Sophy's Visit

Sophy Kann is the Operation Justice Director with XP Missions. I met her in 2012, and we have become good friends. It was a lovely surprise, last year, while in Cambodia, to hear that she had been invited to a wedding in England. We waited with bated breath to see if her visa application would be approved, and were delighted when it was. We then invited Sophy to spend the week after the wedding with our family in Hampshire. 

It was an amazing privilege to have her with us, and the things that happened during our short week together really warmed my heart. 

First, we were able to take her to meet the UK contingent of Kingdom Horse and some of the Horses for Orphans team. As I had told her a lot about our love for Brazil and Ingela's project there, it was wonderful to connect the pieces. 


Later in the week, our good friends from Brazil, the Santiagos, came to visit, and we had a culture day, during which Sophy taught the children about Cambodia, and prepared a Cambodian meal for us. (At least, it was similar to a Cambodian meal - Sophy was not happy because the ingredients were not correct. It is not easy, for example, to find fresh lemongrass in England!) Again, there was a wonderful sense of distances being breached and the world being made small. I love Brazil and I love Cambodia. Living in England, I am equally far away from both countries, and they, of course, are extremely far from each other. But God brought together representatives of all three countries, to sit together and talk and enjoy a meal and worship our God, the same God for us all. 


Over the weekend, we met with good friends of ours who run a church in Swindon. They invited Sophy to share about XP Missions, and we ended up doing so together. Afterwards, they took up an offering for Sophy's work in Cambodia. Again, it was a special time, and who would have believed it possible, that she and I would get to share the beautiful stories of children rescued and restored - in an English context. 

 The final thing in a week of special things, was that I got to introduce Sophy to my precious Highland pony, Teri. I gave her a lesson in horsemanship and then she had a ride. Not long, because it was very cold in January, and Sophy was not used to our weather at all!

Sharing with Patricia King

Just after my return from Cambodia, we went to Devon, for a conference where Patricia King was a speaker. I went over to say 'Hello' and give her an update about the children in the safe house. It was a real privilege then to be invited to share news from Cambodia with the conference delegates. It was delightful to tell them about the children and how well they were doing.

So often, when thinking about these trips, I find myself reflecting on the mystery that I go to give, but end up a recipient. The joy, the love, the fellowship and connection with people on the other side of the world, the tremendous honour of 'stopping for the one' as Heidi taught, the sense of partnering with my Father in things that are close to His heart... all combine to make me feel so gifted, so blessed, so privileged.

Conclusions

Reflecting on this trip, I have wondered whether it is worth it - the high financial, physical, and emotional cost. Sometimes I think that I should just send money and stay home.

But then I think about the things that happened in such a short time, and of Patricia King's 'The Light BELONGS in the Darkness', and I realise that it is very good that I go in person, both for myself and for others.

What were the highlights for this particular trip?

* Spending time with Andrea Aasen who heads up XP's Operation Justice, Cambodia, and meeting Shelly Boer, Amy Learn, and Jen Jewett of IRIS Cambodia; there is something incredibly precious about being in the presence of such laid-down lives.
* Being part of an incredible team that was composed of citizens of many nations: Mark & Sharon from Australia, Suzanna from Hong Kong, Rome, Cynthia and George from Canada, Rachael, Jenn, Christen, and Lorraine from the USA....
* Re-connecting with my amazing and much-loved Khmer friends - Sambo, Rose, Sophi and Kim
* Narith Chhoeum coming all the way from Palin to see me, and us all going out for supper together
* Delicious food, especially the salad I had at 'Daughters of Cambodia''s restaurant, and my meal at the Khmer restaurant
* Coconut!

