Jet Lag is no Fun

We got home to Brookhaven about 2 hours ago, and we are thrilled that our house does not appear to be robbed!   (my not so secret fear, as I actually hid things that were irreplaceable at a friends’ house)  :) 

I am still confused as to how the whole time zone switch thing works, but all I know is that I am very tired and a bit confused!  There were many legs to get us back home… 30 min. bus ride to the airport in Phnom Penh, 1 1/2 hr. flight to Bangkok, 3 hr. flight from Bangkok to Taipei, Taiwan. Then… an oh so, smelly overnight stay at a hotel in Taipei b/c China Air goofed a bit on our flight.  45 mins. to the hotel one night, 45 mins, back to the airport the next morning.  Then… we flew 9 hrs. from Taipei to Anchorage, Alaska, then 6 hrs. from Alaska to JFK.  Then 2 1/2 hr. on a bus from JFK to Biblical in Hatfield. Then 2 hrs. to Scranton, where we arrived just before sunrise on Wednesday a.m. and  2 hrs. tonight back home with our kids in tow!  

    In true American fashion… we needed to pick up a few things in the middle of the night back to Scranton, so of course we ended up at Walmart. Who else is open at 4 a.m.?   Needless to say, it was a bit weird that the last store I was in when I left Cambodia had beggars in front of it, and the first I was in at home was Walmart, which is basically a monument to our American obsession with consumption, materialism, and choice.   

    Another odd thing that illustrates our globalized world… in our travels, I had Starbucks 2xs in 24 hrs. Once in Taipei, and once in Allentown at a service plaza.  Oddly enough, I had the same blend in both places, and the decor was identical, but in Taipei I greeted the barista with a bow, and in Allentown I greeted the barista with a hello in English.   If I accidently nod hello at you in the next few days, it is not the sympathetic head nod, it’s a strange compulsion from constantly bowing and head nodding which is customary with everyone I met or passed in Asia.  

     Thanks so much for all of your support, prayers, and emails of encouragement!  We had an amazing trip!  There’s a few more things Meade & I would like to share with you, so he will be posting them in the next few days as the jet lag wears off! Please check back so you can read them. 

 

                                

Church in Cambodia

Once of the last things we did in Cambodia was worship at a Khmer church, and it was a really great experience.  It has been a great time to visit Cambodia, b/c the church is on the verge of exploding. 

The country is 95% Buddhist, but that doesn’t give an adequate picture of how the church is growing.  Before the Khmer Rouge in the 70’s there were only 2,000 Christians in the entire country.  After the killing fields, only 200 were left, and most met up in the refugee camps on the Thai border.  Approximately 1/2 moved elsewhere, but many more returned to rebuild Cambodia.  There are now 250,000 Christians!! How amazing is that!  

   The church we were at was planted by Khmer Christians who survived and were converted by the pastor in the refugee camps.  These people’s passion for their country was a privilege for us to experience.  This little church, all national run, had about 50-60 people, and has planted 25 churches in the villages.  They have also built a daycare/school that is comprised 80% of Vietnamese refugees who are not allowed to attend Cambodian schools.  

       We met many people who just give and give to their neighbor’s, and their generosity and community is what is building their church.  It makes me wonder what would happen if the same were true in the States.  Are we known for how we give, and live out the commands of the gospel, or are we known for what we are against? or for our stellar programming?  I have to constantly question myself, do I really love my neighbor? If I did, how would I live? Would I be as irritated when homeless people knock on my door at home asking for food at Wendy’s, or a ride to Chester b/c they missed the bus?   

   One of the most unique things in the service, was that at the end, they asked anyone who needed prayer to stand, and they had the rest of us (khmer & US) to lay on hands and pray for them.  I was able to pray with people seeking student visa’s, relief from depression and trauma, peace, enough to provide for their family and etc. it was very humbling.  I prayed with many women, and Meade prayed with about 6 men. It was very encouraging.  I felt very self-centered b/c so many of the older women’s husbands were killed during the killing fields, or in the wars that followed, and they still passionately serve God.  It was interesting. 

