Serve Cambodia Oct ' 2005

Friday, November 18, 2005

-= FGAC =-

Day 1, Sunday
We boarded the plane MI 608 at 1635 to Phnom Penh. It was around 1900 when we reached Phnom Penh international airport. The airport was better than we expected. It was well furnished and the place was clean. We met Mr. Sunny and his son, Aaron at the airport. They came to picked us up. We loaded all our stuff up into the vans before heading to the orphanage. The journey from the airport to the orphanage took us about an hour.

We reached the orphanage soon after, forming a human chain to bring all our stuff up to the living room. We separated ourselves into the different rooms and put all our bags into the various rooms before heading for dinner.

Dinner was great. It was something similar to Singapore’s food. We were served rice with cabbage, and a cup of coconut jelly. It was delicious. Many of us expected the food to be worse than this, but all turned out well.

We met Mr. Sonny and his family. A great family indeed. We went back to our rooms to unpack our stuff before having a meeting by Mr. Sunny. He gave us an introduction of the orphanage before leaving us to do our own things.


Day 2, Monday
Most of us woke up around 530am. We had breakfast at 6am. It was the first time seeing all the kids. They were very polite. They would greet you whenever they see anyone of us. We accompanied the kids to school. We divided ourselves into 2 groups. One would accompany the primary school kids while the other group would accompany the secondary school kids. These kids had the skill of walking of muddy grounds. The Serve Cambodia team people had our legs dirtied with mud while the Cambodian kids had their legs totally clean.

We came back soon after. Logistics team and cultural team went to the market at 0830. The market was infested with tones of dragonflies. It was damn gross, with so many dragonflies flying around you. The feeling was terrible. Most of the clothes sold were 2nd hand. It was pretty congested. The shops were very close to one another. There was little space to walk. The trip to the market was not so good, except that it was an experience for all of us to see how the markets were like in Cambodia.

Today I should say its more of a free and easy day. We had the time to interact with the kids. The games and R&D team went to the market after lunch, while the rest of us went around interacting with the kids. It was a time of interaction, most of us got to know the kids better.

We were brought around the orphanage by the grade 11 students to let us know more about the environment, the place and the rooms used for tuition. We were also brought to see the dorms that the kids stayed in.

We performed our dance in the night after dinner and had singing session too!! We played some games such as Simon says and also danced the friendship dance. Though there was little space for all of us to dance, but I believed every one of us enjoyed ourselves very much.
Day 3, Tuesday
We started the day as usual. We sent the kids to school first before coming back to scrape the walls. For the whole day, all we did was scraping of the walls. It was kind of boring and we were also very tired. We got ourselves very dirty.

We attended PowerPoint session after dinner. It was a time where we taught the older kids how to use PowerPoint. We managed to get to know the older kids better and I’m sure they have learnt something useful from this session.

Day 4, Wednesday
I know that by the 4th day of our stay at FGAC, we should already be used to waking up really early for breakfast, however, a group of us woke up just in time for breakfast-6 am. I realized that the amount of rice we’re taking is getting more and more. The food’s getting tastier and more appetizing. We got used to the fact that we’re not going to enjoy scrumptious meals like we always do in Singapore. We’re here to learn and experience their way of life.

As a Muslim, Mr Sonny was kind enough to make sure that I had a separate dish from the rest of them-if their dish had any pork in it. I felt so bad as to trouble them. I am, however, really thankful. So after breakfast, a few of us sent the kids to school. We were not able to stay long to watch their flag-raising as we had to quickly return to the centre to continue with our hard labour-scrapping and painting of the walls.

This time around, we were smart enough to wear caps to protect our hair from literally turning white (due to the scrapping of the walls) and from the late morning sun. We were supposed to use the mask given to us but after a while, a few of us took it off because it was hard to breathe with the mask on.

To me, the main highlight of the day was the Prayers Meeting that was after dinner. Although I’m not a Christian, I attended the meeting to have a feel of what it is like and also to know how the kids there carry out their prayers meeting, wanting to know how different it is compared to those in Singapore. So they sang songs, mainly in English. They were really enthusiastic as they all got up on their feet and started dancing while singing.

But what really caught my attention was that they prayed for everybody and anybody. For example, the earthquake that happened in Sri Lanka, they prayed for the people’s safety and for God's protection. Then, they called the Serve Cambodia 2005 team to come up to the front and straight away, the kids, especially the primary school kids came to us, held our hands tightly, embraced us from the front and back tightly and prayed for our safety, our health, everything! I could feel their warmth, purity, sincerity and kindness. I could hear the kids praying for us in Khmer. They prayed so hard-in the sense that they closed their eyes tightly and prayed with so much goodness. You just have got to be there to really know what I mean and how it really feels. The way they prayed for us made me tear. I was really touched. They not only prayed for us but they called up people who were sick to the front so that the rest of them could pray for their good health. They even prayed for their staff working there and their families. That night is forever going to be etched in my memory.






Day 11, Wednesday

I dreaded this day. I didn’t want to leave the centre. I hate goodbyes. We woke up late thanks to the late night we had and the wonderful celebration the night before. Basically, today, we rushed a lot-rushed for breakfast, rushed to do last minute packing, rushed to do some housekeeping, and yes, we even rushed to use the toilet to prepare our bladders for the close to 10 hours bus ride.

Breakfast today seemed so different, to me at least. The atmosphere was not the usual kind whenever we had meals. I guess it is because the kids there know that we’re leaving and some didn’t want to show that they are sad to see us go and vice versa. I could see through their faces that they were upset but at the same time expected this day to arrive and had already embraced themselves. Maybe they are so used to this-visitors from Malaysia and Singapore come and go. I truly hated the fact that they are now so used to this kind of thing and us on the other hand, were on the edge of breaking down. To me, I felt very hard to have a last talk with them. There’s just so much to talk about but time was a factor.

After breakfast, I headed back to the mission house to really do some last minute packing and by the time I finished, it was too late to say goodbye to my darlings who had school in the morning. So if u asked me if there’s one thing I regretted during my stay at FGAC, I would say my mistake of going back to the mission house.

I’ve learnt a lot from this trip, especially from the kids. I did have a talk with one or two of them during my stay about their lives and their families and from that, I realized how fortunate I am. All this while I’ve never been contented with the things I have in my life. I always wanted something more, something better. It feels so good knowing that you have made a difference in someone’s life in one way or another although it seems more like they, instead have made a difference in my life. Indeed, they’ve touched my heart in many ways possible. I would miss their simple and ever so carefree lives. I would especially miss the times when we would walk the kids to school because that is the time when we really bonded with them. I am thankful that they welcomed us into their lives with open arms, showing us about their lifestyle and culture. I will leave you with this quote- How do you go on when your heart has just begun to understand?

With credits to Logistics Team. =)

1 Comments:

  • At 8:52 AM, Blogger Charlyn said…

    There are just too many things to say for this section. FGAC is a place of love and hope. It is a place blessed by God. The children there are blessed by God. I think it is one of the best places on earth I've ever been to. (I'm not exggegerating, I'm sure nearly everyone who's been there would agree with me! haha)

    The children there are wonderful! They have so much love to give. They are just such great kids. Every single one of them i met, i just have to love them because they are so lovable!

    The lodging was unbelieveably comfortable, though the electricity was not on all the time. I managed to sleep very soundly every night.

    And the FOOD!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!! I have NEVER ate so much in my entire life before! The food was SO delicious! I looked forward to every meal.

    In short, I can't wait to go back to FGAC!!!!

    charlene

     

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