Today, as I rode sidesaddle in a dress on the back of a moto down a rain- dampened dirt road, I began to reflect on my life in this new place. I began to recall my preconceived notions about moving to Cambodia, the strange things that have quickly become so normal and my motive for moving away from family and friends to begin life on the other side of the world. Some things are exactly as I imagined and then there are other things that surprise me on a regular basis.

For example, last night was one of the first big rains of the oncoming rainy season. The street we live on flooded entirely in less than an hour and my husband and I arrived home just in time to find that we had left our windows wide open for this sudden down pour. While so foreign and nothing like the 24 years I lived in the U.S., this scenario is roughly how I pictured it and now this will be part of my regular routine. On the other hand it I have felt sabotaged by my emotions in the midst of a totally western-feeling grocery store. Upon an unsuccessful search for black beans I found myself teary and moping in the middle of the canned-goods isle. What was the cause for such a reaction? The simple realization that I could not pick up the phone and call my dad to ask for help with food substitutions. I did not expect black beans to cause such an ordeal…or to be reduced to tears over something so entirely obvious.

Life in Cambodia has revealed the differences in many ideas I held and the reality of those things, including the reality of myself. Despite these many changes, I am reminded of a Constant and my purpose in choosing this life. As the scene before me on the dirt road this morning brought a smile to my lips, I felt myself come alive with the truth that I was made for this. I was made for a purpose and part of that purpose is to live right here, right now and serve. I will persevere when it is hard because there is One who has gone before me to pave the way and shown me what it means to persevere. I will rejoice every day in the fact that my joy is in Him and can be found nowhere else. No location or trial can change these truths and I am so indescribably thankful for this.

Catie Nelson

-Ciara

Below is a post we stole from the blog of one of the participants from our last trip.

As is the case with any sort of long trip in a moving vehicle, I am completely and utterly unable to sleep.  Despite my best efforts, for hours might I add, I have had little success in hopefully preventing whatever form of jet lag may be awaiting me in the United States.

So, rather than watch yet another movie or continue to drain my iPhone battery by playing meaningless games, I suppose it is time to do what I have admittedly been avoiding since leaving Cambodia this morning/yesterday afternoon/three days ago/whenever the heck it was.  You see, if I reflect upon my experience in Cambodia, then it truly means that it is over, and that I am not going to walk off the plane into sweltering heat to find the smiles of the Khmer people awaiting me…and I don’t want that to be true just yet.

I left America eleven days ago, hoping that my trip to Cambodia would be exciting, challenging, eye-opening, and a variety of other adjectives I suppose one would use when traveling across the world.   I left America with a list of preconceived notions of what would happen while I was there, how I would touch the lives of the people I interacted with, and how rewarding the trip would be.

Essentially what I am saying is that I left America thinking about one thing- me.  Now, let me be clear and say that I certainly went to Cambodia with the intent of helping, and thinking of others….but it was that kind of desire that comes out of your own desperate need for something that matters to happen in your life.  It isn’t wrong, necessarily, but I wanted to be clear about where I was.

What happened, however, is that my expectations were of course shattered almost immediately upon landing in Cambodia.  From the very second I stepped foot out of the airport, I knew that this was not to be a trip like anything I ever could have expected.  Perhaps it was the lack of sleep making me delusional, but it was as if that need I had felt within myself was quenched there-in that moment-outside the airport.  The humid Cambodian air wrapped itself around me, embracing me and filling me with the scent of tuk-tuk exhaust and coconuts, and the adventure began.

I won’t spend countless paragraphs rambling about the individual experiences, seeing as I have already done that in previous writings.  However, a couple of experiences do need to be further expounded upon.  The first of these was visiting the Hope Children’s Home in Phnom Penh.  I know that I discussed it previously, but the weight that I felt slam into my chest the moment I saw those children was almost tangible.  It was as though, in that moment, I suddenly saw need, brokenness, and poverty perfectly blended with pure, childlike joy….all in one place.

More than that, I knew that after seeing those children, I could no longer live my life ignorant to the fact that those children existed.  Even now, as I soar through the air a million miles away, I am responsible for helping them-somehow.  As humans, we forget this.  We go, we visit, we see, we experience, we cry….and then we forget.  I can’t forget, though…I won’t.  I can’t dislodge those beautiful faces from my brain, nor can I forget the love that flowed through their tiny hands and arms as we played games and laughed.  By meeting them, I will choose to become a part of the solution by choosing to act, or a part of the problem by continuing to ignore their existence as most of the world does.

