Here in Cambodia

We've arrived at our final destination.  Today our team took a 5 1/2 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh to Battambang.  To get from where the bus dropped us off to the YWAM base we piled into 4 tuktuks with all of our luggage.  Normally something like that would look pretty funny, but here in Cambodia it seems only normal to pack vehicles with as much stuff as possible.


The first day in Cambodia three of us got to visit and photograph a place called Stop Start.  They are partnered with Not For Sale (http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/).  It was a factory where they hired women who have been rescued from sex trafficking as well as deaf people, and there were men there as well.  While there we got to sit and talk with the general manager of the factory and also the Executive Director/Co-Founder of Not For Sale.  He was there for a day meeting with the manager and trying to figure out a contract they were beginning with Levi Jeans Company.  Talk about a sweet start to outreach and an amazing first experience in Cambodia.


So these are a few things that I've seen so far in Phnom Penh...tuktuks everywhere.  If you walk anywhere or walk out of any store you'll be asked at least 2 or 3 times from a driver if you want a ride.  Partly because no one walks anywhere, and for good reason.  Sidewalks are just additions to the street, road rules don't really exist.  If you want to go the wrong direction that seems pretty normal too.  If you have a big vehicle you have the right of way.  Most of the vehicles on the road or combinations of motorcycles and scooters, and I really want to get one.  There's lots of poverty here, along with some very rich areas.  Buddhism is everywhere.  The market that we went to was full of little statues and lots of other Buddhist things.  Today a man with a monk was trying to get money from me.  Monks walk on the streets, usually barefoot, with an orange robe and usually an orange umbrella.  There are no spaces between the building in Phnom Penh.  Everything is very tight and very congested.  A few beggars are on the streets.  They usually sit on the sidewalk, some have missing limbs and some would push pretty hard for you to give them money.  I heard from a documentary that everywhere there is a red light, there is a brothel.  I saw around 4 or 5 on the way to the hotel from the airport and I could see two from the roof of our building that were just a block away.  People of all ages are doing work that most people in the West wouldn't even consider doing.  In the market there were many women sitting on the ground preparing the food that they were trying to sell.  The market is not a clean place or a very nice place.  The aisles are tiny, everything is really tight, but the stuff there was amazing.  I managed to buy a brand new pair of Puma's for $13 along with a few other things.  It was kind of like China Town in NYC on steroids.  I just keep thinking of the jobs these people are doing each day just to survive and how life is so different on the other side of the world.  I'm trying to figure out who's lives seem better, because a lot of these people seem much happier and much friendlier than any place I've ever been.


I love that when we smile at someone they usually smile right back with an amazing, beautiful Cambodian smile.  The children here are so amazing.  While riding on a tuktuk a group of kids on their own tuktuk all waved and yelled "hello!"  We waved back and yelled "hello!" too.  They stared and laughed and yelled until we were out of sight.  Walking down the street we would see groups of kids and they start smiling seeing white people and say hello.  They laugh and wave at us as we walk by and do the same.  These are some of the friendliest and inviting people that I have ever met.  It makes being in a new place and a new culture much easier.  We've probably done a hundred things that we weren't supposed to but, usually we only get laughed at if we do.


Tomorrow is orientation, and that's where I'll find out a little more of what ministry is going to look like here.  So far its just been a nice transition to Cambodia and we've got to just hang out in the capitol city.  I'm excited for what's ahead here in Battambang.