Cambodia

(* I was not originally going to post this, as I wrote it for a scrapbook that my mom has been putting together for me, of my entire 11 months on the World Race, but I have realized that, in writing this for her...it has served as a good 'tool' for me to continue to 'process' my experience.  I would like to share it with you as well, because sometimes feelings and emotions are easier to explain through words like these*)

Cambodia.  Prior to coming to small South East Asian country, all I knew of it, was the story of a Cambodian that I had to read for a class while at Steinbach Bible College.  The author shared his story of witnessing his family being murdered right before his eyes, before he too, was hacked at by machetes and fell atop of his slain mother and siblings.  This was a time in Cambodian history, where The Khmer Rouge was following orders under their leader, Pol Pot.  At the time of reading this account, “The Khmer Rouge”, “Pol Pot” and “Cambodia” seemed like a far off land.  A land that I would never personally experience within my life time, let alone walk on the grounds of where a complete generation was annihilated simply for having an education.  Not only was I able to spend one month here, but 2 months there as part of the World Race experience  

It was during my time IN Cambodia that God began to really direct me to His calling for my life.  January 2014, I spent teaching English at a rural (private) Christian YWAM base school.  My team and I also spent a few hours a week teaching at a local public school.  We taught the children their 123’s, ABC’s and grammar structure (for the older grades) and we spent hours going over the pronunciation of sounds while repeating rules to them time and time again.  Our rural classrooms were made of bamboo, surrounded by palm trees and rice fields.  The public school was just off a ‘major’ road and they used the grounds of an old Hindu temple, for their school grounds.  During our time teaching the private school kids, we shared Jesus with them through songs, skits and games all in English.

The following month (February) my team and I were re-located to Phenom Phen, the capital city of Cambodia.  This city, was also were the heart of the Khmer Rouge Regime, took place.  Our ‘mission’ for the month was to help kick-start an after school English program for the female and male dorm students.  These students where under the care of a married couple and a sister, who had chosen to give up their life in Northern India, to become missionaries in Cambodia.  It was easy to see their vision and heart were they were.  It was simple quite simple really.  Mentor and disciple the students under their care, while providing access to English lessons to help the students in their own university studies to become bankers, doctors and lawyers. 

While in PP in particular, God really began to speak to my heart specifically with furthering my own education to become an ESL teacher.  Through ‘teaching’, and talking with these students, I began to see (and realize) their push to learn English as a second language.  Their replies were simple, “Teacher, I want to help my family.  I want to help build back my country”. Something so basic as a language, yet powerful enough to convict a generation thus enabling them to change a Nation, was a new ‘revelation’ for me.  I found myself thinking, “I could be a part of this change’, on a daily basis.  God further opened my eyes beyond my English classroom in PP, into a world of culture, custom and the Khmer language itself found on the streets and in the markets.

I did not ‘go into the race’ expecting to ‘come out’ of it with such a direct, personal, career choice.  Instead, my prayers were that, through daily interactions with the people God was to place in my path, that He would lead me and give me a possible direction.  Beyond that, God broke my heart for a part of the world, I never even had any desire to even visit.  He used the young people from the nation of Cambodia, to speak this Truth into my heart and life.  He used missionaries consisting of both local Cambodians, North Americans and especially, the individual stories (and later, combined story) the married couple, to convict me and to truly break my heart in a brand new way.

Teaching English for those two months in Cambodia, changed my life in a way I do not think I will ever fully be able to understand.  It’s a Nation of people that have found its way into a special part of my heart, a part that I thought only the children of Zambia, would ever hold.  Yet, the letters of two simple, blue bolded words, remind me of a different Truth.  A Truth that rung true to me to me that day, and words that have stuck with me since.  BEAUTIFUL FEET.  BEAUTIFUL FEET, a calling upon my life to live different. TO push the boundaries of society’s ‘norms’.  To live, to laugh, to teach, to LOVE.

Truth be told, I do not know if I will end up back in Cambodia for the rest of my life.  I wish I could give a 'for sure' answer, but I cannot.  What I do know is that, God is currently shaping and molding me right here and now, to BE a better teacher regardless of where I end up teaching.  One thing is clear, I am a teacher.  Not only a TESOL 'in training' teacher, but a teacher of life and ultimately, of God's Truth in this world. 

Regardless of where I am in this world, that will not change.

Some of my 'Students' in PP.