Week Three

I'm inspired once again by more nice e-mails saying that this thing does get read. We are already in week three of being in Cambodia which is quite strange. Just under two weeks and we return back to Canada which will likely be more than a shocker to the system.

Since I wrote last, things have gotten more difficult, well maybe I will just speak for myself on here and perhaps Ben will write something later about his experience. Everything started to get to be a bit much last week. I got sick last Thursday which was a very different experience to being sick at home. There really is no place to go in the house. The top floor where our room is is made out of corrugated steel so it is unbearably hot during the day. On the bottom floor, there are bamboo beds (a bit uncomfy), people and dogs. I told our host mom, Ming Kin, that I was sick at supper and didn't want to eat. The idea of not eating when you are sick is foreign here so she was very concerned. She offered me medication which I wasn't game to take and then offered me "caulk shaw" which I understood to be a massage so I agreed to that because I figured it was the best of the options. I laid on my stomach all ready for a massage but unfortunately I quickly found out that this wasn't a massage but was coining. She had a washer which she scraped up and down in one place until the skin was reddened and little bits of blood were seeping through. I couldn't see what she was doing but it felt like she was scratching her fingernail over one piece of skin over and over again. She made about 8 marks 3 inches long on one side of my back and during the whole thing I was trying to concentrate of deep breathing to deal with the pain and think of a way out. Ben came in the room while she was working on the one side and told me in English that it looked like I had been whipped. I think it was around then when I suddenly remembered that our host family has been told that we want to learn about their culture while we are here and so I asked her in my very broken Khmer if she could teach Ben to do it. Ben got a lot of flack for not going hard enough on me but it was a huge relief. I think that type of a treatment could take care of many ailments because the pain it causes could help you forget about anything else you felt.

The sickness seemed to be "the straw that broke this camel's back" (that's a weird saying but you know what I mean). Being sick in combination with dealing with a language barrier, foreign food, a very different level of cleanliness, scary transportation, and lack of sleep all caused me to be unable to cope. I've always been the kind of person that usually just tries to suck it up when the going gets tough but this was beyond me. We ended up going to the team center and staying there for one night and it was amazing that after 24 hours out, some spaghetti and fruit, a good sleep and a lot of reflection and reading, I actually felt refreshed and ready to return and finish well. I believe in a God who is present with us at all times but it is at these times of complete exhaustion of self that he becomes more real to me (maybe not always in the midst but certainly upon reflection). Everything was spinning completely out of my control and yet God was there to hold me during that time and gently bring me back to feeling normal.

We've been able to see a few more things in the TASK programs. There is a project here called Project Halo that looks after orphans whose parents have HIV or have died of AIDS. The program helps to connect these kids with preferrably next of kin to care for them and helps to support them in that process by providing some financial assistance and support from staff. The second house we went to was a grandmother's house who had 5 grandchildren living with her. We visited her at the Buddist temple houses because she is very sick and was unable to care for the family anymore. She was laying in front of the wooden house on a bamboo bed with an IV line running from her wrist to the bag secured above her. Her 18 year old grand daughter was fanning the flies off her wasted away body. It struck me that the grand daughter was smiling and laughing despite watching her grandmother die who was her last support. The grandmother was telling the Project HALO worker that she was worried about what would happen with her grandkids and she didn't want them to end up being somewhere where they wouldn't be loved. There is a lot of desperation here and yet there is a peace and selflessness in the people. I also watched as the Project HALO worker listened and empathized with this lady and her grand daughter. She wasn't able to solve the problem but her presence was an act of solidarity with this family. On all the home visits I have been on, one thing that has stood out to me is the way that the workers just take time to be with people. The amount of need is overwhelming and they have hearts full of compassion that want to help in any way possible and yet resources are limited and so they give people the gift of their presence, of their care and concern. This has been beautiful to watch. I hope that I can learn to do this in Canada.

Home renovations. I started talking about them last time and have come to the conclusion that, at least for this week, they are a daily occurance. Today Om Paun is putting a wall upstairs for another bedroom. The TV used to be up there but it is now downstairs. Their stereo system/TV is very impressive. It seems that most houses have one and they get turned up really really really loud to share with all the neighbors. Sopanni (the 16 year old boy) loves to sing karaoke for the whole neighborhood too. They have been trying to get us to sing but we can't understand the words because they are in Khmer so that has been a good excuse so far. Dancing, on the other hand, was a bit harder to get out of and we actually had a lot of fun dancing especially in our first few days. The only sad part about it is that we generate a crowd because we are white so it is a bit short lived. Most are a bit tentative to join in with us too which is a bit sad.

Kids. There are kids EVERYWHERE. The kids in our community are so friendly. The adults are friendly too but seem to be a bit more suspicious at first. We've been playing lots of little games with the kids. Ben taught our host families boys to play Connect 4 but they seem to not quite understand the strategy. We try to make sure they win at least half of the time but sometimes you have to work quite hard to not win because they miss so many opportunities. We'll keep practicing.

Last night we showed our host family pictures of our families which was fun. They ended up bringing down three photo albums that they had too. They were wondering if Ben had any unmarried brothers for their daughter and the boys seemed to be interested in the picture of Ben's neice, Kiara. The 16 year old couldn't believe how big she was because she was 12 and at least as big as him at 16. We laughed together a lot last night as we shared more of our lives with each other. Communication is so limited that any glimpses we get into their lives are treasures.

I think that is enough rambling for today. It is somewhat therapeutic to write this blog. Still haven't taken any pictures - sorry. Maybe next time. Peace to you all.