Phnom Penh has such a beautiful skyline. Especially at sunrise when the buildings are just black silhouettes backed by oranges and reds, or at night when the sky is lit up by lightning strikes, even in the day with the sound of motos and tuk tuks beeping horns in the manic city traffic. This city reflects its people. They are some of the most beautiful hearted people I have ever met. Straight away it was obvious from the moment we walked through the Elim centre where they were friendly and so grateful for all that was given towards the early learning centre. The Wednesday night prayer meeting showed the community and love for one another and they all enjoyed a good laugh guessing the ages of our team members who were interviewed. Thursday we went to the Happy Kids Club which is in a village about one hour and a small canoe-log ferry boat away. As soon as we arrived the children screamed a welcome. I think we fell in love with the place in that moment. We loved dancing and singing with them, playing games, creating crafts, and sharing stories which they were involved in through voices and actions. But the moment that touched my heart the most and that I will forever remember was seeing them worship. Eyes closed, doing actions throughout they sang both in Khmer and English ‘God is good to me Hallelujah’ with such passion. Here there were children who don’t have much at all by our western world standards, some with clothes that were ripped and dirty, small bare houses. Yet this was not something to pity at all in fact it was a challenge. Sometimes we struggle to worship God just because we don’t feel like it or life feels too hard yet through it all we should be able to sing ‘God is good to me’ and mean it! Challenge accepted. I was also blown away by the Sunday Morning worship. Their hearts obvious though everything in how they praised and worshipped! We could see how they had been so blessed by the worship teaching the week before. It struck me when we were worshipping to ‘let it reign’ how you would think that with them singing in Khmer and us singing in English it would clash somehow but there was such unity in the sound! Which really rounds up our week. We didn’t feel like we had come and were somehow separate; we felt that we became a community alongside them. We will be taking the people, the country and the impact left with us back to our churches and our lives – Lydia.
sunset over Phnom Penh
Heart touching moment
Come and see for yourself
Amazing team, people and community spirit
Mad traffic and crazy roads
‘Be Free’ giving hope to young girls,
Orphans, widows and the vulnerable
Davey and Esther – a remarkable couple
In the care and strength of Jesus
A love which will not fade – Steve.
On the ferry
Happy Kids Club
Visiting Cambodia for the first time was a humbling, inspirational and am emotional experience. The common love and warmth of the Khmer and team Guernsey gave us an instant bond. Learning from each other, sharing and worshiping in our own language acknowledging that God in one voice was awesome.
From our initial greeting of the children singing to us on arrival, to meeting the women in Be Free, praying in unison at the prayer meeting, spending time with the CFC children and Youth. Every experience had an impact and a story that I will be sharing with others. It was lovely to see the play area completed and the pleasure of how much it meant to all the people at the centre. So little from us can go so far and mean the world to others. It gives them experiences and opportunities they could only dream of and ask for in prayer.
I felt a week was really not long enough given the opportunity to go again I would certainly jump at the chance. I would like to thank the team for being so amazing and to David and Esther for your support and encouragement whilst I was with you in Cambodia – Debbie.
the blank canvas
Team get to work
From the moment we stepped off the plane to no luggage, we cried, laughed, sweated, left our comfort zones, and had our eyes opened to a whole new culture. Although Cambodia’s past is one of pain and brokenness from the rule of Pol Pot in the 70s, the Khmer people are amongst the most gracious people I have ever met. Walking through Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields left us dazed and yet we left with a deeper compassion and understanding for the older generation who have lived through the horrors, and for the younger generations who will hear the unbearable stories from their parents and grandparents. From learning about that horror of the past, to learning more about the present horrors of trafficking and exploitation, our hearts broke for the people who have gone through and are going through unspeakable tragedy. In light of this, every day was a constant reminder that although there is darkness and evil in this world, there is also light, truth and hope which ultimately overcomes. Whilst spending time in She Rescue, we watched two videos. One showed us the reality of trafficking in Phnom Penh, and the tears flowed as we saw innocent children being sold. The second video showed us the work that She Rescue do in restoring the lives of those rescued, and the tears flowed even more to see that there is hope in the darkest of situations. Seeing children having their right to a childhood being restored was incredibly precious, and the quote that they have on their wall saying ‘to succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one’ is both profoundly thought provoking and true. The work that David and Esther do in Cambodia has shown us firsthand how love conquers and makes a difference in the communities and ministries that they work in, from the children’s ministry to Be Free and beyond. I’ve learnt that love hurts; it isn’t a mushy feeling but that it’s deeper, sacrificial and moves us to move mountains for the people God puts in our lives and in our communities. They are an amazing couple and I know our entire team have been so entirely blessed by their love and hospitality over the past week, and I for one cannot wait to go back – Emily.
