This month has been filled with heartache as well as incredible growth. We have had the privilege of seeing many injustices here in Cambodia. We have loved on street children who are either orphaned or choose to live on the streets instead of returning to their abusive parents. We met a woman who sold her daughter for $80 when she was drunk one night. We loved on a boy who recently lost his mother due to starvation. We have handed out food and clean water to the children in one of the many slums here in Phnom Penh. It was in the slums that my heart was completely shattered for the injustices in this world through the reality of one little girl. How could I walk away from this precious girl knowing that she would be walking back into a house of abuse, most likely sexual abuse? This child, that can only be 7 or 8 years old, is treated like a piece of meat with no value or worth. Here in Cambodia, it is very common to see children abused and mistreated because many people don’t see any value in children. Many children, some as young as five, are sold into the sex trade because so many people are desperate for money in order to survive. People should not be sold! Everyone, especially children, deserve to know that they are valued and loved. They deserve to have truth and life spoken over them everyday, instead of words of death. Sweet Ruth should be treated as a beautiful princess and not an unwanted piece of trash. She should be bursting with life, not void of it. This is NOT ok!. Walking away from that incredibly beautiful little girl, was one of the hardest things I have experienced on the race thus far. This situation brought up a lot of questions. Some of which I am still working through. However, I do know that God is good, God is faithful, and God is just. God’s heart break’s infinitely more than mine does over the injustices in this world. He loves everyone in this world more than we can even begin to imagine, and He desires to see the captives set free. As I poured my heart out before the Lord, he reminded me of John 16:33 that says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.� With it being Easter Sunday, I am reminded that Christ overcame death and darkness. We already have the victory in Christ! There is darkness in this world but it has been overcome with Christ’s glorious light! This world is in desperate need of the love and hope that can only be found in Christ. We are called to be Christ to this world. We are the ones who are called to stand in the gap for the oppressed and brokenhearted. We are the ones called to be a voice to the voiceless. We need to fight for children like Ruth, who can’t fight for themselves. I believe that I am a part of a generation that hears the Lord’s call and obeys it. The injustices in this world are not ok, and something must be done to change them. I would like to say that during our next visit we rescued sweet Ruth out of her situation, but that is not the reality. However, our contact here now knows about her situation and will be checking on her every time she visits that slum. Hopefully by being a constant presence there, she can build up the trust of Ruth’s parents, to hopefully one day allow her to come live with our contact. I know that it wasn’t a coincidence that I saw Ruth, and I know that God has big plans for her life. I am humbled everyday that He allows me to be a part of His plan and that He works through me to bring change to this world. I encourage you to do something to show Christ’s love to this world. If that means going on a short term or long term mission trip, do it. If that means financially supporting a mission or missionaries, then do it. If that means working with the homeless in your city, then do it. If that means being a smiling face to those around you, then do it. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something to share the hope and love of our Lord with this world. I challenge you to step out in faith and do something that you normally wouldn’t do. Although my heart aches for this world, I have never felt more alive than I do right now. Just take that one step of faith and allow God to blow you away with His faithfulness!
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Some of the shacks in the slums, that are slowly collapsing as the river continues to erode the land beneath them.
When we first arrived to the slums we began handing out the bread and water that we brought with us. Before we knew it we were completely surrounded with children trying desperately to grab bread and water before we ran out. The mass chaos was a reminder to us all as to how desperate so many people in this world are for basic needs, such as food and clean water.
The beginning of the chaos as we handed out the bread and water.
(Photo taken by my teammate Cara)
After we handed out the last of the food and water, we performed a short children’s program, which was followed by some hang out time with the kids. As we all dispersed, my eyes were drawn to a little girl standing in the trash in the distance. She was leaning up against the stilts of one of the houses just watching all of us as we played with the kids. I felt the Lord prompting me to walk over to the little girl. I slowly began walking towards her to invite her to join the rest of the kids. As I approached, I could see bruises all over her chest and shoulders, which is not a normal place to get bruises. I put that in the back of my mind for the moment, and once I got close enough to the little girl, I waved her over. She hesitantly looked at me, so I stepped down into the trash and reached out my hand to help her up to where we all were.
She hesitantly grabbed a hold of my hand and I helped her up to where I was standing. Despite now being in the same area as the other kids, she still stood on the outskirts and watched. As I gazed into her eyes I saw no signs of life. They were the EMPTIEST eyes I have ever seen. There was no trace of life at all in her eyes. The more I stood with this sweet girl, the more I realized just how abused she is. I desperately wanted her to know that I cared about her, which is really hard to do when you don’t speak the language, so I gently started played with her hair. However, I quickly realized that she was standing completely still under my hands. It was as if she was tolerating me playing with her hair instead of it having the calming effect I intended. I realized that this child has probably been touched in so many different and inappropriate ways that any form of physical touch has a negative association for her, so I quickly stopped.
My teammate Tracy managed to catch a picture of me while I was playing with this sweet girl’s hair. You can almost see the discomfort by the way she is standing and holding her arms so still.
As I stood next to this sweet girl and observed her gazing at the other children, I saw her look off into the distance and then put on one of the most forced smiles I have ever seen. As I turned around to see what caused her to flash such a fake smile, my eyes met one of the creepiest men I have ever seen. By the way she looked at him and her reaction to him, I assume that this is the person abusing her, most likely her father. The smile she gave him when she saw him was an “I better look happy, so I don’t get the crap beat out of me later for looking sad� smile. As I continued to watch this man from a distance, I saw that he was slowly moving closer to where we were while keeping a very watchful eye on the girl at my side. He finally stopped about halfway between the other side of the slums and where we were. It was then that our contact let us know that we needed to be leaving. I quickly grabbed the one translator so I could at least ask the little girl her name and let her know that I care for her and will be praying for her. As the translator asked the little girl her name she very quietly answered her. I had a really hard time understanding what her name actually was but it started with an “R� and there was a “th� in it somewhere, so I decided that I would call her Ruth. Before I knew it, it was time to leave.
I will never forget sweet Ruth or her empty eyes.
