Operation Justice, Poi Pet, Cambodia - Day 1, Monday

AWESOMENESS! Our day started with breakfast (pancakes, but not like our pancakes - these were more like crumpets, but big ones). 

We then went off to the XP Centre for a time of prayer and worship, followed by our first lecture, by Malina Zlatkova (an XP leader who lives in Thailand and who oversees the child rescue and protection work). She spoke about trafficking and children at risk, sharing how Cambodian children are trafficked across the border into Thailand for forced labour and for sex tourism. Cambodian children have low value in Thailand and there is little defence or protection for them. There are no laws in place to help Cambodian children, because they count as illegal immigrants. In Cambodia, a country still in recovery from the terrible destruction wrought by the Khmer Rouge, there is not much infrastructure, and until recently, no social services of any description. Malina described different children she has encountered, including some of the children now living in Safe Haven, the school, orphanage and place of safety created by CambodianHope Organisation. She also shared about the idea, very prevalent in Asia, that AIDS will be cured by sex with a virgin. Which means that younger and younger children (they have to be young to guarantee virginity) end up being sold for that purpose. It was very tough to listen to all this; it is a very sad situation. On the surface it all sounds pretty hopeless, until you remember that lives are changed encounter by encounter, and one by one. 

One of the big initiatives of CHO is the creation of Safe Houses in every village, where 'at risk' children live with a host family, where families are helped and supported, and above all, where parents are educated about the reality of child trafficking and what is likely to happen to their children if they send them off with some stranger who promises them a good job in a far off city! CHO is also establishing what are called 'mat schools'... literally a mat under a tree in villages, where the children learn basic literacy, arithmetic, and how to keep themselves safe from traffickers. Mat schools take place a few days a week in some villages... the long term objective of CHO is to have a mat school in every village, as well as a Safe House. Anyway, I am getting sidetracked now... I am supposed to tell you about my day. More about CHO later... I was VERY impressed with the vision and with what they have achieved. Cambodian solutions for Cambodian people, but supported by other nations. It is really a wonderful work.

After Malina's session, we had a Cambodian Culture and basic Khmer language class... I am finding it difficult to remember any Khmer at all right now... I think it will start to stick after a while. Meanwhile each group has an interpreter; ours is a super chap named Narith who is extremely diligent about our practising our beginner language skills every time we get into the van to drive anywhere :-) 

Language lesson completed, we went on a tour, to see what CHO is doing in Poipet (I’m back on my favourite topic of the day :-)). We met the director, Chomno In. What a lovely person! He survived the trauma of being a teenage boy in a labour camp under the Khmer Rouge, and his heart is that no young person should suffer as he did. It is remarkable what this man has achieved with his dream, and incredible to hear how God has sent people  to team with him and to support him. Patricia King is one of them, which is how come we are all here in Poipet this week.

Destiny Cafe at Hope Transformation Centre

 CHO has a centre called Hope Transformation Centre (HTC), where a brand new initiative is about to begin. Girls rescued from prostitution will be employed in an apprenticeship structure so that they can learn a skill and earn a living at the same time. Accommodation will be provided to help them break the cycle of dependancy and helplessness.  The residential floor is ready and furnished, so the first girls should be coming to live there within the next few weeks. The goal is for HTC to be self-sustaining. Skills that will be taught include hairdressing, office work, sewing, and baking. At the moment the sewing project has started, along with the bakery and a super coffee shop called Destiny Cafe, and also Redemption Spa, where services such as manicures, facials, waxing, and massages are offered. 

Hope Transformation Centre

The HTC is just beautiful, and it is so inspiring to see what can be achieved if a person is willing to work towards a dream. It has cost Chomno a lot... he had a house and a good job in Phnom Penh, but his heart was such that he sold his home, gave up his job and moved himself and his family to Poipet, a dingy, scruffy city generally known as the ‘armpit of Cambodia’.

After our visit to the Centre, we went to a clinic, where there is an HIV ward and a TB ward – CHO provides the patients with food - the clinic does not provide it for them. We also went to see a safe house in a village, and as Patricia King pointed out, it was wonderful to see little children everywhere and to know that these particular children were safe. The villages are desperately poor, and the people have nothing much... but they smile. It makes you think, doesn’t it? 

