Cambodia Seems Dusty (Poem)

I wrote this poem as a Christmas present to the Suh family, who are Christian Reformed World Mission's full-time missionaries in Cambodia. (Note: Most of the text effects are working okay in this format, though not all. I should probably learn how to edit HTML at some point)

Cambodia Seems Dusty

To you whom God calls here

Does the day start when the roosters crow?

Seems so:

The day awakes before the sun.

The sun is strong,

the rain is strong,

and the heat is strong.

In the villages, the people are friendly—

and weathered.

And everyone comes from the villages,

Where the rice fields lie flat

lollipopped with

coconut trees

and palm trees.

The buildings are bold

bright

blue and red and

orange and green and

traffic median-paint yellow.

The buildings are muted

wood and faded thatch,

rusty metal roofs.

The background is bright

rice-green to shame lawn-care,

tropically flowering-fruiting-and-flourishing

forests and fields,

farms, yards, gardens, and

painted pots.

The background is drab

dust-ridden paved roads,

dust-red dirt roads,

bare-trampled yards,

and construction zones.

The people are rich

See the thousand rooftops

‘round the royal palace?

The people are poor

we see the young ones,

see the old ones on the street.

The past is bleak—years

of power struggles,

land-grabbing,

and terror.

The past is glorious—because…

Who has built such temples?

The future is dark—fears

of corruption and prostitution

ever ensnaring,

stripping the richness of the

land from all people and

twisting it into the

pockets

of a few.

The future is bright—because…

The people are building,

The church is dawning,

And after all,

what is the miracle of man but

bones out of dust,

tendons out of dust,

flesh out of dust,

beating heart full of dust dissolved in rain,

running red only by the hands of

God?

And we know:

God’s hands are still moving,

And Cambodia has a lot of dust.

Development and Disciple-making for Everyone...

I’ve been reading and thinking recently about development. Have you ever read When Helping Hurts? You should. I had heard of it before, but I read it for the first time while I’ve been in Cambodia. I’m working on a review of it, which I’ll post here sometime. The following are just thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head:

I’ve been thinking that what the world mostly needs, after the return of the King and after prayer, is people who are satisfied to do small things in a small place for a long time and with great love (semi-quoting Mother Theresa). And for them to connect to, communicate, and cooperate well with their predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. That is, to recognize and respond to the fact that our life’s work will be only an infinitesimally small piece of Christ’s work through his body – we are mere cells.

I don’t think we need people who do great things – or at least, we don’t need many. Or, perhaps, none exist; everyone’s work is rather small. After all, we each have only 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, and “the length of our days is seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength.” (Psalm 90:10) The great names you hear of, you would never have heard of, except that many others worked alongside them. Even those who played great roles in awakening or converting the masses... if they played a role in converting thousands or millions of people, what of the thousands or millions who walked alongside these, discipling them? Jesus never told us to make converts.

Each small person does need to be united, though: to other people who want to serve and to the people we want to serve. In Cambodia, many NGOs just do their own work, reinventing the wheels that other NGOs have already developed. How much better if we could all be connected to one another and build off of one another! Another development message I hear loud and clear, over and over again is that the people we want to help also need to be invested in anything we try to do for them (with them). There was an NGO that came into Ploung Village to install toilets. They didn’t expect the people there to do anything, as though they were helpless. They didn’t ask them what they needed, as though they didn’t know. Now, most of these toilets lie utterly abandoned and unused.

But beyond this, I think that we ourselves need to invest our own lives in a deep way – by living in the places where we minster, and – as much as we can – in the way of the people we minister to. If we don’t stay in a small place for a long time, how can we minister to those who live there, and disciple them, teaching them how to live like Jesus? How can you teach someone to do something that you have never done? How can you ask something of your disciples that you are not willing to do yourself? From my perspective now, changing the world is about changing people, and changing people is about being changed yourself and entering into their lives – fully. How can you say that you love someone with the love of Jesus if you are not willing to incarnate?

More and more, I am convinced that we need to lay down our lives and share in the sufferings of those we want to reach, and remain. The changing world needs small people who are constant and overflowing with the love of Christ. The other influences of people’s lives – the ones are want to fight against – are not just coming for a short-term mission trip.

Not to say there isn’t some value in, for instance, my months here in Cambodia. But the value lies in my own learning, and hopefully also in how much I build up the people and organizations that will be here long-term. And there is some good in mixing it up and meeting brothers and sisters from different places. But I don’t think that ought to be a lifestyle for too many people.

Finally, development and disciple-making isn’t limited to the developing world or the inner city. Those of you who live in places where “bad things don’t happen” know that God has much work to do in your community as well. When I hear stories about people who prayed, “God, please don’t make me a missionary – and especially, don’t send me to Africa,” and went on to be missionaries in Africa, I sometimes wonder if I won’t end up back in Suburbia myself!

You can read the figures

You can read the news

People aren’t numbers

It’s your attitude (that’s flat)

How can we know if we don’t come?

How can we know if we don’t stay?

Incarnation grips me

and takes me to the city

Incarnation grips me

and leads me far away

I want to breathe the air

I want to eat the fare

I want to walk the dirt

With feet like yours.

I want to learn your words

I want to know your name

What if I feel the pain

Of feet like yours?

And incarnation grips me—

When I see Him:

Swaddled up in skin,

Rode a skeleton…

With a heart of meat,

He was made of dust –

Like the rest of us.

