In the last couple weeks I’ve been able to work with many village children and children in a particular orphanage. I’ve also visted a couple other orphanages in Phnom Penh. What’s interesting is the different between all the children.
It’s common for people to talk about how the support of orphanages only perpetuates the need for them. More effort is being made to provide resources to the extended families of orphans so that the orphans can live with them.
There is still hope in orphanage though. At the Center of Peace, the children seem far better off than those children with families in the villages. The children at the orphanage are happier, better educated, well mannered, and socially healthy. Much of the children’s progress has to do with the director of the orphanage. Her name is Bophal Yos. As an orphan herself, she made it through college in a country where the average education level is 5th grade. She has so much love. All 70 something kids call her “mother”. She’s legally adopted two of them because they were abandoned by their families. It’s truly an amazing place to experience. These kids know Jesus. They know Jesus as the one and only God.
Orphan care ultimately isn’t about providing them a good place to live, but an opportunity to embrace the hope of the Gospel. It’s about living out the Gospel with these orphans.
We had the opportunity to go and worship with the children at a local village just outside of Phnom Penh. The local missionary we are working with has established three locations where he has service with the children. To get to the village we had to cross two major rivers that come from the north that go through Phnom Penh. We traveled north east of the city for about 30min by van on dirt roads most of the way.
I did have the privilege of preaching to these kids and it was certainly a humbling experience! Preaching to kids always reminds me of how complicated I’ve made the Gospel of Christ and how difficult my own language is. The culture in the US almost seems to prompt us to use great organized and well constructed messages rather than communicating a simple message. Still exploring these thoughts…
Cambodia is among the poorest countries in Asia filled with a devastated history of deception, injustice, abuse of powers, and corruption. But now the country is on a rise. The condition within the city is drastically improving. While economic conditions are improving, the spiritual condition is grim. Much of the country is dominated by Hinduism with a country’s God as a 5-headed Cobra. It’s a country in spiritual bondage.
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Not Now, Not Yet
Our past election was a monumental moment in history. What struck me the most was not the fact that the first African-American was elected into office, but the message that was sent by Obama and his campaign. Obama was about change. He said statements like “Obama for change,” “change we can believe in,” and “the change we need.” There were news articles saying that the inauguration of Obama was a sign of hope and change. People wanted change. Change from their current situations. Change from their current struggles. People wanted hope in their future. Don’t we all want change that gives us hope for the future?
stain [steyn] -noun: a cause of reproach; stigma; blemish: 