Sunday, August 3, 2014

Mountains, Rice paddys and God's precious gems



Another amazing today.  I awoke early again but this time around 6 after a good nights sleep.  I guess being absolutely exhausted really helped.  I went across the street for some coffee and then met the group for breakfast at 730.  We all jumped in the van and went to Phnom Pehn 1 orphanage for Sunday service. It was really something.  I can tell you that its different and the same.  The energy in the room is always something to behold.  These people young and old are so strong in their belief in Christ that it just comes through in everything they do.  The songs are louder and more vibrant, the sermons are more based in their everyday lives and troubles they face and the thanks they give is just something to behold.  We celebrated communion again today.  It was electric, simply the feelings in the room literally gave me goosebumps.  


 The orphanage and Church we went to this morning
 This is Piseth and a young lady I dont know the name of singing in the service.


Communion was so special!


After the service we spent a few moments meeting many of the children and adults that I saw last year.  One of the teenage girls that came to America last year and met Wendy was very much interested in how she was and wanted to know all about her.  Such a caring people.   Then four of us (myself, DJ, Sean and a translator/handyman jumped in a van and drove more than 3 hours south to the orphanage in Kampot province.  It is amazing how a dot on a map does no justice to a place on this earth.  As this was closer to the South China Sea, I expected a flatlands nearer the sea and a small town.  Instead I found myself on the river delta with mountains on either side.   

 The sun setting over the gorgeous mountains in southern Cambodia





Deeper and deeper south we journeyed until we stopped at an open air market about 30 minutes away.  It was time to get the children a treat!  So I bought them enough apples for each of the 30 children to have one and 10 watermelons!  We also grabbed a tape measure for the project we were here to do.


 Stopping quickly for some apples and watermelons for the Children!
We drove another 30 min or so and took a turn off the main road.  Now we were really heading into the rice paddies and far into the countryside.  It took about 15 minutes of driving dirt roads until we arrived.  The orphanage was as I had seen in pictures, but I was so surprised by the mountains all around.  

 The four amigos!  and the odd cow rump!
 Rural Cambodia

 The Road to the Orphanage
 A brand new compound that the children just moved into!

Nobody knew we were coming and as fate would have it Kimeng the house parent father was actually in Phnom Pehn – we had crossed on the road!  His wife and all the children greeted us nonetheless and it was joyous.  I knew I had to work on the water project but I had to spend some time with these children! So I sat down and shared with them who I was and the story of my family.  I had printed pictures of Wendy, Rachael and Matthew to share and so I passed them around and told them all about us.  I actually printed a picture of me as a young boy in the mountains and so that was really perfect!  They so identified with that. 


 Everyone loves a good story!

  I had purchased some glow in the dark bracelets and so I told them about how in their heart they shone brightly in God’s kingdom, I told them that life had ups and downs and just don’t forget that God is with us in the light and the dark.  Then we all ran to a cubby hole where is was dark and those bracelets shone! Very cool!  Then we sat on the floor and I took out my message of hope that I had thought to bring.  I took a bag of jewel beads out that I had left and poured them on the floor in front of them.  The gasps and wide eyes were amazing!


I asked them all to take a few and to share and they did.  Then I asked them to sit around me and to hold them up to the light to see how beautiful they were.  They all agreed with huge smiles!  I said that these were pretty, but they were made by men.  BUT they were beautiful and more precious than any jewel because God made them each and every one in His image and loved them and us all the same.  I cannot really explain how open these kids are when you just show them love.  Its so humbling.  Then I took out the string I had brought and asked DJ and Sean to work with them to make bracelets and necklaces for the jewels.




Such beautiful children.



I went with Somnant Pean our translator for the day but more importantly a very talented young man who I would work with over the next three hours to design a system for the water.  This home has a new filter from us, but what I did not know is that they have a well and a pond.  Today they are drawing water from the pond which is really just muddy water.  The well is 75 ft deep but it still is muddy water.  So we were designing a way to draw from the well with a pump and then clean the water of sediment before lifting it to the cistern on top of the house.  Once there it would flow unfiltered to the bathrooms and to the kitchen area where it would be pressurized and filtered for clean drinking water.  It is a pretty complex task and since parts are hours away, a good parts list is so important.

 The current water supply


 The new well head


Great team work, working on the plan!


The lady house parent invited us for dinner with them, but we did not want to take any of the children’s food so we declined.  


 She is such a loving parent to these children.  Here she is cooking dinner on the only cooking source they have (an open fire under a ragged tarp)  BTW it was fried rice with eggs and onions and soy sauce.  I was drooling at the smell from the open fire.

All of the children gathered as they sensed we were about to depart.  We hugged them and loved on them and shared smiles and words of encouragement.   I told them I would see them again in a few days at the camp and they were all so very excited to hear that.  It was time to go and when you realize that and you see them all looking at you with those beautiful faces, some smiles, and some frowns of sadness it really breaks your heart.  At least I will see them in a few days, that helps the sting a little.  It is impossible to explain how these children I have never met and who I spend a few short hours with have a place forever in my heart.  


 BYE!  Love you! 

Kimeng the father house parent drove back to the orphanage as we drove north to the city so he called our driver and in some remote spot at the intersection of who knows where, we pulled over to wait for him to pass.  He stopped and he and I who had talked on facebook for a year, but never met, finally got to meet each other.  It was so very cool!  

 Meeting my brother Kimeng! ... somewhere.... in Cambodia

We are now on the rest of the 3 plus hour drive back to the city and so I have had time to write this on the way.  We should arrive somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 pm, another long long day but one that I will never forget.

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