Last Speech to GCT

Before I left GCT in October, I had the chance to give a sort of speech. Really, I spoke to myself as much as to them. So I think some of you might like to read this, as well. The “||” marks show where I stopped for the translator to speak. Since this was written with translation in mind, I think it would actually lose some meaning or structure if I removed them, so I’ll leave them in – apologies to those for whom they are distracting.

1 Cor 1:22-31 (NIV):

²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Different people have different expectations about what God is like || and about what the people who God chooses to follow him will be like.

In this passage, the apostle Paul is writing to the Christians in Corinth.|| Some are rich, many are poor, || most are Greeks, and a few are Jews. || The Greek people value human wisdom and education || so they believe that God would act according to their wisdom, || and they think God would choose people who are very clever. || The Jewish people believe that the Messiah, the Savior whom God will send, will perform miraculous signs. || They think that the Messiah will become king of the world by his miraculous power.

Americans and Cambodians also have expectations about what following God would be like. || Many Americans want to live an easy life. || They want to be able to do anything they want – they say they want to be free. || They think that God should make their lives easier, || and should give them what they want. || I have only been here three months, || but I think that many Cambodians want to have power over other people, || and want to make more money so they can have more power. || So, they think Christians should be successful, || and that Christian leaders should also have power over people.

But the gospel that the Bible teaches|| is that when the people God made sinned, || God did not use his power to destroy them or force them to change, || and he also did not let them keep doing whatever they wanted. || Instead, Jesus gave up the comfort and power and freedom of being God || and became a human being. || And instead of being born in a comfortable place or a powerful family, || he was born in a stable || to a poor family from a poor town. || And instead of using his power as God to become king of the world at that time, || he became a servant to all people, || and willingly suffered and died. || And his death was very embarrassing and terrible. || It was not an honorable death that a hero or king or rich person would die. || It was the type of death for a poor person who is a criminal. || And this is the type of life he calls his followers to. || It is not wise, it is not a miraculous victory, || it is not comfortable, and it is not powerful… as people see it. || It seems very foolish.

Verses 22-23:

²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

If Paul was writing to Americans and Cambodians, I think this is what he might say, || “Americans look for a selfish life of ease || and Cambodians look for wealth and power, || but we preach Christ crucified, || who asks Americans to take up their cross || and Cambodians to become leaders who serve their followers. || This is foolishness to people who do not know God; || it is the opposite of what they think they want.”

But as Christians, we know that it is not foolish at all. || Because Jesus suffered and died, we can have eternal life. || And because he became a servant to all people, || God raised him to life, || God has rewarded him with glory, || and God has made him King over all people.

Verses 24-25:

²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

So, if Jesus chose to suffer and serve, || what should we look like, || since we are the people that Jesus has chosen to follow him?

Verse 26:

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

What does Paul say the Christians in Corinth are like? || What type of people are like that in Cambodia? || It is amazing that God chooses people like this.

Verses 27-31:

²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Why does it say God chooses people like this?

So I want to encourage you:

Firstly, I want to encourage you || that when you serve other people, through working at GCT and other places, || it seems you are not becoming wealthy or powerful, || and your friends or family members may ask you why you do not find a job that will make you more wealthy or powerful, || But you are following the example of Jesus, || and God sees the work that you do, || and just as he rewarded Jesus, he will reward you. || Maybe not on earth, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Secondly, I want to encourage you || if you feel you do not have enough power to do your work. || Many Cambodian people I have met feel they do not know English well enough, || think they need a better education, || or many other things. || Maybe you wonder why God has chosen you to do His work. || But you should not be discouraged. || Because you do not need to have power or knowledge or money by human standards || for God to use you in amazing ways. || God loves to use people who seem foolish, weak, or lowly, || because when He gives them the wisdom and power to do great things, || everyone will know it is because of God. || And if God calls you to do something, || He will give you the power you need to do it.

James 1:9-10:

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their low position—since they will pass away like a wild flower.

I think people sometimes get confused || they think that Christians from the US or Canada or Korea || who have more money or more education or better connections || are more important in God’s kingdom, or can do more work for God than Christians from Cambodia, || But actually, it says in the Bible || that the Christian in humble circumstances has a high position in God’s kingdom that they should be proud of, || and the one who is rich has a low position in God’s kingdom.

So I encourage you to take pride in your high position, || and in the glory you bring to God || as God works through you. || I am so thankful to have worked with all of you for three months, || and I have seen that God is working through you || and that you are bringing Glory to God. || I praise God because of you. || Let him who boasts boast in the Lord!

Transitioning to Siem Reap: NIBI

Two weeks ago, I moved from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap to start teaching at NIBI (New International Bethany Institute), which is a Christian Korean-run school for college-aged Khmer students. I get to live on campus here, which is great for me, because it feels a little like I’m back at college again myself. I do have my own room, however, which is very good.

The campus is a ten-minute moto drive from “downtown” Siem Reap (it’s such a little city, more like a town, especially after living in Phnom Pehn). The first bit of driving is quite rough. (Exactly whose idea was it to use sand to build a road, or to fill in potholes with shards of brick?) It’s lovely to be this far away from everything, though. I’ve never lived somewhere I could see the stars so well before. The campus is walled in, so it’s perfectly safe to walk between the buildings at night, which is a welcome change from Phnom Penh. As I type, I’m listening to the crickets, and the window behind me looks out on the lush plantings of mango and coconut trees. Sadly, the mangos won’t be ripe until just after I leave :(

The students are so warm and welcoming to me. They’ve even given me a nickname: Necrue Biytong, or “Green Teacher.” It is a very small and new school, particularly this semester. There are:

Two first-year students: John and Sophann;

Two second-year students: Paul and Sambor;

Three third-year students: James, Esther, and Tiffan; and

Two fourth-year students: Vanry and Ratanak.

