Happy Easter to all my blog followers. I pray this is a very special weekend for you all.
I realised I haven’t told you about Sokry. On the 27th March, the day after I arrived in Cambodia, I was visiting HisChild when Deborah received a call that one of her kindergarten teachers had left the kindergarten and gone home as she was in labour. Deborah asked if I wanted to join her to visit Sokry. Of course! I would be delighted as this was right up my alley! We called in to her home which was just across the road from the children’s centre and down a narrow street. Sokry and her husband had built a small dwelling on stilts on her parent’s property. She was surrounded by her family all except her husband who was working upcountry and was hurrying back to be with her for their first baby’s birth. We stayed with her and encouraged her while she waited. Before leaving I told Sokry if she had any 
questions she should call me. Unfortunately when she did call to ask if she should go to hospital, was it time? I didn’t hear my phone so missed her call. Fortunately she went by her instincts and not long after reaching the hospital with her husband by her side, her baby boy was born. Deborah and I visited her after she returned home and I was able to encourage her to breastfeed instead of giving the baby a bottle as this would encourage the milk to come in and will also help baby to latch. I’m please to say having visited today mother and baby are doing well and baby is fully breastfed. Her husband has now established a jewellery shop below their home and has been able to support his family from home.
This week my friend Dr Wong has brought her friend and daughter who has just finished her medical studies. They will join a team from Melbourne who have come to do a medical outreach in Kampong Chum which is about 133km north of PP. Deborah thought it would be good if Yu Jin joined me so we plotted without her knowing as we knew she would not come if we didn’t have permission from the head honcho in Korea. A message was sent out, I asked if she wanted to come and of course she did but felt she couldn’t let her team down. That night it rained for the first time this year and our electricity went out twice. Fortunately we had a battery run lamp which we were able to work with. I told Yu Jin if she wanted to come then she should step out in faith and start packing. She told me she had too much work to do. I was sure she would get approval so suggested she start getting things ready. By 9pm Deborah sent me an SMS to say Yu Jin had the go ahead from Korea. Yu Jin was delighted. She still had a stack of work to do before she could sleep so I left her to it and told her I’d wake her at 6am if she slept in.
At 6:15am our tuk tuk driver was waiting at our gate. Oh, dear, no water again! I left my keys with Deborah to check our water once we had left, said our good-byes and packed our overnight bags into the vehicle before taking off. It took us just under an hour to get to the airport where we were meeting the delegates from Malaysia. I was standing quietly beside a pillar typing out an
SMS to Joshua to ask him when his worker was coming to pick us up. I hadn’t finished the text when, out of the corner of my eye I saw a man coming in a bit too close (you need to be aware of pickpockets here) Then a bump! I was surprised to see Joshua’s grinning face. Introductions all round then the wait. It seemed that the passengers of the Malaysian flight were all coming through the gates except out group. Then Dr Wong’s friend came indicating she wanted to talk to Joshua. Her luggage had been misplaced. In fact it was still in Malaysia! We eventually bundled our luggage and selves into the bus (unfortunately the air conditioning needed re gassing and so wasn’t working – boy did we feel it later). Joshua suggested we go for some breakfast as the Malaysians hadn’t eaten since leaving KL. Yu Jin had eaten before we left home and I had brought my pre-prepared muesli which I had eaten at the airport while waiting.
Joshua took us to a favourite spot that cooked barbecue pork and rice, opposite the buses that went to Vietnam. From here Dr Wong, who has difficulty walking, and Yu Jin were dropped off at a local church and the tourists, me included, went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Joshua wanted us to visit the Killing Fields too but by the time we had walked around the museum we were emotionally and physically exhausted. The atrocities done here were beyond belief. This prior school was transformed into a prison by the Pol Pot into a secret prison, code named “S-21” during his genocidal rule (1975-79). Between 1-2 million Cambodians – and many thousands of foreigners – were starved to death, tortured or killed, during this reign of terror. The walls of the classrooms are lined with photo
graphs of victims, leaders and methods of torture. Thousands of photographs and written records of the atrocities were found when the Vietnamese Army invaded in 1979, left by the fleeing prison staff.
