Cambodia Journal
I wrote each entry every day starting October 15th. Each day an email was sent to people at Hope Chapel and some of the team's families. I wanted to post the whole thing here so I would never lose it...
Day 1: Traveling and Arriving
The team met up at LAX on October 13th at 9:00 pm and we began the arduous task of moving and checking in 24 70 pound bags along with 10 carry-on pieces of luggage. Thanks to Roger, the process was extremely smooth and we were able to check in all the luggage at once without even having to weigh it. The first leg of the flight was 13.5 hours to Taipei and most of us slept well. The transfer flight from Taipei to Phnom Penh also went off without a hitch, minus being sat next to a couple screaming babies. All 10 of us were able to obtain our visas and pass through customs without our hundreds of pounds worth of medicine being questioned, thank God. Once in Phnom Penh, Darlene and Tim, the permanent missionaries met us at the airport and took us to their home where we unloaded all our medication and other items the church has donated and then moved in to the guest house which we will be staying at for the next 15 days. After familiarizing ourselves with our new home we then had lunch at The Coffee Grounds (a café owned by Tim and Dar) and met Tom, a teacher ,and Gretchen, a nurse. Tom and Gretchen are two young volunteers from Minnesota who are here serving with Tim and Darlene for 6 months at the orphanage. After lunch we spent some time at a local market called the Russian Market, although there were no Russians nor was there anything there to do with Russia. Now we are all taking a short rest before we have dinner with Tim and Dar. Tomorrow we start early and get our first look at the orphanage we will be serving at. Praise God that all our bags and persons arrived safely and without hassle. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers, as we constantly keep the church in our thoughts as we deliver all the things our generous congregation has blessed us with. PS, as per personal request, Steve says hi!
Day 2: The orphanage!
The team woke up early and left for the village at 6:30am this morning. Lisa and Siew Chin who had been feeling under the weather the previous day were in good spirits this morning. Upon arriving, we split up into dental and teaching groups. The dental team began unpacking the tools and materials and Greg got his first look at the setup he would be using. Everything came together surprisingly quickly and the entire setup was up and running within a half hour. A very big problem presented itself in the form of a key missing piece for Greg’s air syringe. Fortunately, with the help of a very astute Khmer man and a crude drawing, the piece was bought off of a local dentist in town! Once the piece was obtained, Siew Chin and I assisted Greg and we started working on the children. For the first time in the field, Greg was able to do more than just pull decayed teeth, he was able to fix up some teeth that will keep these children’s mouths healthy for decades! Praise be to God! Greg was very worried that he wouldn’t be able to actually practice any of the restorative dentistry the kit was designed for. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was familiarizing themselves with the orphanage and meeting the children. Tom, Lisa, and Steve worked with the teenagers and told them a bible story which was translated by one of the Khmer teaching aids. Dolly and Cathy were busy helping Gretchen with the smaller children. They all had fun playing games, singing songs, and coloring. Meanwhile, back near the dental camp, Dar and Cathy worked with the Khmer women, helping them with the looms to create linen products to sell and support themselves. In an hour we will all meet up at a local restaurant for our first taste of authentic Khmer cuisine and talk more about our first working day. It was a very tiring day, so tonight we hope for a good rest because tomorrow we do it all again!
Day 3: Cambodian Rain!
We woke up this morning to the kind of rain that many of us have not yet witnessed before. The streets were flooded with 1-2 feet of water and it had come right up to our doorstep. We waded out to our bus and enjoyed a 4 hour bus ride to the orphanage (usually an hour’s ride) due to the traffic, which was in turn due to flooded streets. At one point, we had come to such a standstill that Dar got out of the bus and started directing traffic, shouting at people in Khmer! Back at the orphanage, Greg, Siew, and myself had an extremely productive day of restorative dentistry. The 2 Toms, Roger, and Steve set to work on the solar arrays but ran out of wiring and had to call it quits. They came back to the classroom (a pad of cement under an awning) and worked with the ladies playing with the children and singing songs. After the second portion of the day, the dental team came back to the orphanage to find one big heapin’ holler of a hootenanny! The speakers were blasting country hoedown music and everyone was under the awning dancing. It was a great way to end the day. Everyone danced with the children and had a ton of fun. Thank God that the rain let up at just the right time to allow us to work today. The children are starting to recognize the new faces and we are beginning to get to know them better. It’s becoming more and more of a pleasure to see their smiling faces greet us in the morning and to get hugs and “I love you’s” when we leave.
