Brokenness

Your friendly adventurer is safely back in Thailand. I have had a good bit of time to contemplate what I want to share with you, but am having a hard time sorting it all out. Let me say from a personal perspective I feel like I just took part in an episode of one of those 'Survivor' shows. I am not overly found of creepy, crawly things and let me tell you I had my fill of them!
The training center was infested with scorpions that thankfully I never saw. However, just the thought of them was making me a little crazy. Then there were the gigantic spiders, which I did see. I am grateful that the only tarantula that I encountered was grilled, as a treat. I passed on that one!
Throw in the rats, which indeed cohabitated with us, a few thousand red ants that passed through after leaving their mark on us, plus every other kind of insect imaginable and you get the picture of every day encounters. I was told about the centipedes that could be a couple feet long and caused much pain when they bit as if that was nothing unusual. For me very unusual, however, for those who live there, no big deal. If I had been in the States and encountered one fraction of what I did there, I would never have been able to stand the conditions, but what was I to do? Complain? To what end? I was there to encourage and support. I was determined to not be a hinderance in any way. I truly struggled.
The first few days found me feeling more and more wretched. You see I was on sensory overload. Actually, since I arrived in Southeast Asia my senses have been on overdrive, but upon arriving in Cambodia the increase in input was greatly multiplied.
I found much of what I encountered very distressing and to be honest all I wanted to do was flee! I felt so selfish and so helpless. Often all I could do is hang onto the LORD. I had to keep my eyes on Him and not what surrounded me.
Brokenness best describes this land and its people. The land itself has been devastated, but is being redeemed albeit very slowly. The people and their way of thinking is truly broken. It is a society that seems, for the most part, to be devoid of God.
They are very religious. Buddhism permeates every aspect of their lives. One can never forget it is a Buddhist society. Each home, shop and roadside has its shrine. All their actions are about earning merit in hopes of attaining a higher level. Along with this is the ever important witch doctor and the astrologists. There is no thought that there is any other way of living or thinking.
Relationships are not intimate, but it is all about your rank; how important are you in the hierarchy of the village?
Most nights we heard funerals or weddings being held. There were many weddings because the astrologists said it is the right time to marry. Since in many areas there is no electricity, they rent battery operated amplifiers so that the whole village hears and comes to join them. To come is to pay. Everyone must pay a set amount.
Children are left to their own devices or are put to work. It is not unusual to see a small child, maybe age four, sent to the market for something and have to walk along a very busy roadway.
The homes are on stilts with a wooden ladder leading up to it. I held my breathe more than once upon seeing a toddler teetering at the doorway!
The educational system is corrupt and to get anything from it you must pay the teacher a bribe.
It is dry season right now and the dust is everywhere. After a while I didn't recognize my own feet anymore! The children are covered in dirt and dust.
Every home has a dog or two without exception. I have never before seen so many dogs in one area. Oh - they really come to life at night!
Most homes are just one room with a 'bed' in one corner. It is basically a platform the size of a double bed. Everyone typically sleeps there at night. Sometimes they sleep on the floor. Everything is made of wooden slats. Since everything is done on the floor you either squat or sit on your feet. I did not master doing either comfortably, but do them I did!
There were times of beauty, such as the night sky. No lights whatsoever competing with the stars and planets makes for some sight!
What I found most beautiful was to watch those who have given everything to minister in such a broken land.
My friends, old and new, have adopted the Khmer way of life. They tell me that they actually have learned to think like them. This is critical. How can you possible help them, if you don't understand how they think?
These dear ones cook like the Khmer, which is over a charcoal pit, and prepare the same food. They tell me that to use any modern conveniences would become a stumbling block in relating to the people. Someone had brought them a coffee press and they love it. However they are concerned that a Khmer might see it which wuld be a problem. My friend, Heather, says the response would be "See your life is so much easier than mine because you have one of those".
Every aspect of their lives has become Khmer. Well, every aspect except that they follow the life giver, Jesus. The Buddhist religion is just the opposite. It is one that leads to death. I was thinking of how many in our nation are embracing aspects of this dark religion and wonder if they would continue to if they could see the effects it has had on a whole nation of people?
At the training center everything is being done in a way that can be replicated. That means to pump water from the well they have set up something like a 'stair stepper' and also a hand crank. I tried both and realized I better get back to exercising when I get home!
