Cambodia Update July 8th

Hi, it’s Becky again. Here are some highlights from last week:

We had over 70 children and adults in a house the size of my bedroom, built on poles over a putrid pond. The people begged us not to leave and come back and teach them more about the bible. It was extremely humbling realizing how many opportunities and resources we have to study and learn about anything we want, whereas they have hardly any.

We spent several of our afternoons and evenings at Dr. Moses Seth’s house helping him with his new web site. Our original goal was to correct any grammar errors in the English translation, but we spent quite a bit of time re-working the navigation and re-naming the titles on the links. Rick was frustrated that we didn’t have time to do a complete re-design from scratch, but Moses was eager to launch the site before his web designer expired and moved to a different project. The original AIM site, www.aim4asia.org, is centered on their work with child sex trafficking, while Moses’ new site (www.aim4asia.net), which may not be posted yet, is more comprehensive, and includes their church planting and media publication efforts.

We also had the opportunity to be a part of two more rice distributions with the team from Bayside Church of Rockland, CA. One area was where we had our wild V.B.S at Sway Pak. The kids at Sway Pak and the girls and counselors who came from the ARC were so excited to see us. They keep hanging from us, shouting “Hello”, high five-ing us and singing the songs we had taught them. The Bayside team got excited and later asked us how to relate to the Cambodian people better, so we got to inflict on them all of our expertise from three weeks in the country..

The power of candy and a soccer ball! If you need to stop a toddler from screaming so you can tell a story, pop a candy in their mouth. If you want to acknowledge a grandparent or parent and their child, give everyone a piece of candy. If you want to show love to an entire village with no words—smile and pass out candy and coloring pages using a puppet or two. Start a game of soccer, and a fifty people will immediately get involved. Acknowledge each person in their own language: acceptance and love can be expressed without too many words. Of course, it is sweaty and dirty, and you will watch all your crayons walk away. You’ll want to say and give so much more, but it is impossible. And, you are extremely grateful to get back into your air conditioned truck and drive back to a clean hotel, shower and have a meal. While they are left with a bag of rice that will save them from starvation, a candy wrapper, and possibly some hope that they are loved and not forgotten by God.

On Saturday, we finally went to see the Killing Fields Museum, and visited our translator’s home to see his wife and new baby boy. The killing fields were actually very small, at probably less than 20 acres, but could contain all 22,000 victims of the Tuol Sleng (S-21) torture prison in its mass graves. Moses’ father-in-law was one of these victims, so we purchased a flower, and laid it in front of the memorial. The central memorial contains skulls from the excavated mass graves, and is stacked about 8 feet square and 4 stories high with skulls. It was a very sobering experience; when you walk through the paths between the grave sites, you have to be careful not to step on bones and clothing that have been pushed up by the rains.

On the other side of the emotional spectrum, we were able to visit our translator, Kimsua, and his wife and new baby boy in their home. We always find that you learn the most about a culture by visiting their home, so we purchased the traditional gift of fruit, as well as a baby gift, and visited them in their little concrete and brick house. They live simply, but happily, in a 2-story house of about 500 square feet tucked back in a maze of muddy trails through other homes. We got to tickle their new son Isaac, and they fed us a sort of jelly made from mangoes and sticky rice wrapped in leaves.

We are on our last week of V.B.S. The logistics and adjustment to Siem Reap, a city six hours of bumpy driving north, the new hotel, and the new interpreter have been exhausting. We have had over 60 kids and helpers in a much better organized and, by Cambodian standards, wealthier church. We have also had some conflicts to overcome.

The five churches involved this week have priorities and expectations much different from ours: we want to include as many kids as possible including the neighborhood children, they do not; we don’t care if all the children sit in chairs or care if they are extremely quiet and obedient; or if the sound system works and the lunch is huge and gourmet—we enjoy controlled chaos! We want them standing, singing, moving and laughing loudly. We want active listening, but crafts put together while they sprawl all over the floor. The Cambodians don’t quite know how to let us do the program. They want us to pay for everything and then keep it very controlled and tomb-like. Conflict resolution is hard enough when we all speak the same language. It is extremely difficult and even more frustrating when our interpreter is young and not precise.

Slowly, the leaders are relaxing a bit as they have watched us teach a whole day. Now, they lead songs in Khmer and then we teach them some in English. Sometimes it has gotten a bit out of hand with no clear leader when our interpreter decides to play the drums instead of help interpret the songs. However, I always like to include their leaders and let the older kids participate upfront as much as possible. It is confusing not speaking their language and trying to lead a large group, but it is worth the confusion so more can be involved.

We felt like we’d barely made an impact at Rahab’s house, yet when they opened the church the following Sunday, people from the neighborhood flooded in. Despite our frustrations with the leadership at this week’s church, we’re sure the children are absorbing a lot, and the leaders are learning how to host a Vacation Bible School. We’re looking forward to finding out what other ways God will use our efforts this week; just keep us in prayer as we struggle through our conflict resolution with the added language and cultural barriers..

Becky