Day 4: End of the Week
Today was the last day of the week for work and now we look forward to play! Tomorrow we will be picking up all our orphans and taking them to play at the water park in Phnom Penh. This morning was business as usual and we arrived at the village on time. Today’s dentistry was exceptionally productive. Now that the dental team has become more adjusted to working out here, procedures are flowing very smoothly. At the end of the day Greg was able to do six silver fillings for one girl in one sitting! Now instead of having 6 teeth that will slowly decay over the rest of her life, causing her unceasing pain until they rot right out of her mouth, she can keep those teeth for the next 40 years! We are all so thankful that this restorative dentistry is working out. Meanwhile, back at the village, Tom and the men had a successful day working with the solar arrays this time. Tom went in to town to buy some piping and more wiring and got a lot of the panels up and running. Steve and the girls worked on building the toy boats and some water channels to race the boats with which will be part of a game day coming up at the village. Tonight we will be going to eat downtown at an Italian restaurant and then we all hope to rest well for tomorrow’s big day at the water park.
Day 5: The Water Park
What a day we’ve had so far! This morning we got to sleep in a bit. Normally we wake up at 5:30 and eat cereal and fruit here at the guest house, but this morning we got to sleep in until 7:30 and had a splendid breakfast at the Coffee Grounds. After breakfast we went right over to the water park where we met the entire orphanage. We all played on the water slides and in the wave pool from 9:30 all the way up until 3:00. As of now, we’re all quite exhausted. We had so much fun playing in the water today and getting to know the children better. The people here are truly wonderful; the kids are such a joy. It was nice to see all the children we had done dentistry for during the week feeling well again. Tonight we are having supper at Tim and Dar’s house and apparently the schedule tells us that it’s also game night. Tomorrow we will be spending some time at the Russian Market again and also taking a tour on elephant back!
Day 6: The Touristy Day
Today we spent the day in fellowship, tourist style. We had a great breakfast at Tim and Dar’s this morning and then went to visit the genocide museum dedicated to revealing the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. It is terrible to think that such horrific events took place in that country as recent as 30 years ago. After the museum we met up at the Russian Market again to shop for things we both needed and wanted. After about an hour we went to a nice hotel for high tea and a buffet lunch. It was a time to relax and talk to one another. After lunch some of the team headed out to a local massage parlor and some of us went to the Phnom Wat park across the street. At the park, about 8 of us had the opportunity to tour the park and the temple on elephant back, it was very fun, not to mention a little scary. We all met up back at the hotel and tonight we’ll have a light supper at Tim and Dar’s house again. After working all week and the particularly tiresome playing we did with the kids, this weekend has served as a much needed rest. It will be very pleasant to go and worship God together tomorrow at the church.
Day 7: The Women’s Edition
So today was an average morning, back to having breakfast at our guest house and shipping off to the orphanage at 6:30am. The men had designed a new panel to hold the new solar array and had contracted a local metal worker in town to weld the contraption. This morning they checked up on the work and it had almost been completed, by tomorrow it should be ready to mount on the roof at the village. In the meantime, for today, they erected the main supporting girders in the house that will hold the array. The women had been working hard to prepare a collection of hats and shirts for a tie-dye event which was supposed to take place today, but due to a mix up with the paint supplies, it will have to be done tomorrow. Instead, they taught the children the newest dances. In the previous years, the kids have learned the Macarena and now they’ve got the Chicken Dance and the Cha-Cha Slide under their belts. The kids love it and it’s a great way for the staff to bond with the children and also a great way to help the kids learn English while having fun at the same time. Over at our makeshift dental office, the dental team made great strides today doing plenty of extractions and even some class-2 tooth colored composite fillings, which are top of the line. Also over at the dental area, Dar and Cathy were busy helping with the looming projects and also working feverishly to assemble some very intricate little snowmen which are heavily adorned with all sorts of trinkits and will serve as Christmas Tree decorations. It was a particularly difficult day with a lot of speed bumps for everyone in the team, but at the end of the day, things got done and we all are filled with a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Pray that we finish this week strong! P.S. Steven misses Hope Chapel : )
I'm also attaching a picture today of my favorite girl at the orphanage. Her name is Jen and she is HIV+. We met the first day I was here and we connected quickly. She always runs to me first when we arrive, and last Sunday after church she gave me a card she made which had a giant heart on the front with "I love you" in the middle surrounded by as many stickers as she could fit on the page. I'm going to miss her when we leave later this week.
Day 8: A Day of Accomplishments
Today was a great day, although not without its difficulties. At the dental office we had a fantastically productive morning, doing at least two silver or composite fillings and one extraction on each patient. We must have seen 6 just in the morning. Across the mud, Dar and Cathy made good headway on the Christmas ornaments. I failed to mention in the last letter that these ornaments are being sewed by the mothers with AIDS and are being assembled by them as well with Dar and Cathy’s help. These ornaments will be shipped back to the US to be sold to benefit the orphanage here. Back at the orphanage, the men had placed all 6 solar arrays in the metal frame and mounted it on the youth building. This new array has the ability to shift position (manually) to best take advantage of the sun’s angle. By early afternoon, the array was running and pumping water! The frame just needs a little more reinforcement, and it will be set to go. The women along with Steve and Tom had also been busy and had successfully created the tie-dye hats, all 15 dozen of them. It was a monstrous project, but thanks to a lot of helping hands and a chaotic yet organized assembly line, it was finished; Dolly has the paint stains to prove it. All in all it was a very successful day. Tomorrow is our last day of work, and then Thursday is our “carnival” day, which will be so much fun. Tonight we will have supper out in town and then it’s off to bed early as usual for our last big day tomorrow.
Day 9: Conclusion of Work
So today was the last day of official work, although not to say there isn’t more work to do. After arriving at Jumpah, our team split into two groups. One group consisted of Lisa, Gretchen, Tom, and Steve, and the other was, well, the rest of us. Lisa’s group took all the teenagers over to the central market downtown and gave all the children 10 dollars to spend (which can get you a whole wardrope, especially as a Khmer) and 5 dollars for lunch. The teens had tons of fun shopping around and buying clothes and treats from the local tables. One of the most touching things was seeing the youth spend the money they were given on their younger siblings; they are such naturally giving people. A lot of the children even ate small lunches just to leave more money for them to bring back items to their families. After their time at the market, the team took them to a local mall, where they just looked around and had fun. Gretchen got some great photos taken in a little booth with some of the girls. A good time was had by all. Meanwhile, back at the village, the remaining men drilled and attached the much needed steel supports to the solar array frame, and it fit and worked perfectly. The new solar array is now up and running perfectly. A voltmeter was attached to the array so that as you turn it you can find the optimal position for energy production. The water tank the congregation bought for us is now full thanks to the new array, all 5000 liters (or 1315 gallons) of it! While Cathy and Dar continued working with the AIDS women to complete the Christmas ornaments, Dolly and Kathy were packaging the tie-dye hats which were passed out after lunch. The ladies also brought a bunch of markers and some white Frisbees which the kids all spent the afternoon decorating for themselves. The dental team spent the day working on some of the people from the village which they appreciated very much and boosted Tim and Dar’s PR. We also got a chance to work on some of the staff, and did a lot of work for Sovan (again, my best attempt). Sovan helped us out so much with the dentistry and is an integral part to the orphanage. He is such a blessing to Jumpah and so Dr. Flick really spent time ensuring that he will have a very healthy mouth so he can continue to do God’s work over here. Roger says this has been the most productive trip over here and we are all very satisfied with the work we’ve done and only wish we could do more. Tomorrow we will celebrate the whole trip with games and activities for the children. After the carnival we will all get together and Tim and Dar’s to work on repacking everything and consolidating luggage for the trip home. It seems like we just got here, and now it’s all coming to an end so soon. We thank God for all the things we have accomplished so far and hope for another fun day tomorrow.
