After more than 10 hr of travelling, we crossed the
Thai-Cambodia border by bus and foot, and arrived in Siem Reap. We were totally
spoiled by a really nice place to stay for two nights (we got a fantastic group
rate with a pre-existing relationship from a previous WR team).
It was a much
needed time of rest, sleep, and of course, our new squad leaders, Jory, Katie,
and Weston, and new team leaders in Tim, Matthew, and Celeste. All teams stayed
intact, save for one team whose one member was pulled to lead another team.
We also got to visit Angkor Wat, considered one of the 8th
Wonders of the World, and the biggest temple in the world. It’s where Angelina
Jolie filmed Tomb Raider. It’s fairly big, so it’s kinda hard to believe that it
was lost for a number of years.
I’m also aware of Khmer Rouge, and the Killing Fields-the biggest
genocide in recent human history, that ended no more than 10 years ago. There are
still mines in rural areas, many of which are still off limits, many people
with missing limbs, museum/schools depicting and explaining the horrible
tragedy that was one person’s way to “cleanse the nation.”
Our ministry in Cambodia is called Destiny Rescue, which
runs a school and a daycare. Students come from 3 separate slum villages (more
on this in the future), and they have sponsors (mostly in Oz) that provide
schooling, food, and medical care for the children.
anything from teaching material prep, fixing broken things (me), organizing a
LOT of stuff, and catching up on supporter’s updates (letters and pictures,
etc). Our ministry contact, Pat (a Kiwi) has graciously allowed us to stay at her house so that we can save money on lodging and travel to the ministry site! We’re the first WR team to come, so we’re hoping to set a great example for future teams to come. 🙂
