Cambodia Trip - Thursday, Day 4

Today I woke up, completely refreshed, at 07h00. My body has – it seems – adjusted to the different time zone.

At breakfast I sat with Lay, and we discussed the weather, amongst other things. To my amusement I heard that October and November is the cool season in Cambodia. My body certainly does not agree!

At the XP Centre we had a wonderful ‘God Time’, worship and prayer, followed by a time of sharing and praying for each other. We have had two young women visiting us from Phnom Penh. Gillian is from Ireland, and Shelly is from the USA, but they spent time last year working with Heidi Baker in Mocambique, and then came to Cambodia. They are involved in the establishing of IRIS, Cambodia, and they are working with other NGO’s in Phnom Penh, especially ‘Daughters of Cambodia’. 

They shared something of their experiences during this last year. They, like us, have been working predominantly with prostitutes and street children. They have however been doing it for longer. It is one thing to do this kind of work for a week; quite another to do it for a year. It is not easy, reaching out to these people. There is so much pain. It gets rather overwhelming at times. They spoke of the importance of keeping one’s eye on Jesus so as not to become discouraged and give up. Later, one of our team had a picture of them on a roundabout. She said that maybe it felt like they were just going around and around, but that every time they came around, they were seen, riding that white horse, and that this had impact. It was good to be able to pray for them and to bring some encouragement to them. We also prayed for XP leaders on the ground here – Malina for Thailand and Andrea for Cambodia.

The vision of IRIS Cambodia is to, amongst other things, have a base in Sihanoukville, by the sea; to have a drop in centre, and safe homes. There are, apparently, a lot of homeless children who live on the beach... and sadly, there are the brothels too.

At one point in the morning Lay came over and thanked me for coming to Cambodia, and for loving the people of Cambodia. What do you say in response to a thing like this? He is a man who carries a gentle humility and a tremendous quietness, but there is so much strength in him too. It feels like I who should be thanking him, not the other way around. I said that I was so honoured to have been given the opportunity by God to come, and to love Cambodia. That is was a great privilege. Which it is.

On my way to lunch I was greeted by a little sweetheart boy, who came running over to give me ‘High Fives’. Except that having given them, he put his hands back in mine and laughed up at me. I picked him up and hugged him, and he hugged me back. There are no words to explain how interactions like these just pull my heart right outside of myself. It takes a while to regain my equilibrium. The gift of love given and received is powerful beyond measure.

On my way back from lunch I was hailed by 4 other young boys, shouting out ‘Hello, Hello’ and smiling and waving. So I stopped to give them some stickers. They really like getting these, and they laughed so much as I stuck them on the shirts of the two that had shirts on – and on the bare chests of the other two!

On one of the side streets of Poipet there is a market, and this is where our team went for the afternoon. We had a couple of chairs and noticeboard offering prayer, and we set up our little ‘prayer centre’ in the shade of a nearby shop. It was very hot. Immediately three small children came running up to see what we were doing. I gave them some stickers and after that they were our shadows, following us everywhere, giggling and laughing and chatting amongst themselves. It turned out that the two little girls were twins, and that their home was nearby, but that they came to the market to see what was going on as there was nothing to do at their home. We never did manage to establish where the little boy was from and whether he had a home. 

Whenever we hugged or touched these children, they just melted into our arms, and it was easy to feel how empty their ‘love tanks’ were. They just soaked up whatever attention we gave them as if they were desert sand. I had such a lump in my throat. Children should never need loving like this. They are supposed to be full.

People stopped, mainly because they were curious, and when we explained who we were and asked if they would like us to pray for them, most said ‘Yes please’. After a while a group of teenage boys, street kids, stopped. One boy, asked for prayer. Another boy sat down on a chair to wait for him. I walked over to him and put my arm around his shoulders and he just leaned into me. Like a whipped dog shown a bit of kindness. His pain was so tangible it made it hard to breathe. Rage and tears were threatening to take over. Rage that a boy of 15, who has not really even begun to live yet, should be so wounded; tears because there was so little I could do to make any difference at all.

I knelt down next to him and asked him his name and how old he was. It was Poon, and he was 15 years old. I said that I could feel a lot of pain coming from his heart; that I thought he had suffered a lot in his life. He looked at me and whispered: ‘Yes.’ Kim, my interpreter, ascertained that yes, he was a street child, and that he no longer lived with his parents. At this point the leader of his group called and said he had to go. I asked the leader if I could pray with him for 5 minutes and grudgingly he gave permission, but I no longer had Poon’s attention; he was too afraid. Worried that there would be negative consequences for him if he delayed much, I prayed quickly, asking God to protect him and keep him safe. I had a picture of a huge blanket being wrapped around him, and so I told him this and said that I would continue to pray for him, and then I let him go. I would have liked a photograph to remember him, but there was no time for that. Within a few seconds he was on the back of a motorbike with 3 other boys and speeding off in a cloud of dust.

Later, in our van, there was a bitterness in my mouth as Ken told me that he had seen someone beat this boy Poon with a whip. Why? I don’t know. Maybe he was stealing, or trying to steal? It’s not easy to make a living just by begging. Maybe it was just because he was a street child, vermin, riff-raff? Maybe if you had asked the person who beat him, he would have said: ‘Because I can!’ Who would speak up for a child like this or protect him in any kind of way? He might as well have worn a sign saying ‘Whip me’! 

One thing is certain though... this child was so down-trodden that he would not be much of a threat to anyone. I couldn’t help but remember our Brazilian boys, similar in age and situation, and it was a while before I was able to smile again.

Back at our hotel there was time to begin writing an update... this one that I hope to finish now! And I had coconut juice with Elizabeth, also from England.

In the evening there was the weekly Kid’s Club at the XP Centre. This was great fun – we played Musical Chairs and it was wild and raucous and noisy! The street children from the day before were there, looking as wild and dishevelled as ever, but they were smiling and happy, and pleased to see us.

Supper was at the Asian Buffet at the Casino at the border, and I had Thai noodles and chicken, which was just delicious. I have to confess that I had two helpings, not because I was hungry, but because the food tasted so good.

In the evening we had a Praise and Worship session in the street outside XP. And then it was back to our hotel, for bed... and we were more than ready to be there.