Final Words for Cambodia

(Pre-Bangkok)

Back in Poipet, we packed up our things, said our goodbyes, and sped off (very slowly) in our little tuk-tuk to take us to the Thai border.


Outreach was coming to an end. I was scared to come back to Australia because I didn’t know how I would cope in a successful western nation. I know myself all too well and knew there was the temptation of becoming judgmental or critical, just not knowing how to make sense of these two worlds I’ve experienced. Guess I just gotta take each day as it comes, and trust God for revelation while I process the last three months.



Moments to Remember
with love from Cambodia:

* putting lotion on the hands of a 28 year old mum (looks like she’s 15), who’s wearing a pyjama set, has a gold tooth, and is simultaneously breastfeeding her baby.

* after a monsoon rain, walking barefoot home through the sludgy roads, dodging animal dung.

* getting caught in a downpour, and being invited in to a family’s warm hut with bamboo floors. Then getting offered to take their horse back to our house.

* cutting my hair one impulsive night in the stagnant, humid bathroom. I now have bangs.

* sitting on a wood bed with an HIV patient, helping her drink from a coconut.

* throwing reeds across a lush bank with the village kids.

* praying for an HIV+ woman and her 20-day old newborn baby.

* eating boiled, salted snails and watermelon with the pastor’s family after teaching English.

* getting splattered with mud while digging the trench.

* drinking lots and lots of water, and lots and lots more.

* dancing for 3 hours solid with the kids behind our house.

* helping to fly a kite on a tropical dirt road.