The first two years are “prep school,” focused on English and Bible, and for the next three, the students choose either business management or visual design as a major. (There are no fifth-year students yet, as this is the school’s fourth year.)

I’m teaching six classes:

Grammar and pronunciation (2) for the first-year students;

Grammar, communication, and reading for the second-year students (3);

And an English review/writing class (1) for the third and fourth-year students.

I’m also in charge of weekly vocabulary quizzes for all the students.

It is a little bit much, I admit. But it’s a lot of fun.

The faith of these students is amazing to me, for they’ve sacrificed so much to come here. Firstly, they give up a lot of freedom when they study here: they have to stay on campus during all the weekdays and wake up each weekday morning for quiet time at 5:20am! Because they have to stay on campus, they can’t really hold an outside job to support themselves and their families, which is normally expected of college students here. And of course, it’s a Christian school, which further decreases the approval of their Buddhist families and friends.

To top it all off, NIBI is not yet accredited as a university by the Cambodian government, so after five years of hard work, many employers will not accept these students’ credentials. Still, they trust in God and willingly come to a school where they hope to be discipled in their faith. In teaching here, l I tread on holy ground. I pray that I may teach these students in a worthy manner.

Halfway through my first week of teaching at NIBI, I wrote:

My first class was Monday, and it's been going well since then. Monday, I did a grammar test for the 1st and 2nd-year students, and talked about their vocabulary notebooks.

Tuesday, I reviewed the consonants with the 1st year students, and taught about hard and soft c, g, and th. (We were rolling on the floor laughing as I tried to get them to say R correctly!) With the second-year students, I did about 1/3 of a unit from their reading textbook and from their communication textbook, which was a lot of fun. Both textbooks have interesting topics, and in the communication class, most of the time we spend talking and practicing having conversations, so I get to make my students act stuff out.

Today, I decided to start teaching a writing/English practicing class for the 3rd and 4th year students. We talked about vocab notebooks, played the rhyming game that my brother and I always play, talked about writing (what they've used it for already, what they expect to use it for in the future, what they love and hate about it) and I gave a really basic overview of the writing process and the sort of structure we want to create in writing. (Both a "tree" (outline-based) and a "rope" (good transitions between topics). ) We also played scrabble and made up a campfire-type story, involving aliens from Mercury, a man who could fly, divorce, atomic bombs, and various talking animals. That was a lot of fun.

I'm still working on a schedule and syllabus for the classes, but most of the work is done. I just have to adjust it a little to what I know about students' English levels and write it all out. I also have gotten to look over the students' vacation writing assignments (journals and book reviews), so I'm hoping to provide feedback to the 1st and 2nd year (and eventually the 3rd and 4th year) students about what they need to work on, grammar- and writing-wise.

I'm really excited about my ideas for a vocabulary notebook. In previous semester, students were given lists of vocabulary to memorize each week. My idea is that the students get to pick words that they are interested in studying, which can be from their other classes. I’m really excited about it - I think it's a solution that will satisfy teachers and students better.

It's a bit more than a full-time job, but my heart is completely in it, so I'm loving it. I think once I get the classes more set-up (finish deciding a schedule and such) it will get a bit better.

Shalom!

Amanda

Ploung Village (right-brained version)

Sorry, this post has been sitting around on my computer, mostly done for about a month!

Okay, so I think I owe some explanation for the previous blog entry for those of you who haven’t gotten to talk with me about the dental clinic and my time in Srae Ambel/Ploung Village during the weeks of September 4^th and 11^th. This is probably something I’ll be unpacking for quite a while in more blog entries (and probably not in prose), but here I’ll give an orderly, right-brained account.

Central to the work of GCT (Genesis Community of Transformation, the NGO I’m currently working with) is community development through the CO (Community Organization) process. Slowly but sustainably, GCT’s staff teaches communities to organize themselves and use their own resources to help improve their living conditions. Some of the communities GCT works with are urban, while others are rural. Three of the rural communities that GCT works with are located in Koh Kong Province, Srae Ambel District; here is a map: http://g.co/maps/8ugsj. GCT also has land near these villages, which they call the Eden School of Agriculture (ESA), where they hope to bring farmers to educate them in better agricultural practices.

For the interested linguists among you, Srae Ambel means “Fields of Salt,” unfortunately a very appropriate name. There is a river that runs through Srae Ambel that has brackish (salty) water because it is so close to the sea. At certain times of the year, this river overflows its bed during high tide, flooding the rice fields in the low areas, bringing dissolved salt along with it. After years of flooding, there is so much salt in these fields that in the dry season, salt crystals are visible on the surface of the ground.

This is a huge problem, because rice is meant to grow in fresh water. Often, a farmer’s whole field of rice will die because of the salt. But even if the rice plants manage to survive, their yield decreases year by year as salt builds up in the soil. Many farmers in the area are unable to support their families on this meager crop, and as a result, they ask permission of the village chief to raze a new area of forest and plant a new rice field. Of course, increased deforestation also contributes to flooding.

The three villages that GCT works with are named Ploung, Chroy, and Boeung Preav. Unlike Srae Ambel, their names are rather mysterious. Ploung means “bomb,” Chroy means “to fluff rice after it’s been cooked,” and Boeung Preav means “Lake with no purpose.” I haven’t heard any good explanations for why the villages are so called. Ploung is a very poor village, Boeung Preav is only moderately poor, and Chroy is somewhere in-between.