The second experience that stands out from the trip was our visit to Andong.  When Jake Stum showed me the video for the Build A City campaign, I knew that I was meant to go on the trip to Cambodia. The visit to Andong, during which I walked the same streets I had seen in the video, was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.  This village lives in poverty that I can’t begin to describe, and that my pictures can’t begin to fully illustrate.  Yet, just as with every place we visited, the people greeted us with smiles and even attempted to greet us with food.  When I commented on this, it was explained to me that the village used to be a quiet, unfriendly place-especially toward Americans.  What People for Care & Learning has been able to do, however, is to show the people the tangible, physical love of God.  This organization is meeting the needs of the people in Andong-and all over Cambodia-and are therefore changing the culture forever.

This brings me to perhaps the most important part of the reflection, in my opinion (which is really the only one that matters considering I am the one writing this.)  What I was most impressed by on this amazing trip was not Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Phnom Phen, or any one place or thing….it was the staff, volunteers, and Khmer partners of People for Care & Learning.

In Phnom Penh, I saw Bien, Thida, Rose, Savet, Faye, Thida and others sacrificing daily comforts in order to change the lives of the poor, impoverished, orphaned, and desperate Khmer people.  In Siem Reap I met Julie Martinez and her two incredible children, who have dedicated their lives to changing the world and are doing so beautifully.  I met Matt Bohlman, who may be the most humble, intelligent, and dedicated person I have encountered in my 27 years of life.  I got to share stories, laughter, and life lessons with the PCL volunteers-Rachel, Amy, Abby, Catie, Matt, Ciara, Ryan, Stephen, Ryan- all of whom are living a dream that I have never been brave enough to embrace.  To each of you- thank you. Thank you, for ACTUALLY doing what the church is supposed to do, and for being brave enough to live a better story, and for changing the world.  Your efforts, sacrifice, and passion do not go unnoticed.

Last, but certainly not least, were the 7 other people who took this journey with me.  Jake Stum…you have more street cred than I ever would have known…and I want to be you when I grow up.  You are an incredible man, leader, and friend.  Jody, Randy, Scott, and Roger- thank you for teaching me what it means to be truly successful, truly generous, and for being great examples of men and women of faith.  Jay & Kyle, or should I say Samurai and K-Nasty, you are both incredible men and I am so glad to have been able to share this experience with you.  I pray that as we each get back to America, and carry on with our daily lives, we each find ways to give back to the people and causes we became aware of this week, and that we are never guilty of forgetting.

Until the next adventure, I will continue to live a better story, and will never forget Cambodia, the Khmer people, or any of the amazing ways my life is now and forever altered.

In case you are wondering what a tuk tuk is… I’ll explain it to you. Imagine for a moment a carriage, but smaller and closer to the ground, instead of being boxed in by doors and wooden panels it’s open aired with only minimal supports for the roof and without any kind of safety features. Instead of four wheels there are only two, and instead of a horse pulling at the reins it’s a motorbike- A really small motorbike usually. But it is the preferred method of transit for most tourists, and so there are hundreds of tuk tuk drivers throughout the city always asking if you need a ride or offering to take you to the temples tomorrow….

There may be hundreds of tuk tuk drivers, maybe even thousands, but it only takes one to make me feel welcomed into Siem Reap every morning. I for one think that we should all find our own personal “Cambodian tuk tuk driver.” That one thing that you can look forward to every day that makes your current residence feel like home regardless of where that might be… Find the one thing that can start your day off right and cling to it…

Good luck finding your “Cambodian tuk tuk driver!”

Ryan

Our first order of business was meeting everyone and getting lined up for the learning center. This is to be the flagship of Siem Reap PCL eventually and our team of volunteer staff, which includes me, will be focusing mainly on beefing up both the curriculum and reputation of the school this year. I am very excited to work with these people. We also hope to write a handbook of guidelines for the school while we are at it! I also was allowed to teach on Psalms 9 in the Khmer church and  share of God’s worthiness of praise… and I was able to teach again at the youth group Valentine’s party at the PCL Children’s Home!

In Phnom Penh we attended the groundbreaking ceremony for our new Build a City project. If you have not heard of this yet you can visit the website at buildacity.org and see amazing videos and graphs and illustrations explaining this far reaching project to build an entire city for the destitute village of Andong. This project is vast and gutsy and I am so proud to be a part of it. Please visit the website and share it with others. This is a picture of some of the PCL staff along with Jeff and Jordan from Big Brother and The Amazing Race!

Now we are back in Siem Reap and our week and weekend is chock full of curriculum meetings and Khmer language lessons before the start of classes on Monday. I am excited to start teaching English to my students after all this preparation! Thank you so much for your support both in prayer and finances that have allowed me to be here. You are my team and I could not be doing this without you!

