More from Cambodia...

--> Day 15, August 19^th:

Today was Laura's last day at the orphanage, she was a volunteer from Alabama. Since it was Laura's last night, the kids got permission to have a dance party. We didn't really know what to expect with that, but all the kids just gathered in the big dining room and played different genres of songs. Most were Khmer songs and they were teaching us the different dance steps. I thought we would just dance a little and then it would be done, but the kids danced for over two hours! They were just dancing, singing, and laughing the whole time. We were all soaked in sweat because the room got so hot, but we had so much fun dancing together!

Dance party!

All sweaty:)

Trying to learn the dance steps

Group photo for Laura's last day

Day 16, August 20^th:

Laura's flight was out of Siem Reap in Northern Cambodia, and the orphanage is in Takeo Province in Southern Cambodia. Kit had talked to us before about taking advantage of it and explore Cambodia by taking her up to the city a little early. So the four of us volunteers, Kit, and one of the boys, Yong, all left Monday morning for Siem Reap, spending the first night in Phnom Penh. We spent the first day visiting the site of Tuol Sleng and one of the many memorials for the killing fields on our way to Phnom Penh.

Tuol Sleng was a high school that was used by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge as a torture prison during the war and genocide back in the 1970's. If you do not know much about the war I highly suggest looking it up, sadly I did not know anything about this way prior to coming here. This war was between Cambodia's own people, Pol Pot wanted to turn Cambodia into an extreme Communist country and he led an army of Cambodians known as the Khmer Rouge against Cambodia's government in a guerilla war which led to the mass murder of over a third of the Cambodian population. They now allow people to come visit the site of Tuol Sleng Prison and pay tribute to those that were held captive there, tortured, and then taken to the killing fields to be executed. It was so disheartening and sad to learn about the war that had gone on and how horrible the people were treated, it is unimaginable what these people had gone through and what the survivors endured. There are countless horror stories from survivors about what they had witnessed from the war. From the approximately 17,000 held prisoner and tortured at Tuol Sleng there were only seven known survivors, the rest were murdered at the prison or executed at the killing fields, a lot of which included women and children. At the school/prison they turned classrooms into cells and torture rooms.

The torture consisted of various methods some of which included electric shock, hanging, suffocation, starvation, being burned with searing hot metal instruments, rape, pulling out fingernails and pouring alcohol on them, beaten with different objects, and others. Once they had no use for them or needed room, they drove loads of the prisoners to sites now called killing fields and executed them. Some were executed by gun shot, others were beaten to death.

Afterwards we went to visit one of the local killing fields,the Killing Fields of Cheung Ek. We took an audio tour through the site which gave us a lot of gruesome information about the war and the killing fields. At the site they have dug up thousands of bones and clothes from those that were murdered, you can still see clothes and bones on the ground when you are walking as they keep surfacing when it rains. They have moved most of the bones that they found into a memorial building that they built, this building is very tall and is filled with skulls and various bones from those murdered. The whole experience was extremely saddening, disturbing, disheartening, and at times nauseating. The part that got to me the most was a tree at the site which had been used by the executioners to beat babies heads against to kill them.

The “prisoners” or those murdered during the war were those that opposed the Khmer Rouge, these were everyday civilians such as teachers, farmers, doctors, women, children, etc...Pol Pot wanted all those of intellect to be executed because he felt they were educated enough to know to oppose him and what he was trying to accomplish. He also wanted to kill their children because he didn't want anyone growing up wanting revenge. It saddens me to know how ruthless and loveless some people in our world can be such as Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. At this site thousands of civilians were executed.

We know that wars such as these must come to pass and are signs of the ends times. Jesus says in Matthew 25:6-8, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Tuol Sleng Prison

One of the classrooms which they turned into a interrogation room

This is where they would hang people by their feet until they passed out

Stupa at the killing fields which holds all the bones

Skulls held in the stupa

You can still see rags of clothes and bones surfacing where you are walking

This is the tree which they used to kill babies, so so sad.

