I'm not even sure where to start, so I will try at the beginning. Last October, Andy and I decided that for financial and logistic reasons, I should take Grace and Emma on our church's family missions trip to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, instead of all of us going. We have been hearing from friends about this trip for years, and we were eager to check it out. It was also a great opportunity for some mother/daughter bonding with the older girls.
We arrived in Cambodia around 10:30am. Then we had to go through Passport Control, which took 2 hours. This is where we faced Cambodia's corruption for the first time. We each had to pay for a tourist visa, but found that for all the children under 12, they had to get in a different line. There was also a different fee...instead of $30, it was $10. Then we waited for our passports to be done...we all crowded around a desk, waiting for them to call out our names. When we heard our name, we rushed to the front, paid our fee, and collected our passport. This is a bit sketchy since they take our passports for awhile as they added the visa. We also collected a receipt for the church. When we went back to get a receipt for the kids, they told us that we didn't give them a picture. When we had assured them we had, they smiled, chuckled and gave us back our money instead of giving us a receipt. So, essentially tourist visas for children under 12 are free...unless you don't have a picture...but that info was never volunteered.
From there, we went directly to a restaurant that is run by a friend of our church. He came to Cambodia to serve those women who have been trafficked...teaching them skills in the restaurant business as well as giving them a job. Sugar and Spice was a wonderful restaurant with great food!!!
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| Eating at Sugar and Spice |
Then, we dropped our things off at the hotel we were staying, and boarded the bus to go to the Learning Village to learn about Cambodian culture. We learned about dress, reading and writing, religion, time in the province (countryside), and words used to address others. It was a great way to start out our trip and gave us a wonderful overview of Cambodian culture.
Finally, we had a chance to go back to the hotel to shower before going out to dinner at yet another restaurant that helps those who have come out of trafficking...another great meal.
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| Taking a Tuk Tuk to our restaurant |
Having been to the Philippines on a few occasions, we had some realistic expectations of what this was going to look like/ smell like/ feel like. But unlike the Philippines, where we did different things with one missions organization such as construction, feedings, and playing with kids in the orphanage, we spent most of our time with the same kids from the slums...three days at a center called Joy of Cambodia or JJ Center (Jehovah Jirah) and a day at Children At Risk. Both these centers serve children who live in the slums and whose parents are often spending their days on the landfill looking for recyclables to resell. At the JJ Center, we were broken up into our families, and then assigned several of the center's kids...creating our own family for the week. And in line with "fruits of the Spirit," we were given fruit names...ours being Papaya:) This was our day on Tuesday. We got there in the morning, did a program with the kids, ate lunch with them that was brought in, and then most of those kids went to school, while another group of kids who went to school in the am came to the center in the afternoon. Then we did the same program for them. These children were amazing...they smiled and most of them were open to hugs and help coloring. One of the things that amazed me was how well behaved they were...as we were presenting, and even as they waited for their food. Food was placed in front of them and they didn't touch it until everyone had some and we prayed. These are children who haven't eaten.
This was a long day, and we sat on a hard floor most of the day. We left around 4pm, went back to the hotel to shower and change, then went to a close-by pizzeria that was better than any pizza in HK...delicious!!!
On Wednesday, we went back to the JJ Center and picked the kids up to take them to Kid City, an amazing indoor place for playing all kinds of things. Most of the kids would have been satisfied with just the bus ride, having never done that before. But we got there and had a BLAST...playing laser tag, climbing wall, go carts, and an indoor playground for the little kids. Then we all ate Burger King together before our group left and they stayed to finish out the afternoon.
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| Our Papaya Family |
That afternoon, our group was given the choice of a few "field trips" ... the Russian Market, S-21, which is a genocide prison from the days of the Khmer Rouge, or another memorial of the Killing Fields. Grace went with some friends to the Russian Market while Emma and I went to the Killing Fields. Both of us enjoy history, and we wanted to know more about Cambodia. This was probably the most emotional and intense afternoon we had...learning about Cambodia's Holocaust. It also explained a lot about the widespread government corruption and the mindsets that families have towards trafficking their own children.
The next day, we went to another children's center called Children at Risk, run by friends of our church. We were able to run most of our program to these children, but in the afternoon, two of our couples led a bible study for the adults of the slum this center ministers to...and it was well attended. One funny thing about this center is that we met a couple from Lancaster, PA who was there on their own simply serving. At the end of this day, we went to a pretty famous restaurant and had the opportunity to hold and then eat a tarantula. My girls were rock stars...doing both, much to my dismay. Not to be outdone, I let Emma place the spider on my hand, then at a fried let, doused in sauce and atop a cucumber. Check that on off my list...once and done.
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| Caroline from Lancaster, PA |
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| Eating lunch with the kids at Children at Risk |
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| Bible in Khmer language...official language of Cambodia |
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| Emma holds the tarantula |
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| Grace's turn to hold the tarantula |
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| Eating a tarantula leg |
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| Emma eating a tarantula |
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| Grace eating tarantula |
Finally, on Friday we went back to the JJ Center to have a big birthday with our family kids and to play games with them. These kids stole our hearts, and the only thing that was hard for me about that day, besides leaving them, was that our sweet little girl was not there on Friday...we were told her family moved out to the province. I hope that was true, because unfortunately there are many other possibilities. The kids had a wonderful time...but through out our experience, we were blessed more than they were.
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| Some of our sweet boys |
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| Our Papaya Family |
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| Playing dizzy bat with the kids |
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| These girls did a "Welcome Dance" for us |
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| Emma was "dizzy" |
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| Our Papaya Family cake |
We got home to Hong Kong that night after 10:30pm...Andy was waiting for us. It was SO good to be home and hug him and the other three that I missed so much. This post is the simple one to write...just telling about the logistics and recording the events. I will write another one on some things I have processed and learned from our trip...but that will take days. Until then, enjoy the pics...we treasure them:)