* Visiting Phnom Penh for the first time - a city that had captured my heart and my imagination since watching 'The Killing Felds' so many years before.
* Visiting the Killing Fields and S-21 prison; a difficult but important experience
* Hearing Sambo's testimony
* Visiting New Life church
* Visiting 'Daughters of Cambodia's restaurant and shop and seeing something of this wonderful ministry at work.
* Meeting Pastor Chuck not just once, but twice, when circumstances dictated that I would not see him at all (I had asked God about it though!)
* Hearing and receiving from long-term missionaries like Eric and Ginny Hansen, Steve and Molly, and Alice Collier
* Our daily 'God Times'

* Singing the Creation song with yet another group of Khmer children
* Praying for the teenage boy in the hospital with the incredibly sad eyes - praying for joy. I had faith for this, because I saw God do it with a boy in Brazil.
* Visiting with the elderly couple in the village where we washed feet
* Seeing Johnnie and Esther in the Safe House and being with Lorraine when she bought and delivered their bikes

So many precious things, treasures, collected in one short week. It is this that keeps on bringing me back to Cambodia.

Safe House and other Special Treats

I woke up with a sense of excitement at the thought of going to New Life Fellowship this morning. I had met Pastor Chuck McCaul the year before, in Poipet, and had enjoyed hearing about his ministry in Cambodia. I loved the vision of his church which was (quoting from the website): " To plant a New Testament church in Phnom Penh which will have a positive influence on every sector of Cambodian society: religion, education, politics, social relationships, business, sports, and communications - and will be a model and resource centre for planting churches in every province of Cambodia with the same philosophy and foundation and to send Cambodians as missionaries to other countries." And I had kept in touch with him via Facebook, hearing updates about the church plant in Poipet. I had also chosen to sponsor the school-fees of the little boy who had had such fun playing computer games on my laptop the year before, and Pastor Chuck was overseeing this sponsorship.

I was looking forward to seeing some of the fruit of  Pastor Chuck's labours, and I was not disappointed. New Life Church hums with life. As we arrived, people were leaving from the first service, and others were arriving for the second service. To my surprise I found Pastor Chuck, just coming out the gate as we were going in. There was time for a quick hug and a photograph, and then we were swept up into the building in a sea of happy faces and soon found ourselves seated near the front. The service was in Khmer, but there was a visiting speaker and she spoke in English with a translator, so we were easily able to follow. She spoke on 'Sowing and Reaping'. (Click on the link for a summary of her excellent talk). The worship was really special; songs we knew well, but sung in Khmer.

After church we went for lunch, and then we helped Andrea pack up the resources that had been used for the XP outreaches. And then Lorraine and I left with Sophy and Andrea to buy bicycles for the XP children who live in the Safe House. As the truck was fully loaded, we had to go to the house first in order to offload everything, so that we would have room for the bicycles. This all took a while, and it was close on 4pm by the time we set off in search of the bicycle shop Sophy had been told was near a market place. Well, we found the market place, no problem. The bicycle shop was another story! It was a case of asking for directions, being directed down increasingly narrow alleyways and pathways, and eventually finding ourselves stuck in front of a pile of greens in the midst of what looked like a vegetable market. But no bicycle shop anywhere! Eventually, still following instructions from various passersby, we found ourselves back on the main road. And there, on the other side, was the bicycle shop. It hadn't been necessary to drive through the market after all! One thing I must say, is that we got to see something of the incredible fortitude, patience and driving skill of Andrea. I suspect that some of my old habit patterns might have come to the fore in those circumstances, with at least a little snarling and swearing. She, on the other hand, kept her cool, even when someone's motorbike handle scraped a nasty scratch along the side of our vehicle as they squeezed past us.

We managed to do a U-turn (no small feat of courage in Cambodia!) and parked outside the bicycle shop on the main road. Oh no! It was closed. By now it was well after 5pm, and it was getting dark. There were some food sellers in the street, and one of them went to call the shop owner. I was surprised to find him willing to open his shop for us. So within a short while, some very grateful ladies were ready to choose bicycles. Lorraine and some of her friends in the USA had raised the money, and there was enough to buy 5 bicycles - one for each of the XP children and one for the carer and one for the carer's son. What fun it was, choosing them all.

