Cambodia is Dirty.
Cambodia is HOT!
Cambodia is filled with bugs far bigger than they should be.
Cambodia is seriously lacking flushable toilets.
Cambodia is the country that stole my heart…
This month my team and I were told we would be working in a town called Poipet. Of course we jumped right on Google to research it. This is what we read: “Poipet rhymes with toilet, which is fitting because that is exactly what it is, the toilet of Cambodia. It is filled with thieves, pick pockets, and prostitutes. Stay as little time as possible in Poipet.” Exactly what we wanted to hear. But it turns out we weren’t staying in Poipet. Turns out that Poipet is actually where we quickly retreated for our days off. Turns out that we were living way off in the middle of nowhere, the Yaourt (YAY-ort) village.
When I say out in the middle of nowhere, you have to understand that I mean the middle of nowhere. I used to consider Trout Lake (my home town) middle of nowhere, but Yaourt gave me a whole new definition. And I loved it!
Our team struggled in Thailand/Laos. We traveled nearly every day and were exhausted. So we prayed that this month we would be put in a place where we could just enjoy each other’s presence and get to know one another. Let me tell ya, prayer works! We lived in a small cement building with four rooms; two bedrooms, kitchen/dining room, and a front room. I laugh as I give these titles to the rooms, because I feel like it gives an image that isn’t fitting. Cement walls and tile floors, four rooms yes, but the walls were not connected to the ceiling so sound traveled easily and made it feel like one big room. We worked in the morning doing physical labor and in the afternoon we taught English. But our main objective for the month was LIFE. Cooking our own food, dishes and hand wash laundry consumed much of our day. Every other day we took the 45 minute tuk tuk adventure to the open market where our grocery list consisted of eggs, potatoes, rice, fruit and vegetables. We became experts on the third world cooking techniques of eggs, potatoes and rice. And can I just say I’m impressed with some of the things we came up with to cook! We didn’t have electricity so often our evenings were spent sitting in the dark talking about everything under the sun or playing games under headlamp. Our biggest ministry was each other, loving on and caring for one another.
So why did I love this month so much? Why was Cambodia so great? I’ll tell you, it was the relationships I built that stole my heart, with my team and with the locals. There were two men who lived and worked alongside us day by day. They were kind, they were loving, they had absolutely nothing yet they were willing to give us everything. I was humbled by the way they loved people. Then there were three boys who lived at the orphanage that my team and I fell in love with! I woke up every morning and played Frisbee with them while I waited for the rest of my team to wake. We spoke life over them daily and by the end they would shout “Men of God” and flex their arms! Also there were three little girls who stole my heart. I taught them how to hug. Not something they have ever really done, but by the end of the month they were seeking me out for hugs just as often as I sought them. There are no words to describe the joy you feel when you’ve taught something as complicatedly simple as a hug.
Why did I love Cambodia so much? Cambodia made my heart happy. It’s as simple as that.