Days 17-19, August 21-23^rd:

Tuesday morning we took a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. The ride, including stops, was about 7 hours. The ride was scenic, we were able to see a lot of the countryside. Most of the homes here in Cambodia are of poor conditions, those on the road nearing Siem Reap were the worst I have seen yet, many of the homes were little huts made from palm tree leaves and rice bags. The houses usually have large sheets of tin as the siding or the roof to keep out the rain, those made with palm tree leaves and rice bags do not keep out the rain. When it rains here, which is often, these homes are drenched and so are those that live in them. Some of the children here at the orphanage have experienced this themselves prior to living here, many of their families were so poor they lived in homes that did not keep out the rain. The kids said that they would just cry and cry when it would rain because everything would be so wet and they couldn't sleep, they said it was miserable. It is so sad to see that countless people here in Cambodia are still living in these conditions.

Once we got to Siem Reap we spent the rest of the day at the markets doing a little tourist shopping. The markets remind me of huge flea markets, people have their own little stands and they are selling goods such as shoes, jewelry, clothes, or souvenirs. Others are hairdressers, or many are selling food such as fish, vegetables, fruit, or other random oriental food. Before we headed back to the hotel we made a stop at a massage place, they had a tank of fish that nipped at your feet so Laura, Yong, and I tried it because it was only $1 for 20 minutes. It was a freaky experience that I never need to do again, but at least I can say I have had a fish foot massage:)

Fish foot massage!

The following day, which was Wednesday, we spent at Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a huge temple dated back to the 7^th or 8^th century, it was originated as a hinduism temple but was turned into a buddhist temple. In the area there are over 200 temples, Angkor Wat is the main attraction but there are many other temples to see. We saw 4-5 of the main temples in the area, the structure, build, and decor of the temples are very beautiful. It is amazing to see what they were able to build back then, without the use of computers or other advanced technology to help them. The intricate details on the walls were outstanding, some of the walls had carvings which told stories of wars. The building structure, the detailed carvings, and the surrounding nature of the huge trees was very intriguing. We even saw a carving of a dinosaur and these temples were centuries before the first known dinosaur remains were found, very interesting. We spent most of the day hiking in and around the temples, we also road an elephant around one of the temples.

Angkor Wat

Beautiful carvings

This entire wall depicted a war.

Monks at the temples

Ginny, Laura, and Yong on the elephant

This is the elephant I rode with another volunteer named Jessica

Dinosaur?!?

Yong, such a little model:)

After visiting the temples we spent a little more time shopping in the market area and then we went for a real foot massage. The massages here are so cheap, a 30 minute foot massage was only $3. We got Yong a foot massage too, it was so funny seeing him get a massage because he has never had one and will probably never have a chance to get one again.Yong is 16, around his friends here he is very out going but since he was the only one that came with us he was so shy and quite the whole time. In English class a few days prior to our trip we had asked Yong if he could pick anywhere in the world to go where would it be and he said Angkor Wat. Because of this we made a point to tell Kit so if we were able to bring anyone along we wanted to bring him and Kit allowed us. It is pretty safe to say though that we spoiled him the entire trip! We bought him meals, soda, ice cream, other desserts, a shirt, shoes, a bracelet, we had him try the fish massage, and got him a real foot massage. We of course wanted to take pictures of him everywhere, it was like paparazzi the whole trip. Ginny had also paid to take him on the elephant ride with us. Yong was so shy the whole time, but we had fun spoiling him like crazy and we know he enjoyed every minute of it! 

Yong and me

Foot massage!

Seeing the temples was a great experience, but over and over here we see numerous idols of Buddha. They pay so much homage to Buddha and their beliefs. Although they technically do not worship Buddha or a god, they bow down to idols of Buddhas. They believe in the power of man and that man alone can become a perfected being by their own doing, through following Buddha's beliefs they can achieve nirvana. Although they do not worship or have a false god, because Buddha's would say there is no god, they follow a false doctrine of self worth and righteousness and they commit idolatry with their Buddha statues and idolizing this state of well being, or achieving “nirvana”. This goes against what the Bible says, God tells us that our righteousness are as filthy rags and there are none righteous.

Buddha

Buddha

Oh another Buddha statue...

