MISSION TRIP TO CAMBODIA - 13 - 21 MAR 2016

The Khmer Home Stay in Baray, Cambodia. This home stay and other amenities there were started by a Malaysian missionary named Esther Ding who has been there for some 20 years. She went to Cambodia to reach out to poor Cambodians by teaching them English and starting other projects to help them to be more self-sufficient. I went on this mission trip under the auspices of the Wesley Methodist Church, Penang, on invitation by James Leong, an elder in the church, and my friend and ex-colleague. James, extreme right, led the team.

This is the church in Ota Sign Village where we were based for 5 days. This church was built by Wesley Methodist Church, Alor Setar, a few years ago. It also houses hostels for poor boys and girls in the area. In addition, English enhancement is also conducted by the older boys and girls for the younger ones. The children are sponsored by the churches in Penang and Alor Setar.

One of the missions of the trip was to teach English to the English teachers in the province. The teachers are volunteers who have recently also been co-opted by the government to teach English enhancement in secondary schools. This class was taught by John Tan (standing) who is a volunteer teacher in Singapore and also Cambodia. Josephine, extreme right, is a Malaysian missionary who also teaches English. She has been there for 10 years and speaks perfect Khmer. John also conducted English classes for the hostel students after they came back from school. English is only taught in secondary school.

Deborah Yuen, left, is a professional music teacher. She came to inspire the kids in music. Here, she is lending a hand to keep the church compound clean. In addition to teaching them some hymns, she also taught them how to make percussion music with basic 'instruments' like plastic pails, zinc sheets and plastic bottles filled with sand.

The percussion band in action. After Deborah's hard work, there was a 'concert' one night when two hymns, including "Rejoice", were performed in the church. Village elders and villagers were there too.

The kitchen where our meals were prepared. In the background is the boys' hostel.

The village market where our food supplies were obtained.

Fish-monger in the market.

The town restaurant where we had a couple of meals during our field trips.

Another mission of the trip was to conclude the contract for building a church in Svay Teap Village which is about 5 km away from Ota Sign Village. The church will eventually be handed over to the village elders to run and maintain in 3-5 years' time . James is chairing one of several meetings with the village elders to finalise all the details.

The local pastor's house. James brought us there to impress upon us the cleanliness of the compound, a sign that Cambodians can be taught to uphold higher standards of hygiene. Next to the pastor's house we also visited a woman who is suffering from breast cancer. She said she has not consulted any doctor and is resigned to her fate because she can't leave her grandchildren alone nor afford the funds to seek treatment. She was encouraged to consult a doctor and find out how much the cost would be so that James could see whether financial assistance could be rendered by the church in Penang.

One evening, the kids were brought to the Pol Pot Dam. The water level was low as it was the dry season but the kids had a smashing good time there nonetheless.

Leading the way was Deborah who is also a surf boarder.

I was having a relaxing time in a hammock. Cambodia may also be called "Hammock Land".

A shot of the setting sun as we departed.

Although financial assistance was rendered for the digging of this well in Svay Teap Village about a year ago, the digging has not hit pay dirt. The villager was advised to keep digging until water is found.

Although the daytime temperature was very high, at night strong winds blew resulting in this house losing half its zinc roof. The owner asked for financial assistance of USD 60. James suggested that the assistant village head, a Christian, asked the other villagers to render financial assistance in line with Christian charity and as an attestation to the faith. USD 20 was raised by the villagers which was a good start to self help. USD 20 was donated by team members with the balance coming from the missions funds of the church.

This house belongs to a poor woman whose daughter left the hostel. Conflicting accounts were given for her doing so. The team assisted by giving her a 5-kg bag of rice. The remainder of 19 bags was given to other needy villagers on the advice of the assistant village head.

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The team at another village called La Vea waiting for villagers to arrive to start the meeting. William Lim, in folded pants, is the preacher of the team. He held a few sessions sharing the Word of God with the elders. The man with the crutch is a landmine victim seeking assistance for digging a well.

This family in La Vea Village is made up of 13 people. A daughter is pregnant, possibly out of wedlock, and the eldest is 35 years old. The mother said that after embracing Christianity, she was richly rewarded. She has regular employment and is able to put a roof over her house. Her son fell 10 m from a coconut tree but only suffered a broken wrist. Enlarge the pic and you can see his wrist wrapped up in chopsticks. The family is happy and the father played the electric guitar while a couple of the daughters sang a song for us. The man on the right is Pastor Sukun who came from Kampong Thom Province to help in translation. He has a vibrant church back home.

This is the parting shot before we left the Church to return to Phnom Penh. Most of the kids were in school then.

This place is called Skun Town which is a halfway house for our journeys to and from Phnom Penh. William nicknamed it "Spidertown" because of the creepy crawlies sold there. Can you spot the cicadas? James even bought a USD worth of fried Tarantula spiders for us to savour. It tasted nice. Such is the source of proteins for the locals.