Out Among the Rice Fields of Cambodia

This finds me and my team mates in southeastern Cambodia in the Svey Rieng province near the Vietnam border, out among the rice fields, where we are working for four days with a children's ministry called Kone Kmeng. Basically we have been to five villages, one the first day, and two yesterday, then another two today, to do a program, which includes a skit, some songs, Ken''s dramatic rendition of the story of Daniel, testimonies, Cora's teaching the sign language version of Jesus Loves me, etc.

One of the things we do before we close is to present a skit, which gets sillier each time we do it, about the benefits of brushing teeth, then we give each child a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Since they don't always know what to do with it--some have evidently eaten their toothpaste in the past--our friend, Alex, the lawyer from Washington DC--demonstrates how to brush teeth. He's done it twice already today so he must have the cleanest teeth in the province. Then we play with the kids. Some of my team mates are really good at running games, so they play with the kids at the end of the program, even though the temperature is outrageously hot. The kids don't seem to mind. Me? I plead being an old lady and find a shady place to chill out in--if one can be said to "chill" in intense heat. I tend to gravitate towards the older women in the village, who have wonderful faces, to ask if I can photograph them.

We have gone at the request of local pastors in these villages, and have travelled in a van over some incredibly rutted dirt roads, full of potholes and puddles. The terrain is flat and for as far as one can see, there are flooded rice fields, like a green quilt. Punctuating the flooded areas are sugar palm trees, and the effect is beautiful. Anyway, the churches in these villages are buildings generally about 15 x 20 feet, very open to allow for air flow. People evidently sit on the floor or on a wooden platform, and they can get quite a lot of people into the space available. The kids tend to be quite shy and reticent until they start playing games and then they let loose.


The kids have also given testimonies that have been very touching. Since Kone Kmeng runs the Children's prayer network, these kids have been taught to pray as a very valuable resource and they take it very seriously. Some have told of growing up in abusive homes, particularly when the father got drunk. After the kids became Christians they started to pray for their parents and they found that the violence has abated considerably. One boy told about being persecuted by the kids at school when he became a Christian, "Ïf you are going to be a Christian go somewhere else. Now he prays for those kids. Others have lost parents to AIDS and are living with their grandmothers. The grandmothers are amazing women, and are doing heroic work, although they can't always provide both food and school fees. Kone Kmeng has helped here, too. One boy told about having to drop out of school after his parents died and how he is now back in school because people have provided for his school fees.

After our afternoon meeting today several adults--who become quite enraptured by the children's programs--came up to us and asked us to pray for them. We are travelling with an evangelist from this area who directed this part of the program, and we were able to pray for people with health problems, and a mother and two daughters whose bicycle has worn out and broken, who need the bike to take their vegetables to market. (You would be amazed at what they can carry on a bicycle here! I have lots of photos of people riding bikes that carry enormous loads.)


Thanks for praying!