Having fun with the youth
Rainbows, butterflies and compromise
The title for my blog entry is a line from the appropriately titled ‘She will be loved’ by Maroon Five. It really sums up our trip.
Rainbows: After deciding on a Noah’s ark theme for our day at the Happy Kids Club and as a theme for our mural, we did not stop seeing references to the story. We saw it as God’s way of confirming what we were doing was right.
- On our first day we saw a rainbow from the roof of our hotel.
- Our bathroom kept flooding.
- There were some amazing thunder and lightning storms and heavy downpours.
- We saw a rainbow coloured mirage whilst we walked along the river.
- At Bloom cake shop there was a Noah’s ark cake!
- Upon arrival in the UK we saw a rainbow as we landed.
Butterflies: Our trip to the genocide museum and the killing fields was harrowing to say the least but amongst the horror of the past was a peaceful atmosphere that surrounded the killing fields. Grass has grown where there once were muddy, stinking pits filled with bodies of men, women and children; birds and beautiful butterflies now fly there, where they would have never flown back then with the loud political music being played to cover up the screams of the victims of this tragedy.
Compromise: We almost had to do a lot of compromising when our suitcases did not follow us on the plane from Bangkok but luckily, we got them back very soon. This made us realise how much we rely on our material possessions in the Western world. Our other moment of compromise was having to use squatty potties in the village; an ‘interesting’ experience that is an every day feature of these people’s lives. It really made us appreciate running water. The everyday life of the people in the villages is full of compromise to enable them to put food on the table.
She will be loved: Spending time in ‘Be Free’ with the amazingly talented, beautiful and intelligent girls who have been the victims of trafficking was an amazing experience. It was lovely to see them so happy after having gone through so much. Our trip to the ‘SHE rescue home’ really opened our eyes to the trafficking problem, seeing how young some of the girls are and how the Cambodian culture sees it as ‘acceptable’ to sell your daughter’s virginity if it will pay off a debt. The home’s motto is ‘To succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one’; even though trafficking is such a massive problem, we can make a difference to these girls’ lives one by one.
To round up, this was an amazing trip that has really opened my eyes to the problems in Cambodia. It has also made me appreciate my very comfortable life so much more. It was a brilliant chance to meet amazing people and to discover more about the beautiful country. It also showed me that a small amount of money can really go a long way and that it is not only those people you help directly that benefit; but their families and friends too – Jo.
Children loving their colourful playground
Nita giving heartfelt thanks to God and the team for blessing the children in ELC
Cambodia has truly captured our hearts. From the moment we stepped off the plane we were welcomed with such love from our amazing friends David and Esther, and from there on we continued to be shown fantastic hospitality by the Khmer church. It’s hard to put into words all that we experienced but hopefully from reading the team’s thoughts you are able to get a glimpse of what it was like. It was such a privilege to have the opportunity to go to Cambodia and to get involved with the work David and Esther are doing. We want to thank them both for their kindness and patience (David we are so sorry you had to take six women shopping around the market!!!!) we will never be able to get Cambodia out of our hearts – Nicole.
Amazing representatives of Guernsey