Safe Haven

And then we went to Safe Haven, which is still being built, but 40 children rescued from trafficking are already resident there. The school is for the local children as well as the rescued children, so they are being re-integrated into society. Many of them are very badly damaged though, by the traumas they have experienced as well as by the drugs that were given to them to subdue them or to make them work harder. The children sang for us, in beautifully accented English! They were just adorable, and we would have loved to have stayed there longer. 


More about Cho's projects here: http://www.cambodianhopeorganization.org/projects.html


Back at the hotel, I was feeling rather peculiar ... a combination of confused body clock, humidity and heat. So I skipped lunch, had a cold shower and a nap instead. This was a good choice, as I felt much better when I woke up.


In the afternoon we had a session on prayer and intercession, along with a wonderful emphasis about being God’s arms of love for people. And then we had a surprise visit from the mayor of Poipet, who just happened to be in the area, and who, even though he had a very busy day, decided to pop in and say ‘Hello!’. He said that although it was a chance incident to him, it was the choice of and an appointed incident from God. And he thanked us so much for coming to help his city and said that he was eager to hear any ideas we had for how to improve things. 


Later we divided into small teams and each team went somewhere. My team (five of us, along with our interpreter and Bart Hadaway as our team leader) went to a street of brothels. This was really sad, and I found myself close to tears. These girls are SO young. Average ages between 14 and 18. We stopped and talked with some of them through our interpreter, and hugged a lot of them... when there are no words what else is there to do? One girl came running up to me and hugged me first. It touched my heart so much and I hugged her back for about 5 minutes, just praying that she would come to know what real love feels like, not this sick counterfeit that they are subjected to every night. She was just 18 years old.

Everywhere we went we were greeted by children. Children who smile and laugh and practise their English on us: ‘My name is....’ and ‘How are you? As my Cambodian is equally limited there was not much communication beyond that, but again, hugs and handshakes and high fives - which they fully understand and initiate! 50% of Cambodia's population are children...

Poipet children

At one point an old man came up to us and asked us what we were doing and why we were here, and we told him we were from all different countries and that God cared about the Cambodian people and had asked us to come, and then he went around and shook each of us by hand and thanked us so much for coming to help them. So humbling! There is no place for Western arrogance in this land...

Supper was a buffet at the Casino – a delicious encounter with authentic Thai food. And then it was time for a Treasure Hunt. I found the idea of treasure hunting intimidating to say the least. I was reassured when our team leader, Ken, pointed out that it is just a tool, like Alpha, that makes it easier to initiate conversation with people about God. In a nutshell, you spend a few minutes asking God for clues as to whom He would like you to speak to - these are the treasures. As a team you compare clues... and then you set off in search of the clues you have received! It certainly fine-tunes your ability to listen for the voice of God. It is not intended as a pressure though; the emphasis is on learning, and we were reminded of Jesus saying that 'His sheep know His voice."  

Supper at the Casino

I got what I thought were peculiar and probably incorrect clues... 'girl', 'blonde', 'blue' and 'shoes'. After all, what were the chances of finding a blonde haired girl in Poipet? Feeling rather insecure about the whole thing, I set off with my team, and we wandered around near the border crossing, looking for treasure. Some of our group were very excited to find rather specific direction... for example, one person had 'boy', 'under tree', and he also had a very specific picture of the tree... we went outside and there was the tree, and the boy standing under it! So he went over and chatted to the boy and told him how God had pointed him out to him and told him of God's deep and abiding love for him. Meanwhile, I watched the traffic circling around us. A girl on the back of a motorbike called out to me and waved and I smiled and waved back... and as she disappeared into the distance, I suddenly realised... she had been a Cambodian girl, but with hair dyed blonde - and she had been wearing turquoise blue sandals! I was astonished! And a bit disconcerted, because, after all, was I not supposed to have spoken to her? Thinking about it later though, I realised that it had been a kind and gracious lesson from God, reassuring me that yes I could and would hear His voice and His heart for the people I would meet over the next few days...  and of course, I could and did pray blessing over that girl anyway.


Poipet is a city that does not seem to sleep. Children and dogs roam the streets. Adults wander from place to place. Motorbikes are everywhere. The traffic never stops. And young girls sell themselves in Karioke bars and on street corners. There is always something happening. It's not all sad.... as I said, the people smile a lot. And there are street stalls selling food and all kinds of things everywhere. Lots of good interactions along the way.

These are early impressions. I know that I am far from understanding what life is like here....

Enough now; I am off to bed.