Day 10: The Last Entry
In my previous letter I completely got ahead of myself by declaring Wednesday to be the last day of work, today has been exhausting. We woke up at 5:00 am this morning to get to Soban by 6:00 am in order for the team to set up the 20 or so booths for our carnival today. Each booth was a classic carnival game including a mini golf game, a tic-tac-toe bean bag toss, one where you toss a ball into a clay pot, a fishing pond, a game where you toss a wet sponge at a person whose face is in a picture of a monkey, and so on. From 8:00 to 10:30 the Jumpah kids and a whole ton of other village kids played games and won prizes. There were approximately 250 kids in attendance! Afterwards, we all had a Khmer meal together, said our last goodbyes and got back into our bus. It was a very emotional moment for all of us. I had no idea I would be so sad to leave after just arriving here. The children and staff have impacted our lives tremendously and we have made our footprints in their lives as well. I wish I could stay longer and the rest of the team feels the same way. The rest of our day today will consist of repacking our bags for shipment home and a goodbye dinner downtown at a German restaurant. Tomorrow, Steve, Tom, Gretchen, Greg, Lisa, Siew Chin, and myself are flying up north to visit the famous temples of Angkor Wat before we leave the country. Roger, Kathy, and Dolly will be flying in a private plane northeast up to Ratchankari which is a very scenic tribal province of Cambodia. Each of our groups will spend a few days exploring these areas before coming back to Phnom Penh to fly home. Tom and Cathy will be staying here in Phnom Penh until November 5th to help Tim and Dar for one more week with the solar panels and ornaments respectively. The rest of the team will be coming back home on the 29th, excluding my father and myself. I am moving to Thailand for a year and my father will be accompanying me for 1 week and then flying home with Tom and Cathy.
Thank you to everyone who supported this mission financially and by prayer. I hope you all enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Some of the emails I sent were rejected, so if there are any days that you missed, let me know and I will resend them to whomever wishes to read them.
Day 1: Traveling and Arriving
The team met up at LAX on October 13th at 9:00 pm and we began the arduous task of moving and checking in 24 70 pound bags along with 10 carry-on pieces of luggage. Thanks to Roger, the process was extremely smooth and we were able to check in all the luggage at once without even having to weigh it. The first leg of the flight was 13.5 hours to Taipei and most of us slept well. The transfer flight from Taipei to Phnom Penh also went off without a hitch, minus being sat next to a couple screaming babies. All 10 of us were able to obtain our visas and pass through customs without our hundreds of pounds worth of medicine being questioned, thank God. Once in Phnom Penh, Darlene and Tim, the permanent missionaries met us at the airport and took us to their home where we unloaded all our medication and other items the church has donated and then moved in to the guest house which we will be staying at for the next 15 days. After familiarizing ourselves with our new home we then had lunch at The Coffee Grounds (a café owned by Tim and Dar) and met Tom, a teacher ,and Gretchen, a nurse. Tom and Gretchen are two young volunteers from Minnesota who are here serving with Tim and Darlene for 6 months at the orphanage. After lunch we spent some time at a local market called the Russian Market, although there were no Russians nor was there anything there to do with Russia. Now we are all taking a short rest before we have dinner with Tim and Dar. Tomorrow we start early and get our first look at the orphanage we will be serving at. Praise God that all our bags and persons arrived safely and without hassle. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers, as we constantly keep the church in our thoughts as we deliver all the things our generous congregation has blessed us with. PS, as per personal request, Steve says hi!
Day 2: The orphanage!
