Sunday in Cambodia

We have the weekends off but today I decided to attend the worship service with the children from the orphanage. They asked me on Friday if I would be there and I was curious to see how it went. How could I ever say no to all those faces?  I headed there at 8am. The children under age 15 have their service first. I could hear them singing when I was dropped off in front of the orphanage and snuck into the back of the service. I instantly had children on all sides of me and they were motioning me to not sit in the sun and two of them were fanning me and making sure I was comfortable. They have my back. This orphanage is one of the only ones that is Christian. The rest of the orphanages and most of the country are Buddhist. They had a youth pastor giving the sermon and the kids were completely involved. I had no idea what was being said but it didn't matter. The four kids I took to the market yesterday all had on their new outfits and made sure to thank me again....all day. After the sermon they broke into groups for their bible study. I was speaking to Norin who is one of the three adults that looks after the children. The other two are a married couple. They were all orphans themselves, and grew up in the same orphanage in Cambodia. She was telling me in a round about way that the children's connection to their religion is the equivalent to that of people who are desperate and turn to God as a last resort. They live in that state of "last resort" and their religion is the one consistent thing in their lives. She said, '"They have lost everything but they will never lose God."

The service ended and the next one began for the older kids and adults. I took over with the little ones and started by smothering them in baby powder, which they can't get enough of. They want it everywhere, even the teenagers, it is such a relief for their heat rashes and bug bites and it smells so good to them. I slipped some of the girls some of my lip gloss. They love lip gloss. If they see it, you're in trouble. We then played a modified version of basketball outside (no hoop, but we were wearing lip gloss so nobody cared) and ran around until the adult service ended.

The orphanage is divided into three buildings, the girls house, boys house and the church is in between. All are very minimal, open air rooms with no A/C and plenty of bugs and dirt. I have posted some pictures of the kids on facebook but have taken some more today of the facilities. They cook all the meals outside in two pots using coal. It is unbelievable to see where they cook for so many kids. The kitchen consists of a counter top and a sink. No refrigerator, stove top or anything else that resembles a functioning kitchen. When we buy food they have to cook it all immediately or it will be overtaken by ants within an hour. The kids get breakfast, lunch and dinner. No snacks, juice or anything like that. They basically eat rice and soy sauce for every meal unless someone donates fruits and veggies. The girls have two bunk beds but no mattress. The bunk beds have metal frames and one of them has a floor rug over it and the other one has nothing. They fit about ten girls vertically on the beds and the rest sleep on the floor. The boys have the same set up. All the showers are taken outside with a garden hose, no privacy. The clothes are washed in a small plastic tub outside with the same hose. Stay tuned for more pictures of all these things. The pictures I have posted so far of smiley happy kids are no indication of their horrible living conditions, it's just all they know. You would be shocked. The couple who runs the orphanage has no idea each month how they are going to make it all work, they are in over their heads. Most people feel this way with two kids, imagine the stress of 72. I have gathered a lot of information about operating costs for the orphanage and I want to figure out a way to get sponsors so that they don't have to live week to week. I will post more details of this tomorrow. In the mean time we are putting together a plan this week to scrub, paint and improve the interior of all three buildings. We got the green light today. Things went great today, I am looking forward to really making lasting improvements this week and spending every minute with those kids. No one should have to live the way they do. Thank you for your love and support.

xo,
LM