Medical Care in Cambodia

 

Thank you so much to everyone who donated medications for us to take in our luggage to Cambodia.  The supplies you gave went to this missionary run medical clinic called CSI Clinic.  They keep things moving with donations from short term groups like ours, so thank you again for your generosity, it will be well used.   As anyone who has traveled to the developing world will tell you, medical care is an absolute joke.  Until 3 years ago there was no ambulances in the entire country, and trauma care is basically unheard of. 

 

 

     Like many other things, the medical system is very corrupt, so no matter what your injury or illness, if you walk into a clinic or hospital you have to pay in cash up front before they will even see you.  This was the case in Guatemala as well when we traveled there.  It is not unusual for family members to have someone in an “ER” while they are running around looking for money to treat their relative.  Oftentimes, if they cannot afford the care… i.e.- food for the rest of my kids or medical care for this one, people are allowed to live with a serious injury, or in some cases even die.  People make choices like this on a regular basis.  Speaking of medical care, this brings to mind the land mine situation. We will soon be in Taipei, and I have to admit that I look forward to it, not just b/c I miss my kids, but b/c I am weary of seeing people whose limbs have been blown off.  Land mines are still a huge problem, and have been left in Cambodia by the US, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Khmer Rouge, you cannot walk more than a few blocks without seeing someone injured by a land mine. There have been great advances in cleaning up the mines, and there’s a lot of NGO’s doing good work with it but it takes time.

    One of the missionaries here to the Chom (Cambodian Muslim’s) was traveling in the rural areas and witnessed a severe car accident, where a van full of people flipped over.  They pulled over to assist, and immediately noticed that two women were near death.  They could only fit one woman in their vehicle to get her to a hospital, and were begging and trying to pay bystanders to take the other in their vehicle’s.  Everyone refused because in Animistic Buddhism to be with a body that has died due to trauma (it is assumed their death was due to bad karma which could then be transferred to you) means you could get a curse or a “hex.”  They raced to take the one woman to a hospital, but the second woman died in the road by the time they came back to get her b/c no one would drive her in their car, due to their fear of bad spirits.  

 

    We witnessed this lack of order and resources a few days ago while traveling from Siem Reap through the countryside back to the main city, Phnom Penh.  A man was in a moto accident and died on the side of the road.  He was just laying there under a bloody sheet, but there were no police, no EMT’s, no ambulance, or any presence of order or authority.  That was a very strange experience.  

 

 

      Here is where the CSI clinic comes in.  In a sea of chaos, they are a free clinic providing top of the line medical care.  It looks shabby, and it’s hot and uncomfortable, but it is professional and staffed with great medical folks.  Tim, the guy in the red shirt, was an ER doc living the rich life in a dream home in the US, when some friends seriously challenged he and his wife on their priorities and how they spent their money.  A year after buying a big piece of property and building a huge house, they sold it and headed to Cambodia to learn the language and help develop the fledging medical system.

 

 

 

The CSI clinic has been using a portion of a military bases’ hospital for a small clinic, including dental care, and some minor surgeries, for several years.  Recently,  the government decided to take back the property b/c they feel they can make more money from it, even though they see patients for free, which actually benefits the govt.  They have to be out of the space by June 30th, and have no place to go as of yet. On Tuesday, there is a meeting at 2 p.m. Cambodian time (11 hrs. ahead of Phila), to negotiate a new (literally brand new building) piece of property that they could build on and lease for 99 years. This is a huge prayer item, and could mean adding another layer of things like primary care in the province’s, where it’s needed the most.  Another piece of the new property is training Dr.’s properly and sending professional’s to the province’s to treat dengue fever, malaria, and dysentery.  Improving those three illnesses alone could raise the life expectancy up 20 years, from the current age of 57.  

 

  If the land goes through, and you are interested in helping financially support the clinic through World Team Missions, we will post the info. on this site in the near future.  Many people have been reached and a church has been planted through the medical care you see here at CSI.  Meeting the physical needs of people in conjunction with a holistic approach to the gospel and evangelism is key in building trust and developing disciples no matter your cultural setting.  It was exciting to see a ray of hope in a place that, at times, is very dark.

 

 

 

Trafficking After Care

***I am not going to post a picture for security reasons, and please do not re-publish this with any names you may hear me mention once I am home***

Today I visited the Trafficking after care ministry, it is a home where girls (12-18 yrs.) are rescued from the sex industry.  Many have been sold into slavery as children. One of the ways that they help the girls in their two year residency treatment program, is to teach them skills that they can use to gain a job and a future. The gut level American reaction is to almost condemn that a people would allow their women to be treated this way, but it is so much more complicated than that, and I would love to talk about it with you when I am home if you are interested.  When people are desperate they only think of survival.

    I really want to share my experience of what it was like to be there, but I am having a hard time putting it into words, as is the case with a lot of what I am seeing in Cambodia.  The people here are so desperate, I cannot help but see that this type of environment would have been my son’s life without adoption. 

    One of the things the house does is bring in short term missionary teams of women who are nail technicians and hair stylists, to teach the girls a trade.  The girls in the latter part of the program then use their skills in businesses that have a relationship with the NGO, or in the mini-spa run by the missionaries to benefit the girls.  It’s a wonderfully missional way to use the creativity of God’s people for healing and hope.  

    As part of today we women each received a spa service from one of the girls.  I got a pedicure from a 13 year old girl.  She likely left the industry at age 11, which means she was under 11 when she was sold or tricked into human trafficking. I have no idea how long she was involved. We learned today that 40% of trafficked girls are under 12 and 8% are under 5.

           She washed my feet, and I cannot describe what that felt like for me.  As you can imagine we have been walking through filth, and grime in 100 degree weather, and this little middle school age girl was washing it off.  I have no category for this.   Despite her past, she was such a little girl, I could see it in her eyes, and when she grew teeny bopper excited that I let her pick the polish color.  She grew even more excited when I told her that she picked my daughter’s favorite color, a very bright version of pink.  This girl looked at me with adoration, and was thrilled that I and my friend Kim were telling her about our kids.  (Kim has a very motherly instinct about her, twice this week I have seen the same woman try to give Kim her baby, which is a common way for women to try and give their kids a better life).  

             I wanted to take her home and give her a family, she has a family in the group life of the ministry, but I wanted to give her a mom and a Dad who can show her how God has called men to be.  Please pray for these girls, they are beautiful and made in the image of God, they need healing and people to walk through it with them.  I have had a lot of difficulty processing so much of what I am experiencing emotionally, which is weird because I am a social worker and deal with very, very similar issues on a regular basis.  Just because something horrid happens here, does not undo the horror or lessen the horror of kids abused at home.  It’s like two of us having a broken legs, with one of us with two fractures and one of us with only one.  It’s ridiculous to argue that one has a greater or lesser degree of pain, we will both have pain, but will need to take different paths of healing.  

            One last really neat thing…the “theme” song of the agency is the praise song “I will change your name,” which they have translated into Khmer.  If you know the song, you know how significant that is. 

We also visited a medical clinic which we’ll tell you about later, it’s exciting work. Please pray for us as we close out our trip, and we miss our kids and the weight of what we’re immersed in is weighing on our team.  Praise God also for the couple from the team who will be returning to Cambodia full-time in the near future.  It’s neat to watch how the group is a part of helping them plan and catch a vision with the Cambodian people. Thanks.

The Killing Fields Of Choeung Ek

This is going to be a hard one so I’ll put the pictures below so you don’t have to see them if you don’t want to.  Today I (Meade) visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek about 15 km outside Phnom Penh.  Amy visited an aftercare center for women who have left the sex trade.  

Choeung Ek is unlike anything fathomable.  There’s no interpretative center like in a holocaust museum.  There’s a “stupa” with thousands upon thousands of skulls classified by age and gender stacked on shelves.  As you walk around mass grave sites there are literally bones and old bits of clothing poking out of the path underneath your feet.  I could have picked one up like a pebble.  There are no tour guides.  Just signs that say how many people were found in this particular site.  There were 17,000 people buried there.  

These people were killed by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1978.  Anyone and everyone could be killed.  He wished to make a completely equal society of peasants so intellectuals, religious leaders anyone was killed.  They killed you if you wore glasses.  

God have mercy.  The people of Cambodia haven’t

Photos of Angkor Wat Temple Complex

This is Ta Phrom

Carvings depicting the “leper king.”

Monks

More roots at Ta Phrom.  This is where Tomb Raider and House of Flying Daggers was located. 

Notice the face carving hidden between the roots one foot to Amy’s left.  

Ankgor Wat, the biggest temple in the world.  

Another temple in the complex.  I can’t remember the name and you couldn’t pronounce it if I could. 

Whiplash

It’s been difficult to post lately because the internet is very slow and unreliable.  The past two days were dizzying with many contradictions and strange events. 

• Our hotel room was infested with fleas so we had to get a new one. 
• The new room had exposed electrical wires in the shower.  I’m talking bare metal that runs the AC on the other side of the wall. 
• We experienced some of the most spectacular temples in the world.  I’ll put up a separate picture post next Lord (and internet) willing. 
• You can’t wander even a few feet into the Jungle anywhere because there are land mines everywhere. 
• We saw 10 people piled high on a took took (motorcycle with cart).  
• We saw a dead body lying in the street.  A man had been hit by a passing car.  There were no ambulances or official people of any kind.  Just a pair of feet coming out from under a bloody white sheet.  
• It was Amy an I’s 7th anniversary. 
• We went out to an excellent Northern African Restaurant for our anniversary dinner. 
• While at dinner we saw a man in his late 50’s bring in a 20 year old prostitute.  
• The man was wearing a wedding band. 
• We learned that the way Cambodians make money on the side is to set up plastic tarps in such a way that bugs get caught in them and drown.  They sell the bugs to vendors who then sell them as snacks on the street.  

We’re not sure how to interpret all we see.  It’s overwhelming. 

Ankgor Wat with Food Poisoning :(

This is just a quick one, Meade will post more later. I have had a rough couple of days, I got very ill from food poisoning, and had to call a missionary doc, but I am now okay.  God was very gracious, and I was well enough to still go to Angkor Wat yesterday, which was the highlight for me so far. It is the 4th wonder of the world, and rightly deserves the title!! It was incredible!!     

Before we went into the temple complex, our guide took us into an active Hindu/buddhist temple.  We were allowed and encouraged to take video and pictures inside, so we will post that later on.  It was an experience to say the least, and crushed me spiritually to kneel next to women praying and bowing to an idol of gold.  I was so sobered and had difficulty with it.  We met a lot of interesting people yesterday, and several who had lost a lot of family to the Khmer Rouge.       

Angkor Wat is outrageously amazing, and we had a fantastic tour guide.  It was cool to visit at this time, b/c in all likelihood with the 2 million visitors a year, each year that passes, will greater restrict your freedom in the temple complex.  We also got to visit the temple where Tomb Raider (Angelina Jolie) was filmed, it was outrageously cool. A shout out to my friend Kelly…. I got you a rock from that site for your collection (it’s not a piece of history or anything don’t worry.

International Church & Begging in Cambodia

 

 Monks crossing in front of a Pagoda          

 

Today we had the privilege of worshipping with the Anglican church in Phnom Penh, that has a service in the local language, and a later one in English.  We attended the English service and it was so amazing, I always deeply enjoy worshiping with a diversity of people, it is a picture of what the church should and can be.  The church is made up of people from all over the world who have been called by God to serve in Cambodia as Bible translators, lawyers fighting child sex trafficking, church planters, english teachers,  orphanage workers, and many, many more.  Then, with our group, there was added a richness and diversity that you see in Meade’s Seminary class, with people from tons of different backgrounds and ethnicities.  It was very encouraging, and gives you hope for the church in Cambodia.  Seeing God move in another context that I a not used to deepens my faith in the goodness of God.  It is especially encouraging to see missionaries sent from other countries working with American missionaries and nationals. Sometimes as Americans, we grow so narrow in our focus and react almost as though we are the only senders.