The team woke up early and left for the village at 6:30am this morning. Lisa and Siew Chin who had been feeling under the weather the previous day were in good spirits this morning. Upon arriving, we split up into dental and teaching groups. The dental team began unpacking the tools and materials and Greg got his first look at the setup he would be using. Everything came together surprisingly quickly and the entire setup was up and running within a half hour. A very big problem presented itself in the form of a key missing piece for Greg’s air syringe. Fortunately, with the help of a very astute Khmer man and a crude drawing, the piece was bought off of a local dentist in town! Once the piece was obtained, Siew Chin and I assisted Greg and we started working on the children. For the first time in the field, Greg was able to do more than just pull decayed teeth, he was able to fix up some teeth that will keep these children’s mouths healthy for decades! Praise be to God! Greg was very worried that he wouldn’t be able to actually practice any of the restorative dentistry the kit was designed for. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was familiarizing themselves with the orphanage and meeting the children. Tom, Lisa, and Steve worked with the teenagers and told them a bible story which was translated by one of the Khmer teaching aids. Dolly and Cathy were busy helping Gretchen with the smaller children. They all had fun playing games, singing songs, and coloring. Meanwhile, back near the dental camp, Dar and Cathy worked with the Khmer women, helping them with the looms to create linen products to sell and support themselves. In an hour we will all meet up at a local restaurant for our first taste of authentic Khmer cuisine and talk more about our first working day. It was a very tiring day, so tonight we hope for a good rest because tomorrow we do it all again!
Day 3: Cambodian Rain!
We woke up this morning to the kind of rain that many of us have not yet witnessed before. The streets were flooded with 1-2 feet of water and it had come right up to our doorstep. We waded out to our bus and enjoyed a 4 hour bus ride to the orphanage (usually an hour’s ride) due to the traffic, which was in turn due to flooded streets. At one point, we had come to such a standstill that Dar got out of the bus and started directing traffic, shouting at people in Khmer! Back at the orphanage, Greg, Siew, and myself had an extremely productive day of restorative dentistry. The 2 Toms, Roger, and Steve set to work on the solar arrays but ran out of wiring and had to call it quits. They came back to the classroom (a pad of cement under an awning) and worked with the ladies playing with the children and singing songs. After the second portion of the day, the dental team came back to the orphanage to find one big heapin’ holler of a hootenanny! The speakers were blasting country hoedown music and everyone was under the awning dancing. It was a great way to end the day. Everyone danced with the children and had a ton of fun. Thank God that the rain let up at just the right time to allow us to work today. The children are starting to recognize the new faces and we are beginning to get to know them better. It’s becoming more and more of a pleasure to see their smiling faces greet us in the morning and to get hugs and “I love you’s” when we leave.
Day 4: End of the Week
Today was the last day of the week for work and now we look forward to play! Tomorrow we will be picking up all our orphans and taking them to play at the water park in Phnom Penh. This morning was business as usual and we arrived at the village on time. Today’s dentistry was exceptionally productive. Now that the dental team has become more adjusted to working out here, procedures are flowing very smoothly. At the end of the day Greg was able to do six silver fillings for one girl in one sitting! Now instead of having 6 teeth that will slowly decay over the rest of her life, causing her unceasing pain until they rot right out of her mouth, she can keep those teeth for the next 40 years! We are all so thankful that this restorative dentistry is working out. Meanwhile, back at the village, Tom and the men had a successful day working with the solar arrays this time. Tom went in to town to buy some piping and more wiring and got a lot of the panels up and running. Steve and the girls worked on building the toy boats and some water channels to race the boats with which will be part of a game day coming up at the village. Tonight we will be going to eat downtown at an Italian restaurant and then we all hope to rest well for tomorrow’s big day at the water park.
Day 5: The Water Park
What a day we’ve had so far! This morning we got to sleep in a bit. Normally we wake up at 5:30 and eat cereal and fruit here at the guest house, but this morning we got to sleep in until 7:30 and had a splendid breakfast at the Coffee Grounds. After breakfast we went right over to the water park where we met the entire orphanage. We all played on the water slides and in the wave pool from 9:30 all the way up until 3:00. As of now, we’re all quite exhausted. We had so much fun playing in the water today and getting to know the children better. The people here are truly wonderful; the kids are such a joy. It was nice to see all the children we had done dentistry for during the week feeling well again. Tonight we are having supper at Tim and Dar’s house and apparently the schedule tells us that it’s also game night. Tomorrow we will be spending some time at the Russian Market again and also taking a tour on elephant back!
