Tuesday, July 15, 2008

First impressions of Svay Pak

G'day all,

It's 6:00 am on Monday morning and we've got a full day ahead of us prepping for our Kingdom Kids Daycamp which begins tomorrow. I am looking forward to starting our hands-on ministry!

Our last two days have been spent adjusting to life here and being tourists. Traffic has been a fun experience - both as a passenger in a tuk-tuk and as a pedestrian crossing the street! We've been eating wonderful food and taking it all in. Yesterday we were able to go to Tuol Sleng a former high school turned torture center during the Khmer Rouge era. I'm still trying to process and understand what I saw there.

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I think I was a bit distracted when I wrote the last bit - now it's 5:20 pm on Tuesday night and we've finished our first day of Daycamp at Svay Pak and it was amazing! There were many kids and it was dirty and hot but God provided in ways we didn't expect. We are partnering with Child Evangelism Fellowship Cambodia and they are doing an amazing job with the Bible teaching. It's a great example of the importance of working with nationals who understand the culture a lot more than us Westerners. We're also partnering with a couple of young men from Aim for Asia who are preparing to be pastors. Their excitement and rapport with the kids was also amazing. Their organization has started holding church services at Rahab House and there have been quite a few adults becoming familiar with what Rahab House has been transformed into - a community center run by people who love God. There were special visitors there today as well - the founder of International Justice Mission (IJM) came with a few others to see the area. They are the organization that led the raid in 2003 on the brothel that is now Rahab House. There is so much recent history in this place that I am just learning and it's a bit overwhelming to know I'm in a place where children had been victimized and now is a safe and fun place for many at risk kids who love to play and scream and bug each other just like kids all over the world. One difference is their tendency to be violent with each other - there is so much pushing, hitting and yelling at each other - they don't respect one another at all. Please pray for us to know how to best deal with this.

Please pray for the 10 boys (12-15 years old) who have surprised and challenged us with their behavior and interactions with the other kids. It was mentioned they are probably connected with the brothels in the neghborhood but still they come and learn about God and sing the songs - I guess they are still kids at heart. I did see one of these boys leave in the middle of the Bible lesson because he needed to answer his cell phone - another one had quite a nice watch - in such a poverty stricken area, one has to wonder where that money came from. Pray that some Cambodian Christian men will step up and challenge them with boundaries and be an example of what it means to be a godly man.

Some of the girls from Agape Restoration Center (ARC) came this afternoon to hang out with the kids as they do every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. These girls have been rescued from prostitution so it's interesting to see them in an area that is probably similar to where they had been. A couple of the girls were talking with a boy about 12 years old who had been acting up. They complimented him and encouraged him to grow up and be a good man. It blows my mind that a boy this young may already be on the way to being a part of this business of child prostitution. Only God can help break this cycle...

There's a lot more that could be said but my mind is on overload and it's time for supper.

Thank you for remembering us in prayer!


Brenda :)

2 comments:

Marty said...

Brenda

My name is Martin Baxter and I was one of the team of ten who went from Vancouver to Svay Pak to rennovate Rahab's House. Our team is enjoying your blogs and I'm sure we are all imagining the faces of the kids who you are working with. I was so excited to hear that Gary Haugen (I'm assuming that is who you meant) was at RH today. What did he think of the place?

Have a wonderful few weeks and may God richly bless you and the rest of the team. Keep up the blogs and I will pass on prayer requests in our church on Sunday.

Blessings
Martin (a.k.a. Squirrel)

Brenda said...

Thanks Martin! We really enjoyed your blog when you were here as well - I was actually thinking of reading parts again as a 'local' now...

Thanks to you, your team and your church for your prayers!

Brenda :)