          Phnom Penh kind of smacks you in the face with poverty, and it is not just equally distributed amongst everyone, it is an extreme contrast.  There is vast wealth literally sharing walls with extreme poverty (1/3 of Cambodians live on less than $1 per day).  Being accosted by beggars in the marketplace and along the Mekong river is uncomfortable, and some people can be very aggressive. If someone in the group even hands out a piece of gum, we are immediately swallowed by beggars.  A woman was holding her baby directly against the glass of the van where I was sitting in AC asking me for money and pointing at her child.  There is more to that than you see at first glance, and the  nationals and missionaries have guided us in whom to give to and explained a bit of why giving is sometimes a good idea and sometimes a bad idea.  Many of the kids who are begging for money do not get a benefit from it, they are “working” to give the money to an adult who has control of them in some way.  Sometimes it’s a family member, sometimes not.

 A family living on the Mekong River

     Food seems to be the recommendation as to what to give, with the exception of the disabled, so Meade & I walked to a supermarket today to buy things we could hand out.  Here is the irony though…. the supermarket was about 100 times nicer than any in my neighborhood.  If I saw a store like that near my home I would not even enter b/c I would assume that I could not afford the food.  Yet, here I was, purchasing food for beggars, and right next store was a family living in their small shop, and sleeping on a mattress behind the counter.  It’s hard b/c you just don’t know how to react, it’s all very strange.

     There is so much more, that is just a mini snap shot of what comes to mind this late at night (it’s 9:30 for me, and I am fighting jet lag), I am sure it will take long after the trip to process it. We head to Angkor Wat tomorrow for 3 days/ 2 nights, and I am incredibly excited, it’s one of the seven wonders of the world, and National Geographic ranks it as number 2 only behind Macchu Picchu, in their list of places to see before you die. It will be neat.  We may or may not have internet there, so you may not hear from us for a couple of days. 

 

Chasing Daylight to Cambodia

Today I had an experience I’ve never had before, I saw the same sunrise two times.  In our flight to Cambodia we left New York at midnight to fly to Anchorage Alaska.  There we saw the sunrise for the first time.  Shortly after we took off to fly to Taipei in Taiwan.  Over the pacific we caught back up to the night and then experienced the same day’s sunrise laer on that morning as we flew south west to Taipei.  

 

A few other (semi) interesting things:

1.  I saw a series of Hello Kitty Airplanes in Taipei.  2. The restroom in Anchorage was filled with lots and lots of people brushing their teeth.  3.  At the time I’m writing this we have now been traveling for 31 hours straight since leaving the kids in Scranton. 4. China Airlines has very spooky videos of people stretching that they run before you land.  They look like they’ve been brainwashed but that they’re pretty happy about it.  5.  We’re now on the 6th movie of the trip. 6. Amy’s already read two and a half books, I’ve read one and a half.  7. breakfast on china airlines consisted of something called “pork kunckles,” with some hardboiled/pickled egg and a roll with butter. (picture of that to come)

  Our first day in Cambodia was a bit of shocker, but amazing. Everything is so colorful and you can see the strong Buddhist influence in the architecture everywhere.  We went from downtown NYC, to Alaska, to Taipei (very nice & clean), to people begging for food in Phnom Penh, just a day and a half from leaving the comfort of home.  The capital is full of interesting people, pagoda’s (temples), and is a city beginning to become more globalized.  Tomorrow we go to worship with an international church, and today we took a tour of the Mekong river by boat.  We will post more later and upload some pictures once we find a USB cord!