It took quite a long time, choosing bicycles, waiting while the pedals and baskets were attached, and finally loading them into the truck. Esther's little bicycle didn't fit in alongside the bigger bicycles and ended up being tied on the back. We were concerned that this arrangement would not last all the way back to the Safe House, and Kristen volunteered to sit in the back with the bicycles, to keep a supervisory eye on them. It was just as well that we did this, because we hit a particularly deep pothole, and Esther's bike broke free of it's ties and fell into the road. Lorraine and I jumped out and ran as fast as we could, to where it was lying. I could see approaching motorcycles and all I could think of was the disappointment our little sweetheart would experience if her bike was damaged. Fortunately we managed to pick up the bike and take it to safety before someone rode over it. Back at the vehicle we found poor Sophy in a state of shock; for some reason she thought it was Kristen who had fallen off the back, rather than a bicycle!

We arrived at the Safe House to find the children besides themselves with excitement. Esther was on her bike before we had a chance to remove the packaging, and with an imperious command of: "Move away! Move away!" she prepared to set off into the dark. She was most disappointed to realise that there is an art to cycling, and that she has not yet mastered it! Johnnie was hiding in the bushes, completely overwhelmed with happiness; you could see his bright smile flashing even thought he was not willing to come out just then. But after a while he did, and he was very proud to point out his bike - the red one. The dog was running around, sensing the excitement, and there was a lot of hugging and laughter. It was a very happy time, enhanced by the croaking of frogs in the background. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but by now it was getting really late, and Kristen was due to take the overnight bus to Poipet at nine. So reluctantly, and with a few last hugs, we left.


 Driving back in the dark, we were amused to find ourselves behind a van with a motorbike protruding from its rear. It seems that we were not the only ones driving bikes around Phnom Penh that night!

Back at the hotel there was just enough time for a quick supper, and then it was time for sad farewells. It had been a good trip and a worthwhile outreach. We parted with a clear sense that this was not an end, merely a pause, and that we would certainly be seeing each other again.

Washing Feet

Today we went to one of the village communities in the city, where we washed feet. Following the example Jesus modelled for us just before His death, we find that it has a powerful way of expressing our hearts and opening the way to further conversation with people. In Khmer culture, the feet are the lowest and the least honourable part of the body. When we come and wash their feet, they understand that we are honouring them on the deepest possible level. In a country where life is bought and sold; where Cambodians are often seen as inferior by the nations around them, and where the old and the weak and the poor have even less value; where hearts are still broken after years of trauma and rejection and shame and suffering, this means so much.

We started off washing the feet of the children, and of course it was ticklish, which made them laugh and laugh. We had 7 wash basins, so the team took it in turns to wash feet. Some of the people started crying when we washed their feet. I had three little boys come to have their feet washed, one after the other. The first two giggled all the time, but the third was very serious. He seemed a thoughtful child, without any of the frivolousness of his peers. However, he didn't seem sad. I could imagine him as a MP one day.... What if I was washing the feet of a future leader of Cambodia!

After my turn to wash feet, I wandered over to where Rome was chatting with a family. This family had been very welcoming when they saw us arriving, calling out greetings and smiling and waving. Rome asked if there was anything he could pray for, and the husband said that he had less energy as he was getting old. So Rome prayed and asked that he could have more energy and strength than before. The couple had a beauty and a dignity and a gift of hospitality and they made us very welcome, inviting us to sit with them and talk. They were very interested to hear where we had come from and our ages. They introduced us to their son and his wife and daughter - their grandchild. They were a very connected family. I found myself thinking that this must be like old Cambodia, Cambodia before a whole generation was so mercilessly wiped out with the resulting defragmentation of culture and society and family.

The son was a strong and beautiful young man, and as I looked at him I had a definite impression that he had a lot of leadership on him, and that he had power to influence his community, but that he had to choose whether to use this power for good or for bad. I shared this with Kim, and she said that his dad had told her that he was taking drugs. I felt that there was such a big calling for him, and so much that God would do through him, but that there was a choosing that had to take place. The impression remained, so I asked Sambo to translate for me and I shared this with him. I told him it was to encourage him, and because I really wanted to see him enter into all that is meant for him. He listened attentively, and thanked me. I felt so much for him. So much potential. Please God, let him not waste it.