As described in my previous blog entry, it’s about three kilometers from ESA to Ploung if you go the short way on a rough road hedged by forest– but that road is totally impassible by most vehicles during the rainy season because of flooding. All three villages are clustered along one long main road, so as you walk through Ploung, you gradually end up in Chroy, and then in Boeung Preav – and the road and living conditions gradually improve, as well. So far, GCT has focused most of its attention on Ploung, which was where the Dental Clinic was held, and the village in which I spent the most time.

The buildings in Ploung are built on stilts, to tempt a breeze and to avoid flooding. They are mostly wooden, with corrugated metal or thatch roofs. There are a few that are made entirely of thatch and bamboo, though as well. The houses are set back a ways from the road, and their stilts are about a story high, but the storefronts are built right up against the road, with knee-high stilts and only three walls, but a low roof in front to keep out the rain. The road is made of red clay, which is a good road material, but it’s run-down – bumpy, with divots and low shoulders that become permanent lagoons during the rainy season. Because nearly all of the animals are allowed to run free, the road is full of dung, and when it rains, the road goes ankle-deep in brown water.

The yards are mucky and full of animals – dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, cows, buffalo, occasional ducks, and even turkeys. The dogs bark whenever a stranger approaches, the cats keep mice out of the rice stores, the pigs, chickens, ducks, and cows are occasionally sold or eaten. The chickens and ducks also lay eggs, but Cambodians don’t drink cow milk. Some people will also eat dogs or cats. The buffalo are stores of wealth. Every year, they are used to plow the rice fields, and they can be sold for hundreds of dollars a each. They can also be eaten, in a pinch. They sleep under the house, where their dung piles up day after day. Every day, some of a family’s children or women take the buffalo along the road to ESA, into the forest to graze. Many people also collect edible wild plants, hunt, or fish in the forest. The mainstays of the village are fish, rice, and forest plants.

The one building in the village that is not built on stilts is the new primary schoolhouse. This was the location of the dental clinic. It’s a large wooden building with four rooms, painted a cheerfully bright yellow, with light blue trim. There about forty children from Ploung in each grade, but only one principal and one other teacher, both of whom teach a morning and an afternoon class. This adds up to grades one through four. In order to study beyond grade four, children from Ploung have to walk a long way to the next village, and to go on to middle or high school, the walk is even farther. So far, in the history of the village, no one has graduated from high school.

The men are usually bare-chested and wear shorts, pants, or the traditional kroma, a long bolt of fabric wrapped around the waist several times to make a mid-thigh-length skirt. The women wear what look to western eyes like colorful printed pajamas, or else the traditional sroung, similar to the kroma, but longer, in the form of a strapless dress that comes past the knees. Some of them also wear a kroma wrapped around their head in a traditional fashion. The teenagers wear very western jeans and t-shirts, the older kids wear whatever clothing they can find, and the little ones wear either shirts or pants – or nothing at all! People generally either wear flip flops or go barefoot, which is pretty sensible considering that every time you enter a building, you have to slip off your shoes.

Coming to Ploung with my coworkers Boral and Sarath was an amazing privilege. They have been working in Ploung for about a year and a half, and they seem to know and be loved by everyone. Even in the district capital, the town of Srae Ambel, they greeted many people by name and with much fuss and familiarity. (I.e. tossing – and catching – babies, punching teenagers, and teasing everyone) I was really amazed by the report and respect they had gained in such a short time in villages where people have intermarried lived as tight-knit neighbors for generations.

With such a wonderful introduction as to be a coworker of Puu (uncle) Sarath and Bong (older brother) Boral, I was warmly welcomed by everyone in the village. I got so much practice introducing myself in Khmer, as I met so many new people, and each asked the same familiar questions: What is your name? Where are you from? Are you married? How old are you? People were really surprised that I could/would walk from ESA to Ploung in the rain and the waist-deep water (in just one spot), eat the food, and sleep in their houses. I was told many times that I should marry a Khmer man, since I can eat the food (I quickly learned the Khmer for “I’m-not-married-yet-but-I-already-have-a-boyfriend”).

This place has really found a spot in my heart.

Let me take you to Ploung Village.

Walk with me in the rain,

Three kilometers

Down the multicolored river-road that leads to Ploung,

Because the moto won’t make it in September.

When you’ve crossed this patch of sharp, red gravel,

Slip your flip-flops off to tread

Through the dark, soft-bottomed puddles

And the shoe-sucking yellow slush,

So that your feet can appreciate

The clean, white sand

And the firm, orange earth

And the hard-packed red clay.

From around the corner, the rhythmic clang of buffalo bells

Chimes the approach of four massive black beasts,

About to share the way with us,

The narrow way hedged by thick forest and barbed wire.

We pick a side, and the buffalo walk steadily by –

Step-a-step-a-step-a-step,

Followed by their drivers – two kids holding slim sticks,

One buffalo shies off the road into the forest,

Giving the weird white creatures some extra space.

The way widens into a crossroads,

And the water deepens.

Don’t bother to roll up your pants today,

Because the water comes up to here!

But take your cell phone out of your pocket,

And wade through.

On the other side, the forest drops away

As we near the village.

