My Heart Breaks

                Early
in our ministry, I got a chance to walk to a nearby slum village, looking for children who should’ve been in school, but weren’t. I was told that the
kids tend to skip, b/c they were used to sleeping in, and being unsupervised.
Some of them have never been to school, so they don’t like feeling stupid b/c
they can’t read or write and others do. What I saw at the village (that’s a
very polite way of saying it), hit me like a brick wall. It was the worst
living conditions I’ve seen anywhere, including World Vision commercials on TV.

First there is the poverty. This “village” is a system
of poles and platforms and boards, all raised about 3-6 feet off the ground
that is the sewage water. During the rainy season, this water rises. When it
does, so does fecal matter, garbage, and the disease-carrying mosquitoes. I
don’t want to forget to mention the foul stench.

The home owners require rent in
full each time, or you get charged 10% interest. You’re not allowed to pay by day, or week. And when you live poverty, you simply cannot afford to save up
money. When you can’t pay the rent in full, 10% interest is added to the following month’s rent. Eventually, you’re forced to leave. (I believe that
Cambodia is under a large facelift, especially of its capital, Phnom Penh, and
this is a very indirect way to push the impoverished out of the city.) The
walls and roof are rusted corrugated metal sheets, and the “streets” are full
of cracks and openings, constructed of whatever material is available over
flimsy poles that sway with each step that make you wonder just how many
children fall through each week. 

And my God, the children!! Most of the
kids in the village don’t have shoes. The dirt ground paved with rocks, broken glass,
metal, garbage, feces, construction debris, you name it. What you also see a lot on the ground are playing cards. Almost
everyone gambles–from parents, to young adults, to children. I’m talking about
7 yr olds. Whatever money they have, they gamble it. The most appalling fact
is that the adults and children gamble together! The kids pick up everything
the adults do: swearing, fighting, smoking, aggression, etc.

While most of the children are
sponsored to go to school, some are still more accustomed and like their “old”
lifestyle of sleeping in, no school, swimming in rivers, and gambling. Kids
that have worked in dump sites to make money, have already experienced
independence and an adult social life, all before the age of 10. When these
kids are brought to school, they have trouble adjusting, feel stupid compared
to those who are younger and literate.

Whether you’re eating at a
restaurant, or near a tourist attraction, it’s not uncommon to have people come
beg for money. Sometimes they’re someone with a physical disability. Sometimes
it’s a mother with two small children. It doesn’t matter who, it never fails to
break your heart. It always make you feel like crap.

 

You can see the kids and adults gambling together.