The Bible tells us again and again that idolatry is strictly prohibited by God and that we are to worship Him alone. He tells us that He is the one and only God, there is none like Him, there is none before or after Him, He alone is the one true living God. Exodus 20:3-5, “3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”Isaiah 44:6, “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”

Wednesday night Kit and Ginny took Laura to the airport for her flight home. The following morning we headed back home and got in late Thursday night. Friday and Saturday we spent hanging out and playing with the kids. Saturday evening Ginny, Jessica, and I had a girls night with Ream, we baked a cake and watched a movie with her. It was great getting a little time with Ream as we hadn't been able to spend much time with her. Ream is an amazing women, she has such a heart for serving the Lord and you can continually see the fruits of her labour. When she speaks about her country and what the people have endured you can see the conviction and hurt in her heart for her family and countrymen. Her love for her people here in Cambodia and for the children is so inspiring, she has given her life to the ministry of the orphanage and to helping the natives of Cambodia.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

The people here have endured so much and will be recovering from the war for years to come. But those that are believers such as Ream's family or will become believers are encouraged, God tells us in Isaiah 40:28-31, “28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Second week at A Greater Hope Orphanage

Day 8, August 12^th:

Sunday mornings all the kids and the staff members attend a local Christian church pastored by Ream Carson's father. The four of us volunteer girls; Ginny, Laura, Jessica, and I attended this morning, not knowing what to expect as the teaching is in Khmer (pronounced k'my). I felt so blessed going, although I have no idea what the pastor said, my Spirit at least was able to understand. The blessing though was the involvement of the kids here at the orphanage, as worship started I noticed that two of our girls were singing and one of our boys was playing the drums. I had no idea that the kids ran the worship at the church! I later found out that one of the other girls sings too so the three alternate two at a time. The worship was great and I recognized the tune of some of the songs as they are typical Calvary Chapel songs so I was able to sing along in English as they were singing in Khmer. When they took tithes and offerings a few of our kids got up and were the ushers for the offering, so the kids are the ushers, they are the majority of the congregation, and they make up most of the worship team at the church, so amazing!!

Seeing the children on the worship team and the other children in the congregation worship reminded me of Psalms 150:1-6,

“1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord”

After church I went into the village with two of the girls to get a couple items from the market, I love seeing the people, their homes, and their way of living by selling items right outside their home. It is so foreign from anything you would see in the United States, even those that are fairly well off would be considered living in poverty in America. After the market I headed back to the orphanage and the rest of the day was playtime.

There are 41 kids, a few local kids that come hangout frequently, and Kit and Ream's two sons. Between all the kids they are always doing something, some are playing cards, others are doing a puzzle, some might be playing board games, others flying kites, others will just be sitting and chatting, or some might be playing an activity such as frisbee, soccer, tag, etc...It is so fun getting to hangout with all the kids, getting to know their different personalities, and see them laugh and smile. They love playing with those that are here volunteering, you hear them trying to get our attention all the time, you always hear, “Laura Laura, or Jessica Jessica, or Ginny Ginny, or Alissa Alissa!!". It feels so amazing to be loved by them as much as we love them.

Today they pulled out pvc pipes and were acting like they were ninja swords or something. It was fun playing with them but some of those boys take it very seriously and are really good, they definitely like to show off their karate kicking and hitting skills. At times it is a little scary because they actually will kick and hit you hard, even the girls get pretty tough sometimes. Especially the youngest here Nygt, she is the toughest little girl I have seen! I find myself more and more playing stuff I never would have before such as sword fighting with pvc pipes, playing soccer barefoot, pretending to be ninjas and hitting and kicking each other, and other random games. The kids have a way of breaking you out of your shell and really make playing any activity with them so much fun because they always have the biggest smiles on their faces and have such contagious laughs.

The previous night I had given the girls a 1000 bead set that I brought for them and they had spent most of the day making jewelry with them, it was a bracelet making set but I kept seeing girls with bracelets, necklaces, rings, and earrings made from the beads. They are so creative here, even the boys know how to make intricate bracelets from string. It was great seeing all the girls wearing the jewelry they made, and of course they made stuff for the four of us girls.

Sunday nights the kids alternate who speaks for the Bible study, they have two children each week share something that the Lord has been speaking to them. Although the kids spoke in Khmer, it was so amazing to hear these children speaking about the Lord. One of the older girls spoke and one of the younger boys spoke, both were shy speaking but they sounded so sincere about what they were sharing from the Bible. The more I talk with the kids and share in the Bible studies with them, I realize how knowledgeable they are of the Bible. These kids have a huge thirst for knowledge and it is encouraging me in my own walk with the Lord.