Soaked, rolled-up pants drip water down bare calves

To the water pooled at your ankles

Your thin, bright blue plastic poncho clings to the skin of your arms

Lift the hood obscuring your view and let the rain seep into your hair, drop onto your face

Hear the sound of rain, the swoosh of water disturbed by your walking

Smell the washed air, the air that brushes the rice fields and cradles the morning mist on the dark, forested mountains.

On either side,

A jumble of weathered wooden stakes

Keeps the buffalo out of the smooth expanse of

Rice, rice, rice to the dark mountains.

Gazing, you decide

Grass does not deserve to be called green.

We walk on through the ankle-deep, sand-bottomed stream of a path.

We start to see the houses, wooden with thatch or corrugated metal roofs,

All on stilts to tempt a breeze in the heat.

The houses coagulate, and the rice fields fade,

The path dries a little, and firms to red clay,

And the buffalo dung comes closer together.

The people greet us,

Hanging in hammocks under their houses,

Gathered together under the thatch shelter of a café storefront,

Kids shyly pausing on the street to smile.

They laugh when we show them how we’re wet to here.

Welcome to Ploung.

(Note: Check "For More Pictures" link to your right - I've added many more pictures!)

Khmer Food

This entry shall put an end to a myth that I myself have perpetuated, namely that Cambodian food involves lots of coconut milk curries. That would be Thai food.

Khmer food, as I’ve experienced it for the past month, actually involves little coconut milk or curry, at least in day-to-day dishes. But here’s a list of seven things it does involve:

1. Rice. In Cambodia, if you are not eating rice, you are not eating a meal.* Khmer rice noodles are acceptable as a form of rice, as they are made entirely of rice, water, and a little salt. I have heard stories of Khmer refugees sent to the US or Canada who were utterly forlorn and unable to eat the food provided to them because it did not include rice. I have also seen people here eat their noodles with rice. In Khmer, “Knyam Bei?” or, “Are you eating/will you eat?” transliterates to “Eat rice?”

2. Family Style. Each person has their own spoon, and possibly a fork, and possibly chopsticks, if there are noodles. To drink, there is usually water, tea, or chilled tea. Each person also has their own bowl, which at the beginning of the meal is filled with (you guessed it!) rice (or for breakfast, rice noodles or rice porridge). In the middle of the table are many different dishes, from which each person takes a little at a time of whatever they please to eat with their rice.

3. Dishes. From what I understand, there are a lot of standard traditional dishes here, developed over a long time by an entire culture, rather than in one stroke of brilliance by a single chef. There are a few different types from what I’ve seen so far. There are soupy-type dishes, made up of 1 to 5 types of vegetables or fruits, with a little meat and lots of broth. There are plates of fresh vegetables, sometimes sliced and sometimes chopped up. There are plates of grilled or fried meat, usually fish, and usually including the skin, head, bones, and tail. Finally, there is “Khmer Kimchi,” or pickled vegetables. Dessert is often fresh fruit.

4. Fruits and Vegetables. Some are familiar: Tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, cucumbers, lettuce, banana, watermelon, limes, lettuce. Some are tropical or asian: pineapple, ripe and unripe mango and papaya, passion fruit, bok choy. Some I have never heard of before: mangostien, rambatan, other fruits I don’t know English names for, unripe oranges, banana flower, water lily stem, Chinese broccoli, and various other greens and herbs.

5. Meat. Khmer people who have the means usually eat a good amount of meat (Navy and Ly’s house is, thankfully, an exception). They take far more advantage of their omnivore status than do most Westerners, including all parts of the chicken, pig, cow, and fish, as well as any seafood, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and in some cases, dogs and cats. Don’t worry, though. At least in Phnom Penh, people are quite sensitive to foreigners’ palates, and don’t usually expect you to eat anything too weird if you don’t want to.

6. Flavor. Khmer food is, thankfully for me, not terribly spicy. Instead of using curries, flavor comes from sour limes or unripe fruit, salt, herbs, limited chili peppers, and… “Cambodian cheese.” When you first see Cambodian cheese, you will probably be very confused. It is brown and sticky, and smells strongly. In fact, it is not a dairy product at all, but make from fermented fish. Khmer call it “cheese” because both cheese and fermented fish smell strongly. I think this must make more sense to Khmer than to Westerners :) Although I don’t think I’d be a huge fan of eating “Cambodian cheese” on its own, it definitely adds great flavor when mixed with other things.

7. Snacks and Desserts. Khmer have all sorts of great snack food, much of which involves rice and bananas, although some does not. A myriad of small sweet or savory treats have been given to me to try by my coworkers under the title of “Khmer cake.” Usually, they are made with sticky-rice or rice flour, and are sometimes filled with banana or beans. Wafers of deep-fried mini shrimp, sprinkled with lime and salt is one of my favorites. Bananas cooked in every possible way (fried, grilled, boiled) are also delicious. There are also many refreshing fruits and roots served cold, like watermelon, papaya, and other things I do not have English names for. Sour, unripe fruit like mango cut into thin strips and dipped in Khmer cheese or salt and spices is another popular snack. Dessert is the one place I have seen coconut milk come into play, often mixed with fruit, beans, or some sort of clear gel spheres which I assume are rice-based.

*The evening after I wrote this, I went out to a restaurant with my coworkers. We had a full meal, and wouldn’t have eaten any rice, except that I commented on this, and so one of my coworkers ordered some for me :) The rule actually runs thus: if you’re not eating rice, it’s not a meal – unless it’s a feast. Then, you don’t want to have rice to eat, because you can’t eat as much of everything else!

