee granules in cold water. And I’m continuously counting my blessings.
OUR SCHEDULE
On the WEEKDAYS, we are teaching English to kids and adults between 3:30pm-7:30pm.
The first hour consists of those who want to come for an hour of reading a book in the Bible. We are going through the book of John. Students will read through the chapter in English and we’ll correct them when necessary. We'll discuss the meaning behind the verses. About a half dozen or so kids come for this.
The second hour consists of conversational English. We have about five theme questions that we’ll teach them and we’ll take time having the students answer the questions. About 40 or so kids and adults come for this.
The third hour consists of basic English. About 40-60 students are in this class and there are a variety of levels. We have one of the students translate our teaching into their local language, Khmer.
The last hour consists of advanced English. About 20 or so students stay for this one.
SATURDAYS are our day off. Earlier this week on Monday was the King’s birthday. We celebrated the long weekend by taking a 5 hour bus ride out to Otres Beach near Sihanoukville. It was a treat, but it’s also the rainy season. I had one day of sunshine and one day of rain. Even with the rain, I stayed in the ocean water because it was warmer than the air and rain! These beaches are beautiful!!
On SUNDAYS, we are at church for about 3 hours in the morning. A number of us have given short testimonies in the adult or children’s session as well as preaching some sweet words. We come back to the church for several hours in the evening for youth group. Last night I shared with about 25 youth some lessons that I learned this last year about FAITH, TRUST and SURRENDER. (see next blog)
"You are here"
Our dear Cambodian friend "T" who speaks good English and helps us translate. He's biking me through the flooded streets after the usual afternoon torrential downpour.
Here I'm sharing some sweet words about trust, faith and surrender at the evening youth group.
Preaching and teaching at church and class.
Coconuts on Otres beach…a restful day in the rain.
Two to a bed (more than a twin not quite a double), World Race style!
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
These kids and our community for the month are amazing.
During these last few weeks, God has been increasingly showing me what joy looks and feels like. After the first night of youth group, I think my mouth hurt from smiling and laughing so much. The pastor is so much fun and a kid himself. This community has welcomed us in and I love it. It's true about the ubiquitous t-shirts: I HEART CAMBODIA.
The aftermath of a genocide that occurred more than 30 years ago is still evident today.
An atrocious four year genocide occurred in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, was responsible for the systematic killing of between 1-2 million of the Cambodian people. That was about 20-30% of the country's population at that time! Today, that's about the population size of Phnom Penh. On the days here when I ride on a tuk tuk, I look around and try to picture the city of 1.5 million people completely devoid of people. That's what happened in 1975. The regime drove people out of the city and into the countryside. Even the city’s hospitals were emptied of their patients, regardless of their condition. Can you imagine rolling patients down the streets in their hospital beds? They began to kill off the educated, anyone with suspected connections to the former government or foreign governments, and others who adhered to “western” ideas or who were deemed threats. The goal was to control the entire country and to create a communist agrarian society.
On one of our other days off, we visited two museums: the Killing Fields at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The Killing Fields are a number of sites around the country where thousands of people were brutally killed and buried. One of these sites is outside of Phnom Penh. These were essentially mass graves. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was once a high school that was turned into a prison by the regime. It was “designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture, and killing after confession from the detainees.”
The legacy of wars and the Khmer Rouge is a country littered all over with landmines. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of amputees in the world.
Rules to follow for detainees in the late 1970s at the Tuol Sleng prison.
Tuol Sleng prison: a place for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture and killing
For a greater perspective on what happened, I recommend you read a memoir written by Loung Ung entitled First They Killed My Father: a daughter of cambodia remembers. She was a young girl who survived and came over to the States as a refugee. In her words, she says “they tell us Pol Pot makes us work hard because he wants to purify our spirit and help us achieve beyond our potential as farmers. They say he has a round face, full lips, and kind eyes. I wonder if his kind eyes can see us starving. (p88).”
I've heard between 70 and 80% of the people in Cambodia are under the age of 30 years old! Not even 4% are over the age of 65 years old (compare to 13% in the U.S. who are 65 years and older).
Mov, one of our Tuk Tuk drivers, told me he was 31 years old. I pondered over this quite a bit the day he drove us around because I feel like I haven't seen many people in my age group: in their 30s. My age group would have been born during that 4 year time frame. But it appears only 1 in 4 people survived that time period.
Mov, our 31 year old Tuk Tuk driver
I know as I continue to travel to other countries on this trip (e.g., Rwanda), I will find a similar story: more people killing their own people. It’s hard to fathom this can really happen, even in my lifetime. But it still is. People need to be informed. That’s why I’ve included this here. Please pray for the people of Cambodia and elsewhere who have been affected by similar atrocities.
…Love from Cambodia…
