Time goes by faster the older you get.

The month of October and November have seriously flown by! It feels like just yesterday we were excited about traveling to Cambodia and Vietnam, and now they just seem like a distant memory. Sadly, the older I become, the more I understand my dad when he says “Time goes by faster, the older you get”.

Both Cambodia and Vietnam were such an amazing experience. To visit other Asian countries and compare them to Thailand, even the US, was a growing and learning experience. I’ve always believed that I would regret my life greatly if I looked back when I’m 80 and realized I didn’t go anywhere or do anything worthy of my time.

Not only was I able to appreciate the differences and similarities of these countries, I was also able to learn about their history and the development of what they are now.

Cambodia: The poverty level is far more noticeable in Cambodia than in Thailand. Every time we hopped on a TukTuk to get from our hotel to anywhere, eyes were always on us. They were either gawking at our American-ness or scoping out what we were carrying. It was a little unnerving at times. We were told more times than not to always be aware of our belongings, wear our bags in front of our bodies, don’t use your phone or iPad to take photos, always be aware of your surroundings, etc. I know this is all common sense, even in America you have to be careful of your belongings, but it reminded me just how comfortable I have become in my day to day routine living outside of the US.

Although there was a sense of uneasiness in the everyday hustle and bustle of life in the city, having the opportunity to visit our home outside of Phnom Penh was peaceful. This opportunity to be involved with our Khmai home made me feel like I really am a part of something so much bigger than myself. Watching a whole other culture of children with the same joy and hope in their eyes as ours, laughter at the same things we find funny, sharing lunch together, and just wanting to spend time in fellowship, instinctively made me want to protect these girls and help them grow into strong Christian women. And how amazing is it that they have been given the opportunity to do so!

Learning about Khmai history helped me understand the desperation, poverty, and development of the country.
*History lesson for the day* If you are unaware, back in the 70’s Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge movement, decided to create an agrarian society. In doing so, he evacuated cities and forced the Khmai people into camps in the countryside. His influence to create this society was birthed by his admiration for the tribes of Khmai people who lived on the outskirts of the jungles in Cambodia. They lived free of Buddhism, money, and education. Pol Pot wanted a new country that was free of social institutions, like banks and schools. He renamed Cambodia to the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and killed all teachers, doctors, businessmen, monks, and basically anyone who could lead a revolt against him. He wanted to go back to “Year Zero”.  Slogans like “What is rotten must be removed” were popular propaganda during the Khmer Rouge. There is no exact number of deaths, but it is believed that between 1 to 2 million people were executed during the reign, either worked to death or malnourished in the countryside or killed in the Killing Fields located all over Cambodia.

I had the opportunity to visit Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields. Tuol Sleng, which means Hill of the Poisonous Trees, was once the Chao Ponhea Yat High School. Tuol Sleng was one of at least 150 execution centers/prisons throughout Cambodia. More than 17,000 adults and children were held captive at Tuol Sleng under the suspicion of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Victims were tortured and coerced into naming family members or friends who were then arrested and tortured into admitting false crimes committed. Towards the end of the regime, about 150 people survived Tuol Sleng.

We then visited one of the best known monuments which memorializes those whose lives were lost during the Khmer Rouge, Choeung Ek, just outside Phnom Penh, one of the many collective Killing Fields sites where thousands of prisoners and captives were brought to from Tuol Sleng and slaughtered. Over 8,000 human remains were recovered at these killing fields. There are still remains scattered all over, bones and rags from clothing, with signs asking visitors to not step on bones.

It’s been about 40 years since the beginning of this genocide; elders who could have passed down traditions were executed. After the genocide, children were left to mend together a country that had been torn apart by a group with a distorted vision. Sadly, culture and traditions are no longer important; the Khmai are adopting western ideas and ideals. The most important thing our children in our homes can learn is 1. Who Christ is and 2. Who they are and where they come from.

We also had the rare opportunity to visit the Floating Village, a village of Vietnamese refugees who live in boats that move with the tides of the river. Fortunately, during the Khmer Rouge, many Vietnamese people who were living in Cambodia at the time were deported out of the country. Unfortunately, many personal documents like birth certificates and citizenship records were lost or destroyed. Neither Vietnam nor Cambodia recognized these people as citizens of their countries after the Khmer rouge and in turn were forced to live on the water since there are no laws stating ownership of the river. Remember Nhu has a handful of girls that are sponsored through the Food and Education program who live in this village. It was so cool to experience life outside of what American society deems normal. These families live their entire lives on boats, getting into smaller boats to row to land when having to run errands like grocery shopping or visiting the doctor. We were able to spend time with our sponsored children, learning different dances and songs they perform at school.

After our visit to Cambodia, we boarded a plane and headed to Vietnam, the great land of Pho and Banh Mi. Back at home, one of my favorite restaurants to go to is a local Pho shop with my best friend. We usually split a big bowl of Pho and a Banh Mi, talking about how cool it would be to actually go to Vietnam and eat authentic Vietnamese food. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that I’d have the chance to actually fulfill this dream. But with Vietnam being only a couple hours away from Thailand, we had the opportunity to eat our fill in Pho and learn all about Vietnam’s history during the Vietnam war.

Like day is to night, so is Vietnam is to Cambodia. In Cambodia, the streets were littered with dirt and trash. In Vietnam, the streets were littered with city workers catching trash before it hit the ground and communist flags blowing in the wind.

Even though Vietnam was more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, it too had an air of alarm to it. I went into Vietnam with very limited knowledge of the history and current state of government and left with a new understanding of war and their society. 

Every street we walked on or crossed was decorated with the Vietnam flag and the communist flag.

Everywhere we went, we were constantly reminded that North Vietnam overtook South Vietnam.
We visited the War Remnants Museum, which showