Friday, August 8, 2014

Building sand castles of love and the tears of goodbye

Today is the last day of the program.  All of the children leave in the morning for their homes.  I have to say that I am totally worn out.  As you might imagine, sleeping and eating is a real challenge here.  The most sleep I have had was one night at 6 hours and I think I might be getting a little long in the tooth for long periods without sleep. 

This is the glass washing area for the hotel where the children are and where we are staying.


 Providing my sister Pamela's sponsor daughter some pictures of the family so she knows us and a bible so that she can learn God's word and learn to read english.  When you reach out to these children miracles can happen.  Reaksa has only been with NHO for a year.  She was abandoned and lived and survived in the streets.  Now she has a home, food and clothes and an education.  Miracles can happen for someone in need.

 Had to take this pic. 

Rachel gave a great lesson in ADHD for the house parents.  There are some children with it and in this country they have no idea what it is so they believe the children are just misbehaving.  It was a great lesson on identifying the symptoms and how to work with the child to ensure they can excel.


This is DJ's calling for the trip.  He photographed about 2500 pictures and he printed 600.  It took him 3 days of no sleep and constant printing and editing to get it done, but the mission was to get a shot of every child and give it to them and the house parents.  The parents were so happy, its never happened before and they will have them for the children for memories for years to come.  The children from Kampot have a special place in DJs heart and he cannot get within 100 feet without them grabbing him to hug and play.  He printed about 100 pictures of just these children.  Trust me, every child knows DJ. 


 The reaction to DJ's photos was awesome.  The parents divided them out amongst themselves for each child in their homes.

 The entire group.  About 400 strong including 350 children.  These guys have kept me busy!

 Fish again?  These guys love it.  The green things were filled with a meat I have no clue what it was.

Man Him, one of our sponsor children gets a chance for the first time to say hello to Wendy.  He truly loves us and was just so happy to hear her voice.  Having a Mom in America gives these kids hope.

I spent the afternoon on the beach and unfortunately no pictures were taken cause I wanted to spend all my time on the last day with the children.  Well guess what.... this 47 year old guy now has a heck of a sore back.  I threw kids in the air, and gave dozens of piggy back rides.  we played in the surf and just had a blast.  I saw a child working all alone on a sand castle.  If you know me, as a child I was the king of sand castles.  So I jumped in and we started building such an amazing structure.  Soon we had a half dozen helpers with us and we just played and built and spent time together.  You can see that these children are just like ours, no different, but in situation and in a country that is trying to recover from genocide.  Just yesterday the 4th and 5th person from Khmer Rouge was convicted.  Really?  They murdered about 3 million of their own people and 5 people have been help to account and the last two in 2014?  

This next story really encapsulates some of my strongest feeling and memories from the last week.  I am sitting at the back of the room with the little children up to age 6-7 and the closing song for the group comes on that I love.  I stand up and am singing with the group.  I think I am at least 50 ft from the group.  As I am singing I notice this little girl in the last row.  Such a little thing and she is looking at me straight in the eyes.  I sing another verse and she looks again and I sense she really wants me to come over.  I walk over singing and when I get to her, she just lights up with a huge grin and throws herself into my arms.  She wanted a hug and to sing with me.  We stand side by side singing together and she is looking up at me and just is so happy.  Its like that here.  The children mostly don't know enough english especially when they are young, but trust me, they can communicate if you pay attention to your heart.

The evening ends with the last blessing for the children.  This time it is much faster than when we did it last time.  Two lines with the children coming through the middle.  Most people are laying their hands on the children and asking for blessings.  Me, I take a different tact.  I get eye to eye, and tell them God Bless you as I touch them.  If they are tiny I kneel, if midsize I bend over and the larger children I stand.  But the eye contact is just beautiful.  These kids really react to it with such open hearts.  Again, I think I set the record for hugs.  Probably every third child grabs me for a hug.  Apparently I am a popular figure for these children. 

So that event ends and I look out in the room.  I see children all over and some are crying.  Its only then that I realize (I don't know why I didn't before) but this is the start of good bye.  I step down from the stage and one at a time children are coming over to me.  Some are smiling, some are frowning and sad.  A few.... When you hug, are crying, some are sobbing.  One little girl broke my heart.  I think I held her for at least 5 minutes while she sobbed and was just hanging on.  I think I must have said good bye to a hundred or more one at a time.  I had a few older children come up and say thank you for talking to them and for my message.  They said they would never forget it.  Wow, that is humbling to hear but I am so grateful that I hit the mark.  Many of the children I gave eagles to last year came up to me and thanked me.  One beautiful girl had the eagle on.  They all remember my story from last year and I guess I really touched them and had an effect on them (its in the 2013 blog if interested).  I didn't know.. but again, its humbling because I'm just a guy trying to help and they see more.  Let me tell you that when you see yourself reflected in the tears of an orphan on the other side of the world, you see a different person than the one you see shaving every morning in the states.  I think it sticks with you when you get home and forever if you let it.

The whole clan from our group!

I am off to bed, we are up at 430am to see them off in their buses.  More tears to come I am certain of that.

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