At each building there is a large clay pot that is about four feet high and maybe five feet wide. It is kept filled with water. This is where you bathe. Ladies wear a sarong and guys wear something half that size. You wash right there and then rinse and drip dry. No towels are available since the Khmer don't use them.
On a couple of occasions I accompanied ministry teams as they visited homes and shared simple Bible stories with those who were interested or just socialized. We sat on a mat in the yard or on the floor of their home. Always food and water were offered. I never actually drank any water, as it would have definitely made me sick, but I did eat whatever seemed safest, which usually was sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves.
Most often trips to villages or the market were via moto, which what they call their motorcycles. It wasn't unusual to find me on the back of one and many times it was with a third passenger behind me!
On Wednesday, after starting to feel a little settled, I accompanied my new friend, Ayra, to another village so that I could see where Rebecca Stinson ministers. We piled into a minivan and this time the driver did share his seat!
The village was alongside the Mekong River. We stayed in the Buddhist home of Ayra's former landlord. It came with rats and all. One plus was - NO SQUATTY POTTY! They had moved up in the world and had a toilet. No toilets have flush handles though. There is still the vat of water and the typical long handled plastic pot to scoop the water to wash and flush. The Khmer, along with the Thai people do not use paper. They just rinse! (Too much information?)
In the middle of the night if you had to make a trip to the rest room (If?), there was a lot of scurrying and squeaking with each step. One night upon arrival in said room I encountered a large lizard sharing the place with me. I figured on a scale with rats and giant spiders - what was a lizard or two?
The following two days Ayra and I joined hers and Rebecca's original team members, who were running medical clinics. On Thursday we walked to the adjoining village and had to cross a small river that branched off of the Mekong. There was a large raft being pulled back and forth by a young man tugging on a rope that was anchored on both river banks.
Both days we set up three medical stations; the first was manned by a medical doctor who is a fulltime medical missionary; the second by a fourth-year medical student, who plans to become a medical missionary, plus a translator. The third station was covered by a physician's assistant with Ayra translating. There was also a pharmacy and I was one of the pharmacists! I told the missionary, Dave, who was working with me as the translator, that if we had been in the States doing what we were doing, we would have been arrested!
One case that was treated, actually it was two, was very strange. Or so some of us thought. Mothers of two different boys reported that they were eating rubber. One ate a whole flip-flop! The doctors didn't bat an eye. It seems that this is a symptom of vitamin defficiency.
We dispensed a vast number of vitamins and worm pills along with many other medications in the course of two days. The total number of patients seen was one hundred. It was satisfying to be able to do something to help.
In the midst of the deep darkness and great need there were other marks of beauty. There was the grandma in the first village, who glows with her love of Jesus and the young man that has such a hard life yet desires to follow Jesus with all his heart. Then there was the woman who ran the kitchen at the trianing center, Mrs. Cook, as we call her. She works her kitchen chores around the classes because she is so hungry to learn as much as possible about her Savior and His ways. I do not have words to describe how moving it is to witness such pure hearts.
Upon arriving back at the center on Saturday morning I thought I would like to maybe get a piece of clothing to represent Cambodia. Nothing, of course, is made to fit an American, so I picked up a piece of fabric and had a local woman make me a skirt. She did it in less than a day and it was beautiful. What was her charge for this lovely job? Two dollars and fifty cents. I gave her five dollars and she was elated. If I were my friend, who lives there, I could not have done that. Everything has to be equal, so if you gave extra to one you would be expected to do that for everyone. I could get away with it as an outsider.
My last night I happened to stretch my leg and my foot touched the mosquito netting. What are the odds that something would be waiting right there to bite me? Pretty good. My foot has stung on and off for two days now and my small toes are still numb!
Yesterday Heather accompanied me to the airport, which meant a two plus hour drive one-way in a packed mini-van. There were around seventeen of us in it and if one more had joined us, the helper would have ridden on the roof! The way to connect with these vans is to stand on the side of the street and wave them down. You haggle about the price and then climb in.
I have never been so eager to leave a place. Doesn't that sound awful? I have struggled with my feelings so very much this past week. My heart is broken over all I have seen and I am committed to do whatever I can to help, but from outside. This make me feel so selfish. It is a hard land, yet so needy. I am so grateful and so humbled to know that there are those who have counted the cost and have still gone.
Once again I am convinced that the way to make a difference, a lasting, eternal difference is to train those who can lead. It has been a joy and a privilege to be able to witness people doing just that.
Now I am a new area of Thailand and in my next post I will share about the obvious brokenness of yet another group of people.