On Friday, we ran our first day of the Children’s program. All the faithful old costumes came out as we took 2 tuk tuks to the Community centre dressed as pirates. We got even more smiles than usual as Malakai rode along with his bandana and eye patch on.

We set up the Pirate flag at the gate, hung up our Union Jack (Pommy) flag over the aim for the morning, stuck up the Blast-o-meter on the white board and set up the data projector with a pirates theme song playing. It was Kids church/Pirates of Marrickville all over again, only with the slight change of name to Pirates of Phnom Penh and the luxury of translation every couple of lines which was a much welcomed respite for Miss Rebekah Bigelow and Captain Nathanael Oates!

The Cambodian kids were great. They laughed in the right spots, our translator Sothea does a great job, and looked scared when Long Jack Cameron Pewter, the pirate pretending to be the English ships entertainment officer and cook, came on.

They all got into the actions as we sang together and they enjoyed making new friends as we played lots of games together. We all had so much fun and they seemed to really enjoy the craft too. We got lots of excited waves as they left on their tuk tuk back to their homes.

The community centre decided to fund two tuk tuks to pick up and drop off the kids as most of them can’t even afford the one way $2 fee to get to the community centre. This is not surprising when you consider that 23% of Cambodians live on less than US$1.25 a day. I’m glad they did, cause it meant all 27 who had registered for the 8 weeks came. We have been warned that it is not unusual for Cambodians to not turn up to things. After talking to some of their siblings in the youth program, it seems that some of the kids might have to help their mum selling goods in the markets or whatever work she might do. Again, this isn’t surprising when there is 37% child labour here. Kids often start school at an older age or drop out of school early depending on whether they are needed to work for their family. One of the girls we met at the youth program is 20 years old and only in Yr 11 at school. We’ll pray they will all be able to come along and enjoy spending time with us, make new friends and learn more about our great God.

After each session, we are having feedback meetings with the volunteers. We have four volunteers, 2 males, Vannak, Rotina, (both Yr 10 boys) and 2 females, Sopear (female, finishing phychology at uni) and Raksmy (doing MTS). We also have 2 translators, Sothea (who works 2 days as a dentist and 4 days at the community centre) and Sotuik (the pastor of the church). Our feedback meetings are proving to be great opportunities to teach the volunteers about why we do the things we do. None of them have ever done anything like this before and they are really keen to learn. They are also very valuable as they are the ones who can really talk to the kids and get to know them. We try and they translate for us, but there’s nothing like being Cambodian and knowing the language! As we learn how to best present the material to the kids given the language barriers, the volunteers are also learning how to put together a youth and children’s program. Everyone involved is learning and it’s proving to be a wonderful experience. As Vana said yesterday in closing at our meeting; ‘It’s beautiful to see us all working together!‘

We consider our time here ministering to the children and youth to be such an important opportunity because 37% of the Cambodian population are 12 years of age or under. The children need all the help they can get spiritually and financially so they can afford to eat and get an education and have a brighter future. We are often surprised to see how small the children are. The other day, we met a boy the same age as Zachariah, who Lily was taller than. This is not uncommon. Sonai, the manager of the community centre told me that often all the kids eat is rice. They rarely have veggies, hardly ever eat meat and maybe have a bit of fish sauce with their rice. They just don’t get the nutrients they need to grow. Yet, they smile! And we smile as we get to know them and as our children play alongside them, quickly becoming friends despite the colour of our skin, the ridiculous extremes in our standard of living, opportunities available and language barriers! Praise God that we are all one in Christ!

P.S. Thanks for praying for Bek. She finished her 60th tablet tonight and is finished her antibiotics and feeling like her usual sunny self. Poor Lily though is the latest victim to the runny tummy. She had a pretty bad night last night, so hoping and praying she’ll have a good sleep tonight. Please pray that Lily will get better quickly. Thanks…..

P.P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPOP!