Leaving Phnom Penh

That's right, folks!  I am leaving Phnom Penh!

This picture is where I will be living for the next month. To the Campo I go! For some reason, that Spanish word describes it best. With Maryknoll Lay Missioners, we are encouraged to do a language immersion in our first six months here. The purpose of this is to be completely surrounded by Khmer and come back speaking like a native... errr... to be able to understand more... to not contract a parasite? :) Yes, we are meant to immerse ourselves in the culture and language of our new home. For those who know me well, you will not be surprised that I am super excited for this opportunity. My Khmer is coming along. I can usually communicate what I want to say to Khmer, though, my teachers understand my terrible accent better than the average person on the road.


I will be living at a parish in Kampong Cham (a province about three hours northeast of where I currently live, or around 160 km – divide by five multiple by three - 96 miles????) You can learn a thing or two about the roads based on that... But, I digress. So, this parish has been there for about 20 years. It is in a small village call Koroka (my spelling, not their's). This village got electricity two years ago. They have about 60-80 youth that regularly participate in activities with the church (small portion are Catholic). There are a few small-ish fields on the property which are farmed, I would say maybe an acre and a half. They grow ground nuts (peanuts), corn, and various other vegetables. The folks who work on the farm are able to work there for 2-3 years and are typically folks that are struggling (one was recently widowed before she started working there). The time limit helps to keep from creating a dependency relationship but gives folks the ability to keep going through a tough time.  The parish also own a rice field near by their main location.


Everyone keeps asking what exactly I will be doing... Not sure :) I will hopefully be able to help with the day-to-day farming tasks. Maybe will learn a bit about growing rice. The youth have a dance group, so, maybe will learn some traditional dance. Basically, it will be a time to practice langauge and learn more about the average lives of Khmer folks. Being rural, internet will also be a less regular occurance, so I will be a bit off the grid until July - great for future discernment, language study, and being fully present to this Cambodian Adventure!

Until July (most likely), I leave you with these photos of my new neighborhood!

 

This is at the church in the city 10 minutes or so from my village.  This is inculturation, Jesus in typical Buddha sitting position.

 

Cambodian Creche at the same church

 

Guest Hut.  There are about five of these on the property for visitors. I stayed here while visiting but will be blessed with a bed for my month long stay.

  

Mosquito net over the mat on the floor aka bed in the hut.

 

Shower!  That is called a Piung.  It holds water.  There is a little scoop bucket to scoop and pour.

 

Jesus sitting on the church property.  NOTE THE TREES! :)

 

This is their Jesus outdoor chapel/shrine.  Great mural!

 

View from behind the property.  This whole area is flood plains so this may all be under water in my time there.  I will have to walk over and check the water levels each day!   I believe, we decided this was currently planted with peanuts...

 

The Mighty Mekong River.  Short walk from my new home.  This will definitely rise in my time there.

 

Mekong

 

A man moving his cows to graze in a different area.  This will probably also be under water.

Open a bakery

If my future as a weaver doesn't work, maybe I will open a bakery...Today , I had the privilege of teaching my language teacher how to make a cake and cookies. Folks here don't have ovens, many don't have indoor stoves but use charcoal to cook, so these are new concepts. And, the no-bake cookies were especially designed for such situations!  Yahoo for new vocabulary!

 

Raneth learning to cream butter and sugar

 

Just the two of us in our matching aprons!

 

I learned how to say mix so it doesn't burn.  Then, I forgot the word for burn...  At least five times...  I still don't remember! (Darn those multiple syllable words)

 

Reason number 200 I love this country, you sit around on the floor to make food.  For those who have eaten my food (stop reading), I have a tendency to do this anyway so I fit right in! (And, the food is never directly on the floor just the pan)

 

Learning to make butter cream frosting.  Though, I am going to give up on such things soon because the butter here all has a funny taste, as does the milk, so it is just not the same.

 

Filling the cake with cashew butter cream frosting.

 

Drawing on the cake!  Everyone can embrace their inner-child for cake decorating!