The mother of this young man was very lovely. She had grace and dignity and I found myself thinking of the woman described in Proverbs 31. She shared that she had five children; I said so did I.  She then showed me a photo of herself and her husband when they were younger. The same grace and dignity was present.

Meanwhile, another elderly lady arrived, much older than them. She said she also wanted prayer for her age. The husband of the family told us that she was ninety years old! She was amazingly healthy and agile for her age. And she was so full of joy; she smiled all the time. But she didn't have a single tooth in her mouth!

We prayed for her, asking God to bless her and strengthen her. She then told us that she was a Christian, and that she went to church every Sunday. She also told us that she used to be a Khmer dancer, and as she started to show us hand movements we caught a glimpse of how lovely she must have been. She was quite astonishing; she was so old, but so full of life!

We chatted a little longer, and then it was time to go. As we prepared to leave the husband of the family said please to visit again and that we were welcome in his home anytime.  We left feeling so favoured. We came to honour them, but they honoured us. It is amazing how often this happens here in Cambodia.

We then went straight for lunch - at a Western restaurant. Cynthia was completely overwhelmed at the size of her sandwich!

Back at the hotel we had some time with Eric Hanson, husband of Ginny, who runs Sak Saum. They have been in Cambodia since 2004, and he shared a little about their lives and their work and about the heart with which they approach it. He spoke about servanthood, and about how Jesus washed His disciples' feet, demonstrating the attitude with which we must live. It was very relevant considering that this was exactly what we had been doing earlier that day. He told us about the 'Khremar' (I'm not sure of the spelling), a scarf most Cambodians have, and which is used for many purposes. At the end he gave us each one as a gift; to remind us always that our calling is to serve. It was a very precious thing, and it felt like an impartation from his own serving heart came along with the scarf.

In the evening we all went out for supper. Somewhat to our surprise, it was raining hard. Which made it rather hard to do what we had planned for the evening, namely take a walk along the river and see if there were any people in need that we could pray for. We returned to our hotel and after a lot of joking around and dilly-dallying, decided to have a night off so that we could do a bit of processing, thinking, writing and praying. We are a great team, and we have such a lot of fun together, but nothing changes the fact that there is overwhelming hardship and desperate need all around us, and we see some pretty heart-breaking things. It is so important to take our own hurts and reactions to all this to Jesus day by day, and to allow ourselves time and room to process our own emotions and thoughts...

I had hoped to catch up with my friend Rigen. Rigen was one of the translators in Poipet on my first trip to Cambodia, and we have kept in touch via Facebook. It is nearly two years since I have seen him, and we had arranged to meet in the hotel lobby at 5. But then he contacted me to say that his father was in hospital, unconscious and maybe dying.

Later that night Sambo contacted me with the sad news that Rigen's dad had in fact died.

Women's Ministry Focus

This morning Ginny Hanson came to speak to us about her life and work here in Phnom Penh. She and her husband Eric, run In His Steps International, an organisation that oversees various community projects and interventions in Cambodia. Ginny came to share with us about one of these, Sak Saum. Quoting from the website, Sak Saum is dedicated to the rescue, restoration, transformation and rehabilitation of vulnerable and exploited people by creating a "nurturing, empowering program which facilitates vocational training in sewing, excellent products, and community development."

Ginny's compassion, dedication and power came through clearly as she shared from her heart about her work, and later, when we went to visit the showroom of Sak Saum, we got to see the quality of the results for ourselves. Sak Saum products are beautifully made, and along with the pleasure of owning a lovely item, you get to participate in the joy of restoring dignity to a person. So it was with a particular sense of purpose that I bought myself a handbag. Inside is written 'For Freedom'. Yes, Absolutely. More please Lord!

We went to one of Daughters of Cambodia's 'Sugar 'n Spice' cafe's for lunch. This was a very special treat for me, as I have had a particular love for the work of Daughters ever since I first heard of it. This organisation offers women working in the sex industry a viable alternative, empowering them to set themselves free. Choice is power. Never turning anyone away, Daughters of Cambodia offers training in seven different retail and service businesses.

