The Children of Cambodia

In a few days our team members will be posting pictures we took of the beautiful Cambodian children. As anyone who knows me is already aware, children of all ages from all parts of our world capture my heart and always will. With their innocence, trust, and joy for life they are alike all over the world and as the Bible tells us 'special in God's sight'.

Children in Cambodia love to sing, run, and play as everywhere in the world. Some of the children of the villages we visited were very shy with us when we first arrived because they don't see foreigners very often and we talk funny and look different. Some of the small children even ran to their mothers and cried. But soon they are peeking around the trees looking at us smiling and giggling. You do not need to know their language to communicate. All you need is a smile or nod and a game to play or a song to sing and they will join right in. We brought a colorful parachute and taught them several games and an inflatable ball to toss from person-to-person. Shreeks of laughter filled the air and were a joy to hear. During a visit to the preschool near the landfill the children sang a song and we taught them 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. Anything with motions they can learn, they love. As we left the school and the orphanage the older children gave us 'high fives' and waved. They seem so happy to be learning and I am always amazed at the dark, crowded, and hot rooms they must learn in. The preschool is located right at the foot of the landfill and the air smells so strongly of rotting garbage we must cover our mouths and noses as we walk to the classrooms.

As in every part of the world, children look to their mothers for comfort and need. Babies sleep in hammocks rocked by mothers as they work to cook over open fires. Families sit on wooden platforms in the shade under their homes and eat their lunch or dinner which consists mainly of rice, a little meat, and fruit. As the mothers toil in open fields planting rice or picking vegetables babies and small children ride in colorful kramas (long strips of cloth) tied in front or back of their mothers or older siblings. As we pass streams or ponds little children are swimming and washing their baby brother and sisters as their parents work nearby. Many small farms have rolls of plastic suspended from bamboo poles that catch locusts in a plastic square below. Locusts are a favorite family food when they are fried over an open fire. We see them piled high on trays for sale in the roadside markets.

In cities like Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, especially near the Angkor Wat, small children carry babies in their arms as they beg for food or money for their families. Many times parents send the children out to beg because they know it will touch our hearts and we will give what we can. This sight is never easy for any of the teams. It breaks our hearts to see this and yet handing out money only encourages more begging. Many times we save the food we have left over and give this to the children to share with their families. Older children who beg have learned American phrases and ask if we are from Washington, New York, or California. They follow us from place-to-place and if we show any interest in buying from them, they will not leave us alone until the van is moving.

Another difficulty for children is staying alive. During the rainy season there is much standing water and many mosquitoes. Especially prevalent is malaria. As Gwen mentioned in her blog, Mae, our nurse for the team, noticed a sick baby when we were in a village and was able to give the mother some medicine and tell the family to take her to the hospital immediately. The family had just lost a child to malaria the week before. It is not unusual for women to have 11 children as they will loose many to disease while they are babies. Mosquito netting is helping, but there is much more to do to prevent malaria and other mosquito borne diseases.
It is also common for many women to die in childbirth as they have their babies much as in biblical days - not at hospitals that are far from their villages or with midwifes, but by standing on birthing stones in the middle of their huts. Hard for as to understand or even imagine as American women!

Still another problem children face in Cambodia is being left in an orphanage, not only because they do not have a parent or parents, but because parents do not have money to feed and clothe them. Cambodian adoptions have been closed for several years now because children, boys and girls, were being used as prostitutes. The United States and Britain as well as many other wealthy countries still have many trafficking rings even today. Hard to imagine in the year 2007!

PLEASE keep these children and youth in your thoughts and prayers. PLEASE find a way to help them, but make sure it is through the proper channels. Much money is sent to Cambodia, but it never reaches the people in need. It lines the pockets of the government officials. Something I learned at the Angkor Wat this trip amazed me - none of the $20 per person entry fee goes to the Cambodian people; it goes to the people of Vietnam and the Cambodian people cannot even ask why or they will be taken away. This information came from our guide.

It is by accident that we were born in America, a country of wealth. We could have been born in Cambodia or another third world country where we would be raising our children and grandchildren in the conditions I have described above. Isn't it time we took stock of all the 'things' we have and realize God has asked us to share our wealth with others. Take time to think of the many things we could easily do without to give so others in our world can have better lives.

Sandi McGarrah