 

Finished product!  The one with both of us didn't turn out :(  But, she is prettier any way!  Next, time on baking with Karen, we will make the chocolate cake with almond frosting that is my fav cake my mama makes!

Ok, really, the point of this is to share more of my future job options and more of the work of Maryknoll Lay Missioners here in Cambodia (I am not opening a baker or weaving). To clarify, as last post confused folks, I am just sharing all the places I have visited chronological, any are options for my future ministry placement.


Karol and Setha, which is an acronym for Knowledge and Reflection On Life and SExuality Through a Holistic Approach, works with predominantly youth around healthy relationships. They lead popular education style workshops and examine everything from gender roles to sex work. Cambodia is in an interesting place that it is 'old-fashioned' in the sense that the male is definitely the one in charge, especially of sexual relationships. Communication between the genders is not the norm, even now. For example, at weddings, often all the men will sit at one table and the wives will sit at another because then the men can drink and joke around, which apparently can't occur as freely if the women are there. Women also can't go out in the evening, unless married/with their husband or with family or they are thought of as bad girls while men can be out until all hours of the night. There are huge gender gaps, I am sure beyond what I have even thus far observed. That being said, this generation has much more global exposure and thus they are more 'progressive' which not only leads to conflicts within parent/child relationships, youth receive no real training on healthy relationships and communication. Karol and Setha attempts to fill that void. One of the most poignant examples I have heard is that women just accept that men go to massage parlors or other locations for "special services" because they believe men need to have sex like they need to eat food and drink water. Funny how when men control the truth the absolutely ridiculous things that work to their 'advantage' become the norm. Now, I am sure some of you are saying, "They are so messed up!" But, please try to remember, it is a cultural difference I share not so we can pass judgement but see that things are definitely different.  And, in someways it is not so different than we were 60 years ago in the states


Another site, which is the second home, aka workplace, to three Maryknoll folks, is the Boeung Tun Pun (BTP) Project. Boeng is the word for lake and this area is right by the lake/in the lake. Well, it is a lake for a little while longer. They are actively filling it in with sand to build a large shopping center among other things (Civil Engineers, feel free to express what a wise idea it is to build large structures on top of lakes that were filled in with sand, especially when there seems to be no plan as to where the water will go that usually floods into that lake for five months a year). So, this project doesn't deal with the infrastructure challenges, it works with the incredibly economically poor and marginalized folks that live in that area. Many folks come from the provinces to live there and seek work in Phnom Penh, they are now being relocated. This is an area where some folks have one pair of clothing, no shoes, and homes constructed of whatever they can find at times. Needless to say, basic needs are a challenge. The program runs a number of early education centers (pre-school/daycare), school support programs, scholarships of uniforms and backpacks for kids, health outreach, transportation to the hospital, assistance with prescriptions, small loans, basically, most of your very BASIC needs services (you know those guaranteed human rights according to the UN). As many of you know, I have a love of first graders, one of the classes at BTP is for first graders who can't seem to learn to read. Some of them will repeat this class multiple times with no ability to make it past the equivalent of abc for us. There are no resources in the public school system for educationally delayed students and they honestly don't even know if it is a form of dyslexia, malnutrition, or other issue inhibiting these children's ability to succeed.  Thus, NGOs such as BTP are working to fill this gap.

What do I want to be when I grow up...

What do I want to be when I grow up?  That seems to be a constant question I face.  At this point, four, going on five, months into my time here, it is time to start figuring out what I will do for ministry.  For those that are not aware of this process, basically, we spend six months learning the language (because how do you plan to serve alongside people when you cannot communicate).  During this time, new missioners visit existing missioners' work sites, as well as any other non-profit organization in which they have an interest.  After much contemplation, we pick one in which to work (with the invitation of the organization of course).  So, I am in that searching stage for what I will do when I grow up... in two months...