'Sugar 'n Spice' is one of these businesses. And the salad I had for lunch was one of the nicest - and the most unusual - I have ever eaten: green mango, carrot and cucumber salad with a coconut dressing. I liked the environment and the decor. And I loved being there.

Upstairs in the same building is the Phnom Penh House of Prayer.

In the afternoon we went to one of the slums. This visit left me hoping that I will never again allow words of complaint about my home out of my mouth. Truth is that I probably will, back there in my comfortable first world. But maybe I will do so a little less often, a little less quickly...

I have complained about the inconvenience of having only one bathroom; these people have no bathroom.

I have complained that our house is very noisy, with so many people in it; these people live, a whole family, in one ramshackle room.
I have complained that there are too many chores to do - but I have running water, cold and hot; electricity; a washing machine, windows in my walls.
I have complained that it is hard work, caring for a family. These women show me what hard work really looks like. And yet they have dignity, and deserve respect for the grace with which they cope in very difficult circumstances.


The village we went to is in an area that may flood during the rainy season. So many of the houses are built on stilts, and there is a narrow wooden passageway along the edge so that you can get from one house (room) to another. You walk along this passageway, hoping that it will not collapse, and look down... below is a pile of refuse. Great breeding ground for vermin and disease, especially with water added.

At the end of this walk way is a small room that is rented by XP. It is used for teaching, children's activities and minstry to women. Today, Tracey, Suzanna and I met with some ladies and painted their nails for them. With a lot of help from Rose, our translator, we were able to have some sort of communication with a mother, her daughter and her young grandchild. Three generations, and they looked so alike. Tracey and I had both left our glasses behind, as we had not realised that we would be painting nails! It was rather funny. Rose explained the problem to the grandmother, but she wanted her nails painted anyway. I did my best, with quite a bit of instruction from her. I don't think she was very satisfied with the result, because later she cleaned the nail polish off - but she wore it for a while first, I think so as not to offend me!


The daughter had a very swollen eye. We asked if we could pray for it, and she agreed. We prayed and she said it felt better. We prayed again, and this time she was able to open her eye and she said it felt much better.

It was such a shocking thing, to see how these people, many many people, were living. I feel completely wordless when I try to describe it. Terms like squalor, filth, poor, broken, smelly, dirty just fail to capture what it is really like. I left there with a heavy heart, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. The problems are so huge! I found myself wondering what makes any of us think we can make any sort of difference at all? I left in a rather sombre frame of mind...

We went to a Mexican restaurant for supper, where I had the most delicious Nachos I have ever had. Served with spicy bits of chicken, I savoured every delectable mouthful!

And I had a lovely encounter with this beautiful girl. In the afternoon I had had a bit of free time, and I decided to make a necklace for someone. Thinking about the testimony of Sak Saum's National Director, Theavy Kang, in which she shared how God changed her sorrow into joy, I used a dark bead to symbolise the sad and difficult experiences of life. A grey bead to show the joy coming. And a red bead to show the blood of Jesus, because His salvation turns even the bad things to good for those who love Him. As Bill Johnson says: 'The trial becomes the testimony.' I knew this to be true from my own life experience, and I had a sense that I should share this thought with someone - I asked God to show me who. When our meal arrived at the restaurant, I was getting my camera out of the bag to take a photo, and the necklace fell on the floor. Our waitress picked it up, and as she did so, she joked and said: 'Is this for me?' Immediately I said: 'Yes, it is for you!'. She was so shocked and said she was only joking, but I explained that I had made it and was waiting for God to show me who it was for, and then I explained the meaning of the beads. And interestingly, the colours of the beads matched the colours of the dress she was wearing perfectly. She was delighted, and wore them straight away...

