God put it on some of our hearts to teach this month, so we looked up volunteer teaching and found a school called Dolphin School of English in Kratie on the Work Away website. (workaway.info is where you can volunteer for free around the world and in return receive free food or housing) Unfortunately, to have access to the volunteer opportunities, one must have an account with Work Away that costs $30 to $40 and that is definitely not in our budget. We decided to look for the school on Facebook, and once we found their page, sent them a message asking if they needed volunteers for the next day.
Usually volunteer programs know a couple weeks in advance when they have new volunteers coming, so I doubted the English school had room for us. Surprisingly though, the English school said they hadn’t had “school” for their students for a week because they had no volunteers. They were delighted to hear we had 7 people wanting to come and teach their students. The owner even came to meet us in person to explain his program more and to invite us to stay in a home he has for $5.00 and provides 3 meals a day.
We prayed about it as a team, and then happily agreed to arrive the next day, Monday, and begin teaching that afternoon. As we walked around and discovered the small town we were staying in the first few days there, we stumbled upon another English school a few houses down on the same dirt road. We found out that the one down the road is called Dolphin School of English, and the one we were working with is called Kratie English School! Completely different schools, and we had originally researched Dolphin School of English. Ironically, the Dolphin School of English had no students in the past week and had volunteers. So, their situation was the exact opposite of Kratie English School. God obviously knew what He was doing in directing us to the right place.
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9
As we began teaching, one student in particular stood out to me. He is a monk named Phally, spoke the best English among his peers and was always so eager to learn more. Whenever we asked the class questions, he was the first to raise his hand and he always helped translate English and Khmer for the class when needed. I also would give him extra work to complete because he wanted to be challenged more.
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A few things about Monk culture:
- All Monks have shaved heads
- They wear orange, burnt red, or maroon garments that are loose and typically expose the right shoulder
- It is disrespectful to touch their heads, because they are seen as sacred
- They take 2 showers everyday
- They cannot snack, but can only eat full meals twice a day
- Monks cannot engage in any type of sports or dancing
- Monks can be addressed as “dom” meaning sir or master
- They cannot touch women
Since I am a woman, I couldn’t talk to him outside of school on a personal level. I could say “Hey, how are you?” to him casually in public, but anything more than that would seem inappropriate because of Monk culture. So I really didn’t try to get to know him much, until God put it on my heart a few days before we left to talk to him more often during class.
I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his peers by asking a lot of questions in the middle of teaching, so I sat down next to him (enough space to not touch) and passed him a note. Yes, I was passing notes just like in high school. We continued our conversation via notes for the remainder of class.
I asked him where he’s from, what he likes to do, if he’s enjoying the English classes, and about his family. Surprisingly, he said his younger brother, named Phalla, was sitting right behind us. I was shocked! I had assumed Phally was the only one in his family to pursue being a Monk for religious reasons, just like being a nun.
However, through our conversation, I learned that Phally and his brother Phalla became Monks because they wanted to learn English. Many children in Cambodia do not have the option to go to school, or even learn English, and so they both decided to become Monks to have an education. Their family was also struggling financially, so his younger brother became a Monk to receive two guaranteed meals a day.
“Don’t judge people for the choices they make when you don’t know the option they had to choose from.” – Unknown
I had reasoned in my mind that all practicing Monks chose this lifestyle because of religious reasons. And though some do choose to be a Monk due to religious reasons, every Monk has a story. And this same knowledge applies to everyone. Everyone has a story.
Many people assume that I am a Christian because I was raised in a Christian home, but that’s actually not true. Becoming a devout Christian was something I sought out on my own. My family has always claimed to be Christians, but we weren’t involved with church for many, many years. We stopped attending church when I was six or seven. Then when I reached high school, I began attending Wednesday night youth groups on my own, and eventually church on Sundays with my friends when I started to drive. Just last year, my parents’ decided to start attending church again. Their relationship with the Lord has grown tremendously and now they serve at Turning Point Church, are involved in a small group and attend service every Sunday.
So, what’s your story? I encourage you to share your story and especially the parts that may surprise people. And also take the time to ask people their story. Everyone has a story, and they all matter.
“All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions.” – Philip Pullman