I thought I would share with you some of the projects I have visited, and the awesome things my groupmates are doing.  One other note, I will probably not have many pictures in these descriptions.  I struggle with this, as I know many of you will never be to Cambodia and I want to show you what I see.  Having been trained as a fundraiser, I also know that kids and puppies are what tug on heart strings (put a 'poor' kid with a 'poor' dog on your site and donations rise, people keep reading, etc).  I, personally, find much of this exploitative so will be trying to tread lightly with photos.  How would I feel if someone was taking a picture of me in my home because it was different or of my kid because he hadn't yet taken a bath that day?  Let's be honest, cops would be called :)  So, I will be trying to only provide you with pictures when the parties involved give permission or individuals are not pictured.

So, following that disclosure, projects I have visited...  The first one I went to see was the Deaf Development Project (DDP).  The DDP is the place of work to two of my groupmates.  This organization provides an education to adults that are deaf.  The students, age 15 and up, have never met another deaf person before coming to DDP, in general.  They are unable to attend school and have no way to communicate.  They are completely isolated, except for whatever interaction their family provides which is often not positive.  DDP teaches these adults to use their 'voice' by giving them language.  They gain community by being with others who are deaf.  They also receive vocational training so they can, hopefully, find employment upon completion of the program.  As a person who is very community motivated, I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to be unable to communicate but that is the reality of many here in Cambodia.  DDP is currently working with the children's school for the deaf and they are together developing what will be THE Cambodian Sign Language.  Currently, American Sign Language is largely used with the children so they are trying to universalize - obviously, this is essential for building a sustainable Deaf Community in the country.  My past experience with the Deaf Community within the US specifically triggered my interest in this project and it is fascinating to see how much overlap there is with signs (at least the ones I remember in ASL).  The DDP recently released a documentary about their work. it is short only six minutes, if you want to learn more.  (It is an AWESOME Film, I think).

The second missioner with whom I talked was James.  He works at Love146.  On organization that works around human trafficking issues.  His specific research focus is on  the demand side of sex trafficking.  The studies on which he works strive to understand the motives of those who will buy another human being for sex.  Some of the stories which he has heard and learned are horrendous.  Unfortunately, here in Cambodia, trafficking is very common.  And, not just into the sex industry.  People in search of better jobs will be taken overseas and imprisoned for low wages and in horrendous work condition.  Men in particular may be 'employed' on fishing boats that head out to sea and don't dock for YEARS, one recent story I heard was of a man who was on a ship for four years.  If these men protest, they are simply thrown overboard and new ones are brought on board.  I was very interested in what he had to share as I have studied Human Trafficking a fair amount independently and it seems like so many people focus on the victims.  I have always felt until we focus on the 'demand' side, there will always be more tricked into the 'supply,.' so it was interesting to see what that looked like here.  I also had to opportunity to get a tour of the red light district with this ministry and learn all sorts of fun facts, like the fact that the sex industry really picked up when the UN came to Cambodia.  Love146 also has a video here about their work.

I will leave you with some more happy thoughts.  Recently, my friend Ingrid with whom I studied at UP came to visit Cambodia at the end of her backpacking adventures. 

On one of the first days she was here, we attempted to find silk island.  That failed.  But, we still found a place that made silk and had fun doing it!

 

Lexy and Ingrid (Lexy is here with another mission group from Venezuela)

 

Mariana and Eslendy in the tuktuk on the way to our adventure. With the same group from Venezuela.  Yes, there are moments when riding through Cambodia, in a tuktuk, speaking Spanish you have to say, 'isn't life funny?'

 

Small white specks are silk worms.

 

Showing us the silk eggs hatching to silk worms.

 

These are the silk cocoons (yellow)  They are heated and then spun into rough thread.  That is further processed and spun in the smooth thread we recognize as silk.

 

Learning to use the loom.

 

I couldn't imagine sitting and doing this eight hours/day

 

Feet are involved as well.

 

This was a simple pattern.  The more advanced multi-color, not just stripe patterns, can take one week just to set up the loom.  It is mesmerizing to watch! Well, when a professional does it.  When I was doing it, it was probably more like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

 

 

And, last but not least, these beauties are on my front porch.  As long as I keep them watered, they seem to bloom every month to every other month :)