In the Bible Christ talks about coming to Him as a child and those will be the greatest in the Kingdom, these children are helping me to desire to draw closer to Christ as an innocent child like them. In Matthew 18:4-5 Jesus talks about this subject, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me”. Again in Matthew 19:14, Jesus addresses this again, “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven”. 

Outside of the church

Church sanctuary

Village market

Some veggies at the market

A few of the girls with one of the staff members

Me with the youngest Nygt and the cook Mao's daughter Lisa

They love playing this game!

Nop and Manju hanging out in a tree

Rachana blinged out from bead jewelry she made

Sword fighting with pvc pipes

Days 9-12, August 13-16th:

First I want to gratefully thank those that have helped fund me on this mission trip, I have was able to bring soccer cleats, games, a luggage bag full of school supplies, and other various things for the kids. I also was able to give some funds to help take the kids on a beach vacation, they were well below their needed budget and between what us volunteers gave we were able to take the kids and give them an amazing and well deserved trip. Funds that I have gotten from donations have gone towards getting things for the kids, donating funds for their school, and donating funds to the orphanage to use for the beach vacation. So a big thank you from myself and the kids for those that gave financially and also to those that donated items that I brought!!

First thing Monday morning we all loaded up on a bus and headed to the beach at Rabbit Island for a little vacation for the next few days. We had Kit and his family, 34 of the kids, us four volunteers, and five staff members. Five of the kids stayed back as they were attending Bible camp in Phnom Penh and two kids stayed back for various reasons. I cannot even began to describe how blessed I was to be apart of this trip and to see the kids have so much fun!! First we had a nice bus take us to a place where we then had to load up into four different boats to the island, this was no pleasure cruise to say the least but it was quite the 20 minute adventure! Some of the kids were getting motion sickness on the bus and on the boat as they are not used to riding in vehicles. Once we arrived on the island we hiked about ¼ a mile to our bungalows on the island. This is when the fun really started.

The island was so beautiful and sleeping in the bungalows was an adventure in itself. Each bungalow had 3-4 people with one big bed, each had its own bathroom which consisted of a shower head and a toilet which was level with the floor and to “flush” it you just poured a bucket of water in the toilet but the water just ran down below your bungalow. The bungalows were not air conditioned so it was extremely hot at night but luckily we had mosquito netting because each day I found some new creepy critter in my bungalow and I would not have slept without the netting. The first day I found a huge spider in the bathroom, then we had a family of five huge lizards, we had random insects and bugs, and the last day some of the kids saw a snake in our bathroom but they would not tell me because they knew I would freakout since I did about the other creatures. But it was a great experience that I wouldn't change!!

My two roommates were Mangly and Saveoun, Saveoun is the only one going into 12^th grade so she will hopefully be heading off to college after this coming school year. We got really close after the beach as we were able to spend more time together, she is a bright and beautiful girl. Mangly is 9 years old and her older sister Mangju is here at the orphanage also. It was nice bunking with a couple of the kids as I was still learning about all of them, I was still learning their names, ages, their stories, etc...This trip definitely helped me to connect more with the kids and learn a lot about each of them.

Almost as soon as we got settled in our bungalows the kids had a quick lunch and then were already jumping into the water. These kids spent most of three full days in and out of that water, they were swimming, playing on a inner tube, playing with beach balls, and just jumping around splashing in the waves. I do not know how they had so much energy to stay out there for so long for three days but they did and had a blast!! I spent a few hours the first day in the water with them and got sooo sunburned, I went in again with them for a while the second day a few times, but was so burned out the third day I just couldn't get in the water but sure enough as soon as they finished breakfast around 730A they were back in the water! You just saw waves of little kids in bright orange and pink life vests in the water as most of them have never learned to swim.

The trip was so much fun, aside from swimming in the waves we tried to fish with homemade fishing poles, we had a night of roasting marshmallows and making smores, all the kids were looking for seashells, a lot of the kids were catching crabs that were running around, we had to look out for jellyfish as we saw huge ones on the sand, and a group of us went for an unplanned hike around the entire island which took about 3½ hours. We just started for a little walk and before you know it we were wading through water and hiking through the forest for over three hours before we made it back around. Some of the kids did not even have shoes on, they are so crazy being barefoot all the time. But it was a great adventure exploring the island and getting to see more of God's creation, the island is so beautiful.