We finished off our day at a Karioke bar. There are many Karioke bars in the cities of Cambodia. Here you can sing with a pretty girl, in English or in Khmer for as long as you like. And other, less innocent things - for a price. The girls in these bars are always young, impossibly young to be involved in so sordid a line of work. I think of my own daughters, and I want to cry. Every time. Their stories are heart-breakingly similar - poverty in the family; hungry siblings; a father or mother with health issues. None are proud of what they do. In many cases, parents, far away, don't know exactly what work their daughters are doing (but they want the money the daughters send home, and keep the pressure on to provide it). Few would choose to stay if there were other options. Trapped in the need to make money, somehow, in an environment where jobs are scarce and salaries impossibly low, they feel bereft of choice. Change this, and maybe there will be less encounters with girls robbed of the joy and hope and dreams of adolescence and emerging adulthood.

For the first time in a Karioke bar, we laughed and had fun. Previously, my experience of Karioke bars has been of sitting with girls who cry as they tell their story.

When you arrive at a Karioke bar, you are escorted to a nicely decorated room with comfortable seating. Drinks and food are offered (we have learned not to accept, as it is outrageously expensive!) And you are given a song-list, from which you can choose Khmer or English songs. The sound equipment at this bar was really good. While we were waiting for the girls to come, Sophi and Sambo sang a song in Khmer. It was beautiful. Khmer songs are very plaintive, and often have sad themes to do with love and loss.

Suzanna and I attempted to sing 'Moon River'. Our problem was that we had trouble keeping up with the words, which had us exploding in laughter. Not a very harmonious sound at all. When the two girls arrived, they were extremely shy, so we carried on singing, and after a while they joined in. Then Sambo chose a lively song and we all got up and danced around wildly, the girls included. It was good fun and all of us laughed a lot. After this it was easier to talk with the girls. One girl was actually from Poip
et. She had come to Phnom Penh to study, and she had had a part-time job. But when she lost the job, she could find no other work other than the Karioke bar if she wanted to continue studying. We asked her if her parents knew what work she was doing, and she shook her head vehemently. She said they would be so ashamed if they knew.

So there you have it. A young girl with ambition and dreams, like any young girl back home in England. She wants a better life and knows that getting a good education will help. But education is expensive. So she needs a job. So here she is, in the flowering of her life, selling her body to make the money she needs in the hope of a chance for something better. She runs quite a gauntlet of risks - STD's, AIDS, violence, trauma, and financial exploitation - in her hope of a better life. Will she make it? Or will she end up like so many others, lying in the broken wreckage of her dreams?

Before we left we prayed for protection for both girls - and also for the young women, prostitutes in training, who served our drinks. I left feeling more than a little helpless. And more than a bit angry too. It was a tough day emotionally, and I was glad to have seen the work of Sak Saum and Daughters of Cambodia - it gave me hope.

Back in my room, I ran myself a hot bath and soaking in bubbles I reflected on the story of the loaves and the fish, when Jesus fed so many with so little. I really needed reminding of that. I needed reminding of the faith of a small boy, who gave his lunch to Jesus, KNOWING that it could not possibly be enough. God was very gracious in His ministry to me as I gave Him all my helpless and angry feelings, and my oh so little offerings.

I thought of Heidi Baker, and her question: 'What will you do with your little lunch?' Alongside her question comes her challenge to 'Stop for the one'. And I see that there really really is no other option. I can turn a blind eye, but now it is too late for blind eyes. I am responsible for what I know. There is no crossing to the other side of the road. The only option is to get involved. Empty handed as I am, trusting that God can use my love, my heart, my compassion. Multiplying and enlarging it so that after all, it does make a difference.

Like Sak Saum...


Sak Saum - Story Company Partner [Cambodia] from Story Company on Vimeo.

Children's Ministry Focus

Today we have had a great day.

God Time in the morning was amazing. I loved one of the songs we sang...I didn't know it, but these words stood out to me:

Be my first thought, when I wake up...

Be my daydream, when I'm leaving...

be my last thought, when I fall asleep...

I want to be Your sacred space

I want to be a place where You can rest; where You don't have to strive with man...

One of the things I am really enjoying about this trip is meeting some of the absolutely amazing people who are in full-time work here in Phnom Penh, and hearing what they are doing. People with passion and vision and a dream to see Cambodia healed, strong and restored.

