KCPC Ministry to Cambodia: Final Days

It’s early Sunday morning. We’re trying to be efficient and so I’m writing this on a word doc and will upload when we get internet access, so the post date might not say Sunday.

We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday and had lunch at a small café right around the corner from where we’re staying. For two nights we’re staying at an ICF housing unit which is ridiculously nice. A good refresher after the past two weeks, with clean showers, warm water, trash cans, and flushable toilet paper. Phnom Penh is markedly different from Siem Reap, although I had heard they were pretty similar. It actually reminds me a lot of a big Korean city. High risers here and there, large apartment units scattered amongst dirt filled streets and gutters. And the road rules here are crazy. Its basically the bigger car has the right of way and no traffic rules are in effect except to not hit another vehicle. Berkeley kids would die here. This was the first time we rode in a tuk-tuk, which is a carriage pulled by a motorcycle, and they do whatever they want. At least twice we were headed into oncoming traffic and at least several times in one ride you feel like you’re going to get side-swiped by cross traffic. However, up until now, we’ve been kept safe except for a small incident where we were caravanning and the 2nd tuk-tuk got so far behind that we lost them for a few minutes. Our accompanying missionary nearly had a heart attack. The group in the other tuk-tuk had no money or way of communicating to the driver, so if we had been completely separated it would have made a very interesting evening.

During our café visit we were met by a surprise guest, Sam Kang! His group has been staying here mostly in Phnom Penh working with the same organization Hyun Gu’s friend works at, so when Hyun Gu set up a time to meet, Sam came along. We were able to talk briefly and catch up on what he’s been doing here. It was especially nice for me, being able to see an old friend, and a fellow CM teacher (CM4L).

After the café we visited the S-21 prison, which used to be a high school and was later turned into a prison/internment camp during the Khmer Rouge period. Definitely a sobering experience; walking through the cells, seeing all the pictures of the prisoners, and reading about the people responsible. Its worth looking up, especially to see who had supported Khmer Rouge and even supplied them with weapons. Hopefully this reminder that still stands here keeps anything like this from happening again. I would think after the world wars and the holocaust something like this would be impossible, but just 30 years ago something as inhumane was allowed to happen. If you keep up with world news, one of the head officials of the camps was recently tried and charged, so this wasn’t something that happened outside of our time period. It’s happening now.

After the prison we had dinner at a place called Java. Esther had her usual vegetables, chocolate, and fruit. The rest of us had sandwiches, shakes, and smoothies. I had a chicken pesto sandwich that was way too salty, but maybe they think foreigners like their food that way. We headed back to our apartments for a time of sharing with missionary Boram and debriefed a little on how the past two weeks went. She gave her testimony and even though it was completely in Korean and I could only understand the gist of it, its still amazing to see how people around the world are coming together to do God’s work. There’s so much outside of KCPC that I feel we forget about sometimes. God is moving everywhere and through all kinds of people. The amount of work happening in Cambodia is almost overwhelming, but at the same time this country is in pretty dire conditions. Driving through Siem Reap, seeing the Tonle Sap lake, visiting some of the Kontrak Kid’s homes, its almost too much for me. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is. Part of it is seeing people live in such poverty, but I think that’s mostly the spoiled American side of me that’s used to living in a clean building with luxury utilities and gadgets but a large portion of the world doesn’t see these as necessary. The people here have gotten by with what they have and are either content with what they have or have given up on trying to change their environment. Maybe they don’t know or think their lives need to be changed, or maybe they’ve accepted the idea that change can’t happen. And who are we to say they do? Then I see the children. The lucky ones eat 2 meals a day, of rice and soup, that they probably prepared themselves on a small fire underneath their hut. The lucky ones have a shirt and pants to wear (for whatever reason we’ve seen just as many shirtless kids as pantless kids). The lucky ones have one parent that cares for him/her, instead of one parent that mistreats them or two that neglect them. Yes, there are those that are able to go to school, have clothes to wear, and some sort of a future to hope for. But I’m beginning to see that they are the exception and not the norm. There’s so much I wish I could write about and show you from what I’ve seen here in the past two weeks. The kids here are freaking adorable. For those that have been here, you know what I mean. They’re playful and joyful and energetic, as well as responsible and independent. Try to imagine a six year old boy riding an adult sized bike to school in America. Or a mom dropping off 4 children from one moped, and the kids jump off and on as if it were a car, and the ages range from 3 to 6. Sometimes they wear helmets, sometimes they don’t.

This is getting longer than I had wanted, and I keep thinking of things I want to or maybe should write about. There’s a balance between writing about the team members, what I’ve seen personally, and what’s going on around us from a missionary stand point. Of course I can’t fit it all and its something we all probably need practice in. But my point here isn’t to make people feel guilty or sad. These are just the realities of the world. There is suffering and poverty. Yet, at the same time, there is hope and love. God is doing His work throughout this country and I can see it through the teachers and missionaries here, as well as the BGU students and even some of the children that I’ve taught. The fruits of this work probably won’t be apparent for years down the road, but at least for now they’re learning skills and practical lessons like working together, looking after yourself and others, English (which to them really is a luxury), and the love of God. So, PTL. His will be done.

Kwan