New Pictures

Hey,

Just wanted to point out that I finally added a ton of pictures to my "Pictures in Cambodia" site. There's a link on the right sidebar, under the heading "For More Pictures."

:)

Amanda

Work

First off, I especially want to thank all of you for your prayers!

I realize I have not really explained much about what I have been doing here so far, which is probably because it took me a while to figure it out! As I understand my internship currently, I will be working primarily with GCT until the end of October, then I will be working with NIBC in Siem Reap until the end of February (during which, I’ll be helping out with Calvin College’s interim class in January, the same class that made me fall in love with Cambodia), and then I will be back here in Phnom Penh working with EFC until the middle of May, when I leave here. I don’t know more than a vague description (see June 7) for what I’ll be doing with NIBC or EFC, but I have figured out what I’m doing at GCT.

I have been working the same hours as GCT’s full-time staff – normal office hours here in Phnom Penh, which are Monday through Friday, from 8-12 and 2-5. That 2-hour lunch break is very important to people here! When a co-worker was explaining to me the working of conditions of the women in garment factories here – which, truly, are terrible –alongside 12-hour shifts, overtime work, and extremely low pay, I was told that they only have an hour for their lunch break – a travesty! In all seriousness, though, the break during the hottest part of the day is a really good idea. I’m sure that’s even more true during the hottest part of the year. Plus, people get to go home and eat with their families.

So, what do I do 7 hours a day at GCT? This Calvin College engineering graduate does all things English! Please bear with me for a brief detour into currency, which I promise will turn out to be relevant:

In Cambodia, there are two currencies used simultaneously – United States dollars and Cambodian riel. However, no coins are used; instead, riel come into play whenever people need smaller increments than a dollar. The exchange rate that people on the street generally go by is 4000 riel to a dollar. I have not seen any riel coins, but the paper denominations of riel I have seen so far include 1000 (25 cents – in my opinion, the easiest to think about), 2000 (50c), 500 (half of 25c), 100 (half of 5c), 5000 ($1.25), and 10,000 (half of $5). It’s not too bad, but it is a bit confusing when you are working with amounts of money between $1 and $5, as getting change constantly requires translating between riel and dollars, and either the riel or the dollar bills may be worth more, depending on the denomination.

In Cambodia, there are also two main languages used: Khmer and English (well, also some French, but that is mainly the older generations, and also a bit of Chinese). Khmer is the language that all of the locals here speak, and so all of the little businesses and NGOs primarily use Khmer. English is sort of the business language of the world, and certainly of Cambodia, where much NGO funding and important business deals involve English-speaking places, or else places that have English in common with Cambodia. So all of the higher-level businesses and NGOs primarily use English.

However, similar to transactions between $1 and $5 here, GCT is between the world of Khmer-speakers and English-speakers. The people they serve and the local NGOs they work with speak mainly Khmer, but most of their current and potential donors, as well as half of their board members, speak mainly English. Also, although everyone at GCT speaks at least a little English, most things really need to be in Khmer for at least four of the seven staff members to fully understand. So, GCT is constantly translating between Khmer and English.

And as it’s very difficult to write well in a language that you are not fluent in, my first job is to edit everything after it’s been translated into English. I also get the challenge of sorting out the many, wonderful, scattered ideas of Navy and my other coworkers into cohesive papers. So far, I’ve write a report and a project proposal by organizing others’ ideas and adding a few of my own. Besides editing and writing in English, I’m also eager to train some of GCT’s staff members to do the same, so that they can carry on the work I’m doing after I leave.

At first, it seems pretty unsustainable, since I only have a few months here, and that by the end, I won’t really have had time to fully train a replacement. But the thing is that (praise God) I seem to have come at a time when my skills are most needed. Right now, GCT is trying to decide on and find funding for a few big projects that it can focus on for the next few years. So this is one of the times when they most need good English writing skills, and hopefully, if I manage to help pump out a few good proposals while I’m here, they won’t have nearly as much need for English skills for a while.

So, yeah, that’s the gist of what I’ve been doing – editing, ghost-writing, and teaching. I will try and write another entry soon on my coworkers, because as much as I’ve been enjoying writing, people are always the best part for me.

Johm Reap Lear (Goodbye),

Amanda

Two Weeks and a Workshop

It's been two weeks since I've written because I really only have time to blog on the weekends, and last weekend, I had a Saturday morning meeting at GCT, got a bike, and moved… so blog-writing just didn't make it in.

I am now living with Kerry, an Australian woman who I know I will learn a lot from. I went to her church with her last Sunday, and it's a charismatic church, which is great, because I have very little first-hand knowledge of charismatic or Pentecostal churches, and I'm curious to learn more about what Christ is doing in this arm of his Body.

On Friday, GCT put on the workshop we’d been preparing for during the past few weeks. It had to do with the research GCT has been doing, which I need to catch you up on before explaining the workshop.

One of GCT’s main missions is to help women and youth receive job training, find internships, and get jobs that are fulfilling for them and good for society. Partly, GCT does this through hiring volunteer or paid interns and training them through the work they do.

But recently, GCT has had a grant from Love 146 to research all this on a broader scale. Love 146* is an organization devoted to the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation. They are starting to do some studies following the children they are able to free. Unfortunately, youth who find no alternate way of making a living often end up back in the brothels.

Dr. Glenn Miles, a director in Love 146, helped GCT get a grant from Love 146 after talking with my boss, Navy Chhay. Navy’s idea is to research on Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) who provide training to at-risk youth and women, as well as companies who might employ youth and women after they are trained. Eventually, this research might lead to a network of training providers and employers that can be used in finding training for young job-seekers, finding employment for trainees, and collaboration and feedback between organizations to make current training better.