Day 6: The Touristy Day
Today we spent the day in fellowship, tourist style. We had a great breakfast at Tim and Dar’s this morning and then went to visit the genocide museum dedicated to revealing the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. It is terrible to think that such horrific events took place in that country as recent as 30 years ago. After the museum we met up at the Russian Market again to shop for things we both needed and wanted. After about an hour we went to a nice hotel for high tea and a buffet lunch. It was a time to relax and talk to one another. After lunch some of the team headed out to a local massage parlor and some of us went to the Phnom Wat park across the street. At the park, about 8 of us had the opportunity to tour the park and the temple on elephant back, it was very fun, not to mention a little scary. We all met up back at the hotel and tonight we’ll have a light supper at Tim and Dar’s house again. After working all week and the particularly tiresome playing we did with the kids, this weekend has served as a much needed rest. It will be very pleasant to go and worship God together tomorrow at the church.
Day 7: The Women’s Edition
So today was an average morning, back to having breakfast at our guest house and shipping off to the orphanage at 6:30am. The men had designed a new panel to hold the new solar array and had contracted a local metal worker in town to weld the contraption. This morning they checked up on the work and it had almost been completed, by tomorrow it should be ready to mount on the roof at the village. In the meantime, for today, they erected the main supporting girders in the house that will hold the array. The women had been working hard to prepare a collection of hats and shirts for a tie-dye event which was supposed to take place today, but due to a mix up with the paint supplies, it will have to be done tomorrow. Instead, they taught the children the newest dances. In the previous years, the kids have learned the Macarena and now they’ve got the Chicken Dance and the Cha-Cha Slide under their belts. The kids love it and it’s a great way for the staff to bond with the children and also a great way to help the kids learn English while having fun at the same time. Over at our makeshift dental office, the dental team made great strides today doing plenty of extractions and even some class-2 tooth colored composite fillings, which are top of the line. Also over at the dental area, Dar and Cathy were busy helping with the looming projects and also working feverishly to assemble some very intricate little snowmen which are heavily adorned with all sorts of trinkits and will serve as Christmas Tree decorations. It was a particularly difficult day with a lot of speed bumps for everyone in the team, but at the end of the day, things got done and we all are filled with a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Pray that we finish this week strong! P.S. Steven misses Hope Chapel : )
I'm also attaching a picture today of my favorite girl at the orphanage. Her name is Jen and she is HIV+. We met the first day I was here and we connected quickly. She always runs to me first when we arrive, and last Sunday after church she gave me a card she made which had a giant heart on the front with "I love you" in the middle surrounded by as many stickers as she could fit on the page. I'm going to miss her when we leave later this week.
Day 8: A Day of Accomplishments
Today was a great day, although not without its difficulties. At the dental office we had a fantastically productive morning, doing at least two silver or composite fillings and one extraction on each patient. We must have seen 6 just in the morning. Across the mud, Dar and Cathy made good headway on the Christmas ornaments. I failed to mention in the last letter that these ornaments are being sewed by the mothers with AIDS and are being assembled by them as well with Dar and Cathy’s help. These ornaments will be shipped back to the US to be sold to benefit the orphanage here. Back at the orphanage, the men had placed all 6 solar arrays in the metal frame and mounted it on the youth building. This new array has the ability to shift position (manually) to best take advantage of the sun’s angle. By early afternoon, the array was running and pumping water! The frame just needs a little more reinforcement, and it will be set to go. The women along with Steve and Tom had also been busy and had successfully created the tie-dye hats, all 15 dozen of them. It was a monstrous project, but thanks to a lot of helping hands and a chaotic yet organized assembly line, it was finished; Dolly has the paint stains to prove it. All in all it was a very successful day. Tomorrow is our last day of work, and then Thursday is our “carnival” day, which will be so much fun. Tonight we will have supper out in town and then it’s off to bed early as usual for our last big day tomorrow.
