A Week in Cambodia- Pt 3

Wat Phnom:

Everyday we had the privilege to join the HPC staff to host a kid's club at Wat Phnom, the Wat.  The Wat is actually the site of a large Buddhist temple. You can take long winding steps to the top of a hill to make sacrifices to Buddha. Children sell flowers to give to Buddha, and the monks that live there offer prayers. At the bottom of the hill, the experiences of the Wat are very different. A large park area surrounds the temple where vendors sell food and goods, kids run around naked or in worn-out pajamas, and women wait hoping a man will buy them for a while. 

It is with this backdrop that every weekday the staff of HPC hold a Kid's Club. At 2pm kid's begin to arrive at the large gazebo where the club is held. The staff lay out a tarp for kids to sit and play UNO and other games. A large line of older kids forms, as staff members pull out a giant jump rope.  While kids are arriving, everyone just plays.  Babies come naked and the staff puts on diapers. Kids come bruised and bleeding, and the staff does medical care. It's a beautiful sight watching over 20 kids just jump into the rhythm.  

We planned to help with free play, the formal games, and then put on a skit and craft for the kids. On the first day, as we all played, the rains began to fall. People from all over the park, sought our little gazebo for safety. They piled in: pimps, prostitutes, street vendors and shady looking men. I was nervous about how we were going to continue with our Bible skit with this unplanned audience, but the show must go on. Dressed up as silly puppets and a giant dog, we stood before pimps and prostitutes, and talked about the perfect love of the one true God.

Each time at the Wat went in a similar pattern: free play as kids began to come from all over the park, then formal games, then a short Bible skit where we looked ridiculous and Khmer staff had to translate, and lastly a small craft. Kids started to recognize us, and everyone had a favorite child. We observed as one kid came clothed the first day and showed up naked the next, or where everyday girls proudly sported their mix-matched and dirty clothes while holding a baby on their hip. 

The Wat is different from any park I have ever observed in America. Sin is done in the open, and everyone seems to be a potential threat or a potential victim. Despite the darkness of this area, for one hour each weekday at a small gazebo, you can hear dozens of children laughing and playing and hearing about the perfect love of Christ. As our hour ended the kids would line up, pray to Jesus together and then receive their free food. The Wat is a sad and beautiful place, where we are praying for God to do mighty things. 

Thursday, our last day working in Cambodia, seemed to come without warning. One day we were sitting in the Parrish's living room planning Kid's Clubs, and then the next day we were waking up at 6am to head out for our final attempt at ministry in Phnom Penh. 

Our Last Day: 

This day was unique for everyone, both Americans, Khmer staff and students, because we were taking a field trip to a government run orphanage. The director of the orphanage is a big-whig government official. Government officials in Cambodia are not always on the side of justice, so having a government official who looks favorably on your work and ministry is important for getting things done. For the children associated with the Hard Places ministry, government connections can be the difference between living a life of fear and shame versus living a life of freedom and restoration.  

We wanted to bless the children and staff in the orphanage and further strengthen the bond already formed between the director of the orphanage and, Allie, the director of Hard Places. It was decided that we would host a carnival/soccer tournament for all of the kids on the grounds of the orphanage. It was a long, hot and beautiful day as we worked (HARD) herding small kids who know very little english from station to station.  Intellectually, I believe God was doing amazing things that day, and perhaps the rest of the group was having awesome and beautiful moments, but as for me, I mostly felt sweaty, ant bitten/attacked and exhausted. It was a long day, and, even though I knew that our work was so significant and crucial for these children, I was definitely ready when it was time to leave. Caked in dirt, grime and probably countless other things, I prayed for a shower and a clean bed. When we were informed that we had to walk up four flights of stairs and debrief, I was less that ecstatic. 

And then the most beautiful thing happened. The staff that we had been working with all week, the staff that loves on these sweet children everyday, the staff that never leave the poverty, destruction, and darkness surrounding this area, honored us.  Covered in my sweat and bad attitude, I was humbled as they thanked our team for coming and sharing in their burden. Staff members fought to present us each with a traditional Cambodian scarf. There were hugs and pictures and lots of silliness.  After the scarf ceremony they brought in tables of traditional Khmer food. They explained that after a week of trying traditional American foods, it was now time for us to try their treats. 

And so it goes, in a state of joy and ecstasy we popped frogs, roaches, crickets, half hatched boiled duck eggs, pig cakes, and things we didn't even recognize. It wasn't all terrible, but it wasn't all delicious. It was the perfect end to an amazing trip.