So, for the past few months, GCT has been conducting some preliminary research with some help from the Chab Dai Coalition, which is a network of anti-human trafficking and exploitation organizations. (http://www.chabdai.org/home.html) And as a last stage in our preliminary research – to get more ideas and to increase interest - we invited all of the training providers and employers whom we interviewed to a workshop this past Friday.

The workshop went quite well (although not according to plan time-wise – as is normative here in Cambodia!). As a whole, the participants decided that networking together was so important that they want to meet together again every three months! GCT also received a few ideas on organizations that might fund further research, so for the next week or so, we’ll be finishing up the report to send it out in hopes of funding.

Please pray that if this research is something that God wants GCT to continue, He’ll provide for us to continue it. In my next entry, I’ll have to tell you more about my wonderful co-workers at GCT, as I’m getting to know them better.

Shalom!

Amanda

P.S. I just watched a tourist take a picture of my bike lined up next to a bunch of motos outside of the coffee shop where I'm sitting. Apparently, I am now part of the scenery here :)

*The number 146 comes from a little girl with fight left in her eyes, who the founders of Love 146 saw during an undercover brothel investigation – she was being sold by that number. The full story is well worth reading: http://love146.org/love-story

Brief Thoughts on Daily Life

It’s not as hot here as you might think - mainly in the low 80s. Although July and August are the hottest parts of the year in the US, Cambodia is hottest in April and May, at the very end of the dry season (dry as in not raining; I have been assured that it is still quite humid). In June, July, and August, the rains come three or four times a week, usually in the afternoon, to wash away the heat. With fans keeping the air moving, it is has never yet been intolerably hot for me. I also have the advantage of both living and working in non-air-conditioned spaces, so I don’t have to re-acclimate every time I step outside.

As I mentioned before, I am staying with a fellow Calvin grad named Karen. I go to bed around 10pm and wake at 5:30 or 6am Cambodian time, which is eleven hours ahead of EST. I have a leisurely breakfast and quiet time, then Boral, one of GCT's employees, comes to pick me up on his moto.

Everyone here loves to try teaching me Khmer, from coworkers at GCT to Karen to Karen's landlord's 10-year-old daughter (below)! I always carry around a notebook to write down new words. I really need to spend some time studying them, though! I do know the 33 Khmer consonants fairly well now. (but I still have 33 vowels to learn!) As I'm riding down the road, I try to recognize them on the signs. That's harder than it sounds, because there are so many styles for writing them!

I love Khmer food. In Khmer, the way that you ask someone to sit down to a meal is, "Eat rice?" At Navy's house, everyone starts with a bowl of rice in front of them, plus a spoon and, often, a fork. In the middle of the table are several bowls with meat and/or vegetables, all sitting in sauce or broth. There might also be a plate with fried chicken or more likely, grilled or fried fish. There is also a fresh vegetable dish, nearly always including cucumbers. Sometimes there are also mint leaves, and other times, there is a mixture of thinly sliced carrots and some white vegetable in a garlicy dressing. The fresh vegetables are so refreshing in the heat!

One thing for Americans to prepare themselves for before eating traditional Khmer food is that the skin, bones, and chicken feet are seldom removed before serving, even when the meat is chopped up. (Khmer are very good at separating meat from fish bones using only a spoon!) If you can get over that, the food is so good, in many ways very similar to the sort of food that I make myself. Not any hotter than I like, and none of the silliness of adding excessive sugar like the American versions of Asian food. I will really have to learn to cook it!

The thing about Khmer food that is most fun for me is the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables I’ve never seen before. I went to the Russian market today and bought some fruit: “hairy cherries,” (left) mangostiens, dragon fruit, and a mini watermelon (below) (only mini to us – I’m pretty sure this is the normal size here). I’ll have to take my camera with me to the market next time and capture all the interesting food – from termites to banana flowers.

The buildings all touch each other here, and many buildings are split into halves or thirds, the long way, so that apartments – even ones with multiple stories – are long and thin. The floors are generally tile – easier to keep clean from dust, and not a problem if they get wet. A woman’s husband generally moves in with her family, so there are lots of people in each house. When I showed a Khmer friend a picture of my suburban house, and he found out that only four people at most live there, his first question was, “Aren’t you lonely?”

The people I’ve met here are quick to smile, quick to invite you into their homes, and quick to offer you food. It’s considered rude here not to offer to share the food you are eating with everyone in the vicinity - even if all you have is a few grains of rice. A common morning greeting is, “Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

Khmer driving involves lots of weaving, and everyone is always prepared to stop. When you cross the street, you have to look left and right before you start, because motos that have just made a left-hand turn are usually still on the far left-hand side of the road, going the opposite direction you might expect. (below) Motos are used for all sorts of things here. I’ve seen loads that seemed the size of a small house being pulled by a moto, and “trucks” that had a motorcycle

instead of a truck cab in the front. My favorite so far was an ice-cream moto, blaring music from Pocahontas.

Showers here are not usually in a separate stall; instead, the entire bathroom has tile flooring and with a drain, and the doorway to the bathroom has a high lip. It is a bit odd at first to get used to the bathroom floor nearly always being wet.

Cambodian people are extremely respectful. They use the title “bong” for anyone somewhat older, or of similar age, which means “older sibling.” There are all sorts of more specific terms, too. “Poo” is for your parent’s older sibling, and there’s another term for your parent’s younger sibling! Thankfully, people here are also very understanding and don’t get upset when I forget to “bong” them.

Overall, after having been here for a week (and after having visited for a month with a large group), I must say that it feels really different and really normal here, at the same time. I am greatly enjoying working with GCT, exploring Phnom Penh, and living with Karen, and I feel so thankful and blessed to be here. I thank God for His plan, and for your prayers and support.

In Cambodia!

Hi all!

Akun (thank you) all for your prayers for travel! I had a very enjoyable - and in many ways restful, if long - trip to Cambodia, and have arrived safely. Praise God that my luggage came through, and I did not miss any of my flights, even my flight from Tokyo, which had a very short layover and my flight from Minneapolis, where my previous plane spent a long time waiting for a gate. God even prepared many interesting people for me to talk with and keep me company!

Everyone here has been incredibly kind and patient and helpful to me. I have been given rides everywhere I need to go, often invited out to a meal, and am staying in the home of Karen, a fellow Calvin College alumni, who has been so hospitable in housing me until I find a place to rent.

I am now sitting in a coffee shop in Phnom Penh with Navy, the director of Genesis Community of Transformation (GCT), one of the primary organizations I will be working for. As soon as I finish this post, I will be helping her to edit a report. My English skills will probably be among my most valuable here, as GCT's entirely Khmer national staff has done so much good work, but needs some help describing it, as well as proposing new projects in a way that donors can get behind.

Please continue to pray for GCT. The staff is doing good work for incredibly little pay, in some cases half of what they could make somewhere else at their skill level. Pray that God will provide and lead them in the direction they should go.

God Bless,

Amanda

P.S. Most everyone here gets around by moto, a slighter cousin with more seating than the massive motorcycles that I'm used to seeing on American highways. Sometimes you see three or even four people riding one. I had never ridden one before, but for the past few days, sitting behind someone on a moto has been one of my primary methods of locomotion. It's really fun!

A Note on Pictures

Just a quick note: I have made a Shutterfly site for posting more of my pictures. The address is: http://incambodia.shutterfly.com/, and there is a link to it on the right sidebar.

Thank You! I'm Leaving Tuesday!

Dear Friends, Family, and Partners,

On coming back to the States from Cambodia in January 2010, I wrote:

I want to come back to Cambodia, but …. there’s a lot to do besides coming back to Cambodia. The first thing that we have ever been asked for [by Cambodians] is prayer –

Prayer for water,

For leaders,

For electrical power,

For teachers and writers of English,

For computers,

For wisdom and success in the work NGOs are already doing,

and especially for awareness among our church communities –

To procure more prayer!

But as we pray, we also have to ask ourselves:

Can we be the answer to our own prayers?

By partnering with me to serve the people of Cambodia, you have been the answer to these prayers! I have been humbled and blown away by how amazingly God has already provided prayer and 89% of my financial need for this trip through all of you. Thank you for your commitment to me and to the people of Cambodia.

I will be leaving on July 19 for Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. For the rest of July, I will be occupied there with orientation, settling in, and beginning Khmer language training. From August through October, I will stay in Phnom Penh, with some visits to the Cambodian countryside as I serve the Genesis Community of Transformation (GCT) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia (EFC), Women’s Commission. Then, from November through February, I will move to Siem Reap, where I will be teaching at the New International Builder’s Community (NIBC) and helping to host the same interim trip from Calvin College that got me interested in Cambodia. From March until I leave in May, I will return to Phnom Penh and continue the same work as before. I will be coming back to the US on May 10, 2012.

Currently, I am preparing to leave –procuring immunizations, deciding what to pack, and looking for possible housing arrangements in Phnom Penh. I already have temporary housing in Phnom Penh for the first few weeks after I arrive, and while in Siem Reap, I will be housed in NIBC’s dormitories. However, please pray that God prepares good permanent housing for me in PhnomPenh.

While I’m in Cambodia, you can receive monthly prayer letters by email. Just email me your email address at emailalhayes@gmail.com. You can also choose receive updates when I post on this blog by entering your email address in the gadget on the right sidebar.

Gratefully in Christ,

Amanda

Financial Support for Genesis Community of Transformation (GCT)

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

Especially as my financial need has nearly been met, I would like to make you aware of another opportunity for financial and prayer support.

The Genesis Community of Transformation (GCT) is one of the non-profit organizations I will be working with in Cambodia. GCT is a relatively new organization, founded in 2009 by Ms. Navy Chann, a Cambodian national who had previously worked as Christian Reformed World Relief Committee's Country Director for Cambodia. GCT seeks to provide job training for Cambodian women and youth, as well as create jobs for them. Beyond this, GCT reaches out to villages through community development. They are also developing a new farm and hoping to train village farmers in effective and sustainable agricultural techniques.

For the past two years, three-fourths of GCT's funding has come from one contract to train and coach the employees of another organization. This contract will end in 2012. Please be praying for GCT as they are seeking new donors, partnerships, and other ways of continuing their service to the people of Cambodia.

If you feel led to donate, funds can be donated through Bridge Builders Global (BBG):

1. Make a check out to BBG and indicate that it is for GCT-Navy Chann.

2. Then mail it to the following address:

Bridge Builders Global
ATTN: GCT - Navy Chann
1418 Bergen Blvd. Suite #2
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
USA

If you are interested in finding out more about GCT, there is a link to their website in the upper right corner of this page. If you are interested in finding out more about BBG, their website is:

http://www.bbglobal.org/mambo/