Barbed wire fenced in the front of one school. Wondering down the corridors sent shivers down your spine. Some of the rooms (I’m told) there was only standing room. There were also individual cells where prisoners were dragged after being tortured. These cubicles were about 2meters by 1meter, just long enough for a man to stretch out. There was, what looked like, blood splatters over areas of many of the tiled floor and in the single cells. We left in a sombre mood.
Lunch was at Aeon which is a very large shopping centre chain here in Asia and quite expensive. Joshua also wanted to check the price of air conditioners so he could buy a cheaper one from a local seller. Stopping at this shop I tried out their massage chair. It was amazing! I could have stayed in it all day even though it had heated pads. The foot massage wasn’t so bad either. The chair was only $350US. What a bargain! Not sure how I would get it home though LOL.
With our new aircon unit in the back of the van we headed north picking up a young family on route. Yu Jin was in the second row of seats with a mother, father, toddler and baby. It was extremely hot especially when we had to close the windows due to the dust which was being thrown up by the traffic ahead of us on the unsealed sections of the road which were under construction or repair.
As we left the city vast stretches of arid land spread out on either side of the road. These looked like dry rice fields. In some areas the broad muddy river meandered through the river bed which was several meters below the level of the road. On the other side of the road the land also dropped away leaving the road running along the side of the river like a raised platform. Houses on both sides were built on stilts to the road level and in parts the land had been or was being filled in to give access to the homes. I suspect in the rainy season the river rose up and whatever was built on lower ground was flooded.
It took over two gruelling, hot, dusty hours to reach Kampong Chum. Just before we reached our destination I asked if we could stop for fresh cut coconut water as I was feeling very parched. We arrived 3 days before the visiting Melbourne medical team which gave us plenty of time to look around Kampong Chum. One of Joshua’s workers, Bear, took us around to see the sights. We visited the local markets, street stalls and along the Mekong river. Here we were invited onto one of the homes of the Vietnamese river dwellers. Their homes, built upon bamboo rafts, were strapped together and moored along the waterfront. To access the homes we descended very carefully down the steep riverbank. At the bottom of this decent the mud had dried into enormous slabs and through the gapping gaps between each slab vegetables where grown. Rickety narrow planks gave us access to the river homes. I’m not sure how the families made a living but many had large bobbing plastic containers to mark where they had dropped nets to catch fish. Live fish were also kept in the hull of the sampans which are moored beside the homes.
We were also taken to another part of the Mekong which had a long bamboo bridge access to an island where locals and tourists were able to rent grass huts with raised rattan floors for picnicking. Later during the week we returned with some of the medical students for a swim. Dr Wong had put me off saying there was Liver Fluke in these waters. The bamboo bridge was an amazing structure able to withstand heavy vehicles including small trucks and four-wheel drives. There were even platforms built for vehicles to pass. During our visit here we were introduced to balut which is a developing duck embryo, about 20 days old, which is boiled then eaten. The girls wanted to see Bear eat one. He suggested we have a try too and fortunately gave me the yolk not the little feathery embryo.
That night Bear took us to the local roller-skating rink. Yu Jin wanted to have a try but gave up when she couldn’t stand up so I decided to see how much I remembered from my childhood. Not too much it seemed. At first Bear lead me around then when I felt more confident I took off on my own but only along the railed side so as to catch myself when I felt wobbly. After a few goes I surprised myself at my progress, thought I never really left the security of the edge.
Lots more to tell you but I will leave that till the next update.
Pictures: 1. River homes 2. Pony cart Kampong Chum 3.Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 4. Refugees 5. Bamboo bridge 6. Balut 7. Bear feeding me balut 8. Yu Jin on sampan 9. Life in the river home 10. Decent to river homes 11. Fish in the hull of sampan
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for the opportunity for Yu Jin and me to join Dr Wong’s team to visit Kampong Chum.
I’m very grateful to the Lord for His continuing good health! Please keep us in your prayers for ongoing good health and safety on the roads.
Please pray for the visiting medical team who are ministering at various villages around KC.
Pray that many souls will be won into the Kingdom through these ministries and people will be set free from the bondages and superstitions that hold them captive.
I praise the Lord for Mum’s good health, please continue to pray that she will remain in good health.
