We’ve been here in Siam Reap now for almost two and a half weeks. I feel bad that I haven’t actually posted about what we’re doing here – but if you know me, you know that I hate to post without pictures and I haven’t had the chance until lately to take very many! I actually really love it here in Cambodia despite my lack of blogs.
Siam Reap is a small city located about 10 minutes from the Angkor Wat complex. Despite its relatively small size, the city is definitely a “tourist town.” As Cambodia continues to rebuild and recover from the war and its devastation, I believe that Siam Reap will only continue to grow. Already there are resorts and hotels popping up everywhere! It is definitely an exciting place to be right now and a prime location for the development of ministry.
We are living and working with a YWAM contact, Fonkie, and his family. He’s lived here for a few years and has established a free school for kids in the community. He saw a need for English and computer classes and that’s where his ministry took off. They currently rent out a building for classes, but are in the process of building their own center near their house. With our new friend and contact Fonkie and all of the opportunities for ministry here in Siam Reap, it is our hope to establish Siam Reap as a main ministry location for Cambodia and for the World Race. We are hopeful that many more teams can come through here.
During the week we teach a variety of classes – from Powerpoint to Photoshop to Basic and even Conversational English. While rules about religion and evangelism with the government are tricky here in Southeast Asia, we are able to give these kids skills for their future and are able to show them the love of Christ along the way. Sometimes it’s hard to know if we’re really making a difference … especially when we don’t feel like we know what we’re doing!! Fonkie has been a great encouragement though and tells us that we are “blessing the nations” through even these simple English and computer classes. I choose to believe this – and that the Lord will take our love and somehow use it in these kids’ lives.
I am “Teacher Michelle” and I teach quite a range of classes. At 4pm I have Typing 101 with about 8 little boys. They are the cutest guys ever. Their English is actually decent and we have a pretty fun time. Plus … we get to play MARIO in class! Who knew that Mario could teach typing! ha. They could quite possibly be my favorite class of the day. This is us, minus a couple, in front of our progress poster!
At 5pm I enter into my most challenging class of the day. Fonkie originally told me that this would be a basic starter English class for 7-10 year olds. Needless to say, when I walked into the classroom the first day and there were about 25-30 kids, many of whom barely looked seven, I knew I had my work cut out for me! These little ones are just learning their ABCs and basic vocab. When they don’t know what I’m talking about, they pretty much just repeat what I’ve just said. They have to start somewhere though I guess, so I do my best. I do have to say though that teaching English to 30 seven year olds in a room the size of a small bedroom in the middle of the terrifying heat and humidity of Cambodia is not the most ideal of situations. Ah! How did I become a TEACHER?!? J Here is me with the little guys.
And then finally we wrap up the day with my 6pm Adult Conversation class. Adult meaning over the age of 16 – all are under the age of 22! Crazy. Depending upon attendance and whether or not they actually choose to come to class, on a given night this class can range from 8 to 16 students. The most difficult thing about this class is the varying levels of English skill. There are some that definitely need to be in there – they know the basics, are still learning grammar and basic usage – they just need practice in conversation. Others, however, struggle big time …. The problem is that there is no intermediate class between the children’s classes and the conversation classes. So while these students can’t keep up in my class, I can’t exactly send them to the children’s classes. It’s definitely hard to keep a balance. I don’t know how real teachers do this!!! Anyway, here is a picture of some of my friends from class.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the glimpse into my life here in Cambodia! Blessings and love! Until next time.
