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.”