Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Tractor Ride to the Khmer Village

A visit to the Khmer Rouge Village




What an adventure today was.  We visited the Khmer rouge village. They live in great poverty, quite isolated from everyone else.  The road to the village was washed out in one section and they were trying to fix it. They kept saying half an hour but an hour after we got there we decided to walk over the flooded part of the road and catch a tractor.  The sun was beating down the entire bump ridden ride there.  Being pregnant the bumps brought on an urgent need to pee; however I soon put this out of mind as my two options seemed to be: 1.pee in full view of everyone or 2.cross the Danger Landmines Sign.  Talk about a reality check.. Anyway I choose option number 3. Sweat it out.  The temperature today is in the high 30’s as it has been the entire time here in Poipet.
            When we got to the village there was no one there.  We had taken so long to get there they had gone back to work in the fields.  We waited for someone to gather the children and wiped some of the dust off of our sweating faces.  When the children arrived we told them stories about Jesus and played some games with them.  We had taken lots of gifts…bracelets, toy rings, candy, dolls…the children loved it all.  When I was handing out some hair ties to the mothers they could not grab them fast enough, and they accepted the little bottles of shampoo and lotion that I had as if they were pure gold.  It was wonderful to be able to be with them and to share with them. Everything would have been so much easier however if we did not need a translator and could actually speak the language.  Not that they seemed to care. They were happy to hug us and to play our games.  They are a very friendly people.  They have beautiful smiles.

 These are the necklaces and handbag that Rachel asked me to give to the children

            On the way back we had some left over balloons and candy and as our tractor rode by the shacks/homes on the road we had blown up balloons and we threw them to the people.  It wasn’t the children who came running it was the men.  They were grinning cheek to cheek  chasing those balloons and all the children giggled when we threw them their candy.  It would be so amazing to hand out something like Christmas baskets in this village.  The need is so great and the people so lovely and grateful.
            I’m not sure if you heard or not but there was an accident in Phnom Penn two days ago.  I told you there was a huge boat festival going on. Well during one of the celebrations 10 people passed out on a bridge (perhaps they were electrocuted).  Someone panicked and yelled the bridge is falling, or something along those lines, and the people panicked and stampeded.  379 were killed and another 300 are injured some of them are still in critical condition.  I don’t know exactly what happened but somehow many of them were electrocuted by the lights hanging overhead.  This morning all of the churches of Cambodia are gathering to pray for the people and all the businesses are closed until noon.  We are on our way to the CHO (Cambodia hope organization) head office.  They meet every morning to pray before beginning work.  This morning they will pray for those in Phonom Penh and we will join them.
            I will talk to you soon I hope……miss you all......forgot to tell you about school on amt the other day


School on a Mat

CHO and other organizations are training up teachers to provide children with school on a mat.  After driving down the very dusty, very bumpy dirt roads found all over Cambodia (I can’t imagine what they would be like in the rainy season) seemingly in the middle of nowhere you find the greatest little school.  The school we visited had 24 students. The teachers teach all the regular subjects but they also educate the children about sex trafficking and how to avoid sex traffickers.  We had a lot of fun visiting these children it was a delight to see their friendly, smiley faces and they were all so full of hope.  We asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up and we got all the typical answers hairdressers, teachers, doctors , and pilots. This is amazing if you consider that these children are growing up in a society that has lacked teachers , doctors and pilots…..

2 comments:

  1. Paula,

    I'm so proud of you and I am praying for you while you're there. I look forward to hearing how we can help once you return.

    God Bless
    David

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  2. We miss you Paula:) It seems like you're having quite the experience! We're praying for you and hoping that God will continue to open our eyes thru you. We hope that you're feeling well, no more morning sickness and that you stay healthy.
    Elyssa's growing like crazy and keeping us busy, to say the least.
    Can hardly wait to see more pictures and hear more of your story.
    Love you, Keith & Charlene

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