For breakfast I had an omelette. The staff at Destiny do a really
good job of making Western-style food. They are amused, always, at my request
for strong black coffee – cold, not hot, and with lots of ice! (This is one of
the few places around here where it is safe to have ice.) Breakfast eaten, I
got on with the job of writing my updates, typing up my notes from the week
before, and sorting photographs from Brazil. It was good to have time to do
these things.
I had lunch with Betty at one of the casinos. I followed her
direction and ordered the meal she likes most – chicken with cashew nuts. Delicious!
To drink, of course, I had coconut juice. I won’t have many more opportunities
to have my favourite drink this year. Over lunch we had a good chat about the
grand adventure we experience with God, and the uncertainty we learn to live
with. Betty is facing some big changes in the near future. She does so,
equipped with a great history of seeing God’s interventions in her days. I look
forward to seeing what will happen next.
Emerging from the casino we were met by some of ‘our’ street
children. Smiling they came running over, eager for hugs. This is one small
thing that makes me very happy. That they know we are going to be pleased to
see them, and that we will treat them like normal children we know, and laugh
and smile and hug. These are the children of darkness, the children whom people
hesitate to touch, because they are scruffy and dirty and probably have lice.
The children for whom touch most commonly is in the form of a slap or a push or
a kick. But they have helped us see beneath the surface.
I hugged the boy who caught my eye on that first day – caught it
because of the stoic endurance in his young face and the sadness in his eyes.
Today his grin was wide and his eyes dancing. He snuggled into my hug, and when
I offered him second hug after the others had had theirs, he smiled with pure
happiness. His life is hard. I know a hug doesn’t change that. But I like to
think that maybe this moment gives him strength for it, at least for today. And
again I see it – it is not such a big and difficult thing to make a difference
in the life of a child. Love really is what makes the world go around. The
challenge is in finding how to express that love most effectively.
Later Betty asked me what I would do; what was the one thing I
would change here in Poipet right now if it were possible. And my answer was a
simple one. A beginning. And as I said it, I wondered if this was not exactly
what I am supposed to do. I answered her question without hesitation; in fact,
I didn’t even have to think: ‘I would like the street children to be given food
and water and then some basic education, every day, or at least a few days of
every week’. This answer embraces the reality that I, ‘Westerner’, don’t have
the power or even the understanding needed to change their situation. But I can
make it better. We can. At least these children could go to sleep without the
need to ignore thirst because they had no money to buy bottled water. At least
they could work with energy because they have had something to eat. And perhaps,
if they could learn to read and write, they could find a way out of the
lifestyle of abuse and exploitation that they live. Most of all, in reaching
out a hand, we transfer a strong and very powerful message – ‘You are
deserving, you are a good person, you
are worth it.’
Earlier Andrea had given me a phone so that she could phone me to
let me know when she was finished with her meetings; we planned to have supper
together. Very focused on my photo editing task, I did not at first realise
that the phone that had been ringing so insistently at various intervals over
the last 40 minutes or so was the one she had lent me! In my defence I will say
that it was a different ringtone; truth is that I was amazed at the power of
focus – how it shuts out all distractions. Now to utilise the same degree of
focus in my horsemanship!
We went to yet another restaurant at the Casino for supper... I
was not hungry at all, and so I just had a coffee milkshake. And we chatted
about the children and about my ideas with regard to starting up some sort of
preschool/‘mums and littlies’ education project. Called ‘Roots’, the focus will
be on empowering and envisioning mothers, and on laying good educational
foundations for small children. We discussed some of the cultural and social
challenges, not least of which is the Asian perspective that the purpose of
children is to look after their parents. The Asian picture of family
development seems to be more of a circle, while the Western one is more linear.
We have much to give to each other. But I realise afresh that I have such a lot
to learn. My conclusion is that the idea of ‘Roots’ is good, but maybe a little
premature... I am going to hold onto it for a while; maybe begin developing the
curriculum, and wait to see what develops about implementation next year after
the Poipet church has had more time to get established. Initially I had thought
to run the project through CHO; for various reasons this no longer seems
feasible. And I am certainly not ready to try to do something on my own. I need
the experience and guidance of people who understand Cambodia better than I do.
Alongside this, I realise that I have another emphasis – street
children. This emphasis came up in both Brazil and Cambodia, and I find my
heart responding. I wonder whether this is part of my picture.... I will wait
and pray and see. It would be so good to see some sort of basic needs provision
in place. But chatting with Andrea, I realise that my simple idea, of food and
water, is harder to implement than it seems. There are many hidden cultural and
political and social challenges – potential pitfalls – that could sabotage my
great idea. Andrea encourages me with the reminder that the thought that is ‘Is
too hard to implement’ is not the correct answer; that there is a way that will
work, but that persistence and perseverance is needed to find it.
Back in my hotel room I am quiet and thoughtful. Hey God!
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