God Bless,
Stephen DeLoach

This is the journey of a woman born into poverty. The story of a woman who has had extremely limited opportunities—educationally, socially, economically, and any other ly word you can think of. This tells the tale of a woman whose marriage was arranged by her parents to an older man who did not love her. She had two children by this man. Her life was continuing down a very normal Cambodian trajectory—when it took a turn for the worse. She developed a tumor—a disfiguring facial tumor.
At first she went to a local hospital and they tied her down with rope. She was given no anesthesia and the doctors operated on her tumor and removed it. Unfortunately, after enduring that horror—the tumor came back. It was fast growing and aggressive. Quicker than you could say tumor—her husband abandoned her and took the oldest boy. And so began Sapoon’s journey as a pariah. No money—no resources—only scorn and pain and the sole responsibility for her little boy plus sprinkle a great amount of fear.

She heard about another man, Anyu, who also had a facial tumor and who had received help from our organization. She came to PCL to see if we could help her, also. This was a year ago. I sent her to the same hospital that I sent Anyu to. They diagnosed her with a cancer—a sarcoma. They said there was no hope and that it was inoperable.
I told Sapoon what the doctors had said and that they had given her a year to live. I promised her that we would be her family and that we would help take care of her and walk with her through this year. We built her a house close to the children’s home and we have fed her and provided her medical care when she needed it. Fairly often I would go and visit her and sit with her and Makara (her son) and tell her stories and answer her questions about America or she would ask me things like—would I ever marry a Cambodia man—you know–Girl talk.

As you can imagine, I have come to love her very much–not because she is needy, but because she is sweet and smart and strong. She has tenaciously clung to hope and possesses a fierce determination to live. She is one tough cookie and I admire her.
A couple of months ago she pressed me to take her to a different hospital in Phnom Penh. She wanted to try something else. I had my doubts about the wisdom of sending her on a long trip only to be told what we already knew. Well, she wasn’t told what we already knew. After several visits back and forth they determined that she doesn’t have cancer. It turns out that she was misdiagnosed. It turns out that the first doctors made a mistake—a huge one. It turns out she might make it.
So now we wait for June—we wait for a medical team that will do the surgery. The surgery is very difficult and poses some risks, but Sapoon wants the surgery and accepts the risks. Sapoon still has pain—still has a hard time eating because the tumor obstructs her passageways—she still has fear, but most importantly, she still has hope.

posted by Julie Martinez

If you would like to help with the Medical costs for Sapoon, we would greatly appreciate it.  With the surgery needed, the recovery time, the previous scans and doctor visits along with care for her and her young child our total so far needed is $1500.  Please click on the giving links below and also leave us a comment if you will… we really appreciate anything you can do to help Sapoon during this horrific journey.

This is our “bike gang”!  These gals were all headed home the other day and I couldn’t help but take a snapshot of their pleasing smiles and matching helmets.  Their countenances are always so beautiful and I must say, watching them ride off together assured me in knowing there is power in numbers!

Haven’t you always wanted a real ice cream sandwich?  Well at our “welcome ceremony”… that is exactly what we got.  The children love these ice cold treats and although I had high hopes considering I adore ice cream… it was not the regular vanilla I was used to.  It was more along the lines of onions… but it’s the thought that counts, right?!

The children performed a dance for us in their matching outfits and the vibrant colors definitely speak excitement! The beautiful pink and blue stand out and I specifically love their headwear.

I. Love. This. Picture.
In the midst of tutoring the little ones for an hour and a half today… I decided we needed to take a break (because that’s a loooooooong time in kid world) and snap a few photos.  And my smile is about as real as it gets.  Lah surprised kissed me on the cheek and I could barely contain myself.

Posted by: Abby

My name is Abby and I just moved to Cambodia in January.  I plan to stay for two years and assist in whatever areas I can, specifically whatever revolves around education!  I graduated from Lee University in 2005 with an Elementary Education degree and went on to earn my masters degree in Educational Leadership from Trevecca Nazarene in 2007.  After 6 1/2 years of teaching in The States, I’m happy to be in Cambodia!

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This picture is worth a thousand words! Upon leaving my school in Cleveland, that I taught at for 4 1/2 years, I received an iPad2 as a going away gift. A WONDERFUL and THOUGHTFUL gift!

This iPad has allowed me to teach the children from the Children’s home by using wonderful reading, writing, and spelling apps as to which most are free. It’s amazing all the things the iPad helps you do. It is one of the only technological tools I have here (unless you count a cd player?) and the kids love it. We read books… we play word games… we sound out letters… and even trace words and the alphabet. Not to mention it is capable of so many other things that help me in my every day life. And isn’t her little braid and bow just the cutest thing?

Posted by: Abby