Lunch 

Andrea shared a bit about the history of XP's Operation Justice, its present work, and the vision for the future. Once again, I found myself so grateful to be part of what is happening. It is a privilege to come alongside these precious friends from XP. I love the work and I love the vision.

Lovely Rose

Before lunch we had some time to prepare for our
children's outreach this afternoon. I was in a team with Rome, Cynthia and George. These three are quite astonishing. George is 83, Rome is 74 and Cynthia is 60. They choose to spend their retirement years travelling the world, doing as much good as they can. It feels like treasure for our team, having people with so much life experience around. And what an inspiration they are to us all. After a bit of discussion, we decided to do the 'Creation' song from Babies Bible Class, and we all got busy drawing pictures for it. (I found myself missing my friend Narith, far away in Battambang. He was my translator the other times we have done this song.) George offered to share a story about God with the children, and Rome offered to teach them how to make paper planes. And there would be games and sweets at the end. Great! Lesson planning over, we went for lunch at a Western restaurant very near the Independence statue, which commemorates the independence of Cambodia from French rule. French influence is still noticeable in Phnom Penh, more than 50 years after independence. There are many lovely colonial style buildings, and French is spoken by many Cambodians.

The Creation Song

George & Cynthia telling a story

And then it was off to a slum area near the railway. Andrea and Sophi meet with this particular group of children on a weekly basis. We had an afternoon of fun and laughter, which began with a sing-song. I taught them the actions for the 'Creation' song I used to sing with my children when they were little. I sang in English and Sambo translated. After this George told the children a story and prayed with the children. Rome helped them make paper planes and great fun was had seeing which planes could fly the highest and the furthest. Finally we handed out water balloons and had some games with them. We finished off with a water fight. Sambo, one of our translators, was the wildest child of all, and the children had such fun chasing him and bombarding him. I stayed well out of the way but at one point Sambo threw a water balloon and it missed the person it was aimed at and hit me square on the top of my head, where it burst and drenched me. We all laughed so much. Finally we handed out some sweets, and then it was 'Goodbye'.

Sambo, after the water fight

Back at our hotel we had a short while to freshen up and then we went out to a beautiful Khmer restaurant for supper. I had a spicy chicken stir fry and a fresh mango smoothie. It was so delicious; I savoured every mouthful. It's a tough job this....

To end our day we split into two teams; one team to visit a brothel, and the other to spend time with street-children. It was hard to choose, because I wanted to do both. In the end I set off with Sophi's team in search of street children. We went to a street where homeless families sleep for the night. Again, this is a group of children that Andrea and Sophi visit once a week. These desperately poor families spend their days collecting refuse for recycling and then sleep on the pavement at night... periodically the police come along and arrest them all, because they are not supposed to do this. But they have nowhere else to go. As for the children, they do not get to have much of a childhood. They beg - all day and often into the evening. There is not much time for play, and none for formal education. It touched my heart so much to see how much they delight in the simplest of activities. We started with ball games, and there was a lot of laughter because I am pretty hopeless at catching balls! The children found this rather funny, and they threw the ball to me every so gently. it didn't help much!

Later we handed out pictures and crayons and everyone settled down on the dirty pavement to colour in their pictures... in the dim half-light from the street. Even the very little children joined in this activity. George told them a story about darkness and light; appropriate considering the circumstances. He then shared about how Jesus is the Light of the world, and that we can have light in our hearts, even if it is dark outside. The children liked this idea and were eager to have him pray for them. It was so precious to see how the children snuggled up to each of us to listen to the story. I had a little girl on my lap and a young boy resting his head on my knee. They are so responsive to touch, and they love to be hugged. After the story we played some skipping games with some of the children; others just wanted to be hugged. One little girl shared her sweets with me, insisting that I have them even when I said 'No'. She just laughed and insisted that I have them, pushing them one by one into my mouth. Precious heart gifts from a child who has so very little.

It was extremely hard to disentangle ourselves from the children when it was time to go; they held on and didn't want to let us go at all... following us back to our van for just one more hug. I got back to my room at midnight, far too late to write my blog. I had a quick shower and tumbled into bed, where I fell asleep almost immediately.