A Week in Cambodia Pt 1

We arrived to Cambodia, after over 40 hours of traveling, tired, greasy, and in need of a bed. Instead of sleeping, we began our first full day in the city.

Day 1: It was a blur: After putting our bags in our beautiful hotel, the Monsoon, we went to lunch with the head of the Hard Places Ministry, Alli. We stuffed ourselves on Chinese noodles, dumplings, and duck, while taking in the faces and scenes around us. The streets are filled with motorbikes, tuk-tuks and a few cars. People weave in and out of the crazy traffic. Despite the chaos and the lack of any and all traffic laws, no one is hit.

After lunch, we went for dessert at a pastry shop called Blossom. Blossom is a rehabilitation center for women who have left prostitution. They girls at Blossom learn the trade of baking and cake decorating. The shop is filled with delicious fancy cupcakes and elaborate cakes. After dinner and a walking tour, in the rain, of the city, we were finally allowed to sleep!

Day 2: Let the tours begin: We began our day with an official insider’s look of Phnom Penh. The tour guides from the Hard Places tour company greeted us first thing in the morning. Every one of our tour guides now works full-time with the Hard Places Community. Their walk with the Lord was evident as each tour guide asked how we came to know Jesus, and freely shared his own story of believing.

The Killing Fields: Later that afternoon, we headed to the Killing Fields. Throughout Cambodia, there are mass gravesites, a byproduct of the Khmer Rouge genocide. On our tour of the killing fields we walked past many large holes in the ground that each formerly served as a grave for hundreds of people. In one grave, excavators retrieved the skeletons of a 100 naked women and children. Another burial site was filled with100’s of headless corpses. Since the Khmer Rouge soldiers were poor and bullets were expensive, they resorted to barbaric and cruel ways to kill their thousands of victims. The Cambodian government has erected a large monument on the site of the Killing Fields to honor the bones of the dead. The monument is surrounded by glass so that onlookers can see each tier. The first tier is for the clothes of victims, the next seven house each skull that has been discovered. The excavated skulls have each been marked to show the horrific ways that each victim was killed. The final tiers hold the remaining bones such as jaws, teeth and femurs.

Day 3: A day in the village: We boarded a bus at 6am , and headed to a province outside of the city. It took an hour to navigate the small dirt roads as cows and people blocked the way. Once we arrived, we served with the Hard Places interns as they led games and Bible stories for the 30 kids already waiting. The few adult members of the church reach out to the local children, in hopes of also reaching their parents by extension. After finishing the kid’s time, we were ushered into a small cement building for church. It was unbelievable experience to hear the walls of this small concrete building echoing the sounds of both Khmer and English singing full-heartedly, Here I am to Worship.

When it was cool enough, about 98 degrees, we went with church members around the village to conduct home visits. Our large group of both Khmer and white people naturally attracted attention. People would stop to stare, but as we approached, they would pull up every chair they owned and invite us to sit. We prayed with and for each home, and as we left each house more and more people were added to our number. The day ended with a tour of the Buddhist temple. The temple is not as elaborate as Ankor Wat in Siam Reap, but the collection of ancient rock built temples is still both sad and beautiful.