The night that we made smores was very special, there was a couple that had walked by and the kids gave them a stick with marshmallows to roast and they gave the couple stuff to make smores with.

The couple were so thrilled and once they ate their smores the kids kept giving them more and more marshmallows. The couple kept trying to kindly decline after awhile but the kids were so insistent and they always say, “it's ok it's ok”, one of the boys basically kept putting the marshmallows on their sticks as soon as they were finished, it was so cute! Laura, one of the volunteers, had brought glow sticks for the kids and she gave them to the kids when we were around the fire and they LOVED them. As soon as one of the kids saw them she ran over and grabbed one orange and one pink one and went and gave them to the couple. The glowsticks were a big hit, for the next 20-30 minutes we were chasing each other around with them pretending they were swords, or the kids wore them as bracelets. They love everything here, even the most simple things entertain all the kids.

The kids here are so grateful and love sharing what they have with others, it was such a blessing to see them share with these people and the couple were so thrilled the whole time. I am constantly seeing the love of Christ in them being spread to others, they are so joyful and giving with what little they have. 1^st John 4:7-8 says, “7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love”. The kids are an exemplary example of God's love towards others, including each other.
 
The last night Kit and Ream had a special dinner planned for them, all the kids sat together and had crab, shrimp, rice, fish soup, and juice drinks that they like. The kids were so excited because they rarely get to eat like that. The kids were all dressed up for their nice dinner, it was so cute and the meal was delicious!

Thursday morning we finally headed back to shore via the boats which we had to wade through the water to even get to and then bused back to the orphanage. Once back everyone took a nice long much needed nap.

Ecclesiastes 5:18, “Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion”.

Some of the kids on a boat to the island

On our boat to the island

Rabbit Island

Hiking to our bungalows

Bathroom in our bungalow

Most bungalows had two rooms

Yong and Tee burying themselves

They love playing Blokus!

Having fun on the beach

Huge jellyfish!

Having fun in the water

Ready to go fishing

Kit's wife Ream, so beautiful

Roasting marshmallows at the campfire

Sambath and Menea pretending to be ninjas with their glowsticks

A seacucumber

Start of our long journey around the island

Ready to eat their special dinner:)

My roommates Saveoun and Mangly:)

Days 13-14, August 17th-18th:

Friday morning it was back to teaching English. I do not have any pics from Thursday afternoon-Sunday night because one the of kids accidentally erased the picture on my camera:(

Saturday morning started off with an unexpected Bible study with Ream, us four volunteers, and the lady staff members. We were not told beforehand but every Saturday morning they try to have a Bible study with the staff where a few of the ladies share something the Lord has been speaking to them about. It is so great to be in a surrounding where everyday there is a Bible study led by different people; Sunday morning is church, Sunday nights two of the kids lead the Bible study, Mon-Thurs one of the volunteers or staff leads the Bible study, Friday nights are Bible test, and Saturday nights there is not a study but we have a study with the staff in the morning. God tells us in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”.

Today was a lot of fun, we had been thinking of a prank to pull on the kids and since Sunday the 19^th was Laura's last day at the orphanage we wanted to do one before she went back home. They had the idea to throw water balloons at them so we had the kids gather on the lawn and told them we were taking a group photo for Laura. As the kids were all gathered and ready for the picture, Ginny and Laura went to the second floor of the house and started throwing water balloons at them! It was so funny to see them scatter but of course most of them thought it was fun and wanted to get wet so they kept trying to get hit by the balloons. Right after they threw the balloons at them Kit threw empty water balloons down and thus the biggest water fight they have had here started. For what seemed like an eternity there was water thrown EVERYWHERE. Kids were filling up buckets and dumping them on people, others were throwing water balloons, a couple kids got ahold of a hose and were spraying with that, and others would fill up their water balloons and not tie them so they could squirt them out and keep refilling. Needless to say we were all soaked to the bone, but everyone was laughing and had such a fun time!!

Psalm 118:24, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”.