Day 9: Conclusion of Work
So today was the last day of official work, although not to say there isn’t more work to do. After arriving at Jumpah, our team split into two groups. One group consisted of Lisa, Gretchen, Tom, and Steve, and the other was, well, the rest of us. Lisa’s group took all the teenagers over to the central market downtown and gave all the children 10 dollars to spend (which can get you a whole wardrope, especially as a Khmer) and 5 dollars for lunch. The teens had tons of fun shopping around and buying clothes and treats from the local tables. One of the most touching things was seeing the youth spend the money they were given on their younger siblings; they are such naturally giving people. A lot of the children even ate small lunches just to leave more money for them to bring back items to their families. After their time at the market, the team took them to a local mall, where they just looked around and had fun. Gretchen got some great photos taken in a little booth with some of the girls. A good time was had by all. Meanwhile, back at the village, the remaining men drilled and attached the much needed steel supports to the solar array frame, and it fit and worked perfectly. The new solar array is now up and running perfectly. A voltmeter was attached to the array so that as you turn it you can find the optimal position for energy production. The water tank the congregation bought for us is now full thanks to the new array, all 5000 liters (or 1315 gallons) of it! While Cathy and Dar continued working with the AIDS women to complete the Christmas ornaments, Dolly and Kathy were packaging the tie-dye hats which were passed out after lunch. The ladies also brought a bunch of markers and some white Frisbees which the kids all spent the afternoon decorating for themselves. The dental team spent the day working on some of the people from the village which they appreciated very much and boosted Tim and Dar’s PR. We also got a chance to work on some of the staff, and did a lot of work for Sovan (again, my best attempt). Sovan helped us out so much with the dentistry and is an integral part to the orphanage. He is such a blessing to Jumpah and so Dr. Flick really spent time ensuring that he will have a very healthy mouth so he can continue to do God’s work over here. Roger says this has been the most productive trip over here and we are all very satisfied with the work we’ve done and only wish we could do more. Tomorrow we will celebrate the whole trip with games and activities for the children. After the carnival we will all get together and Tim and Dar’s to work on repacking everything and consolidating luggage for the trip home. It seems like we just got here, and now it’s all coming to an end so soon. We thank God for all the things we have accomplished so far and hope for another fun day tomorrow.
Day 10: The Last Entry
In my previous letter I completely got ahead of myself by declaring Wednesday to be the last day of work, today has been exhausting. We woke up at 5:00 am this morning to get to Soban by 6:00 am in order for the team to set up the 20 or so booths for our carnival today. Each booth was a classic carnival game including a mini golf game, a tic-tac-toe bean bag toss, one where you toss a ball into a clay pot, a fishing pond, a game where you toss a wet sponge at a person whose face is in a picture of a monkey, and so on. From 8:00 to 10:30 the Jumpah kids and a whole ton of other village kids played games and won prizes. There were approximately 250 kids in attendance! Afterwards, we all had a Khmer meal together, said our last goodbyes and got back into our bus. It was a very emotional moment for all of us. I had no idea I would be so sad to leave after just arriving here. The children and staff have impacted our lives tremendously and we have made our footprints in their lives as well. I wish I could stay longer and the rest of the team feels the same way. The rest of our day today will consist of repacking our bags for shipment home and a goodbye dinner downtown at a German restaurant. Tomorrow, Steve, Tom, Gretchen, Greg, Lisa, Siew Chin, and myself are flying up north to visit the famous temples of Angkor Wat before we leave the country. Roger, Kathy, and Dolly will be flying in a private plane northeast up to Ratchankari which is a very scenic tribal province of Cambodia. Each of our groups will spend a few days exploring these areas before coming back to Phnom Penh to fly home. Tom and Cathy will be staying here in Phnom Penh until November 5th to help Tim and Dar for one more week with the solar panels and ornaments respectively. The rest of the team will be coming back home on the 29th, excluding my father and myself. I am moving to Thailand for a year and my father will be accompanying me for 1 week and then flying home with Tom and Cathy.
Thank you to everyone who supported this mission financially and by prayer. I hope you all enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Some of the emails I sent were rejected, so if there are any days that you missed, let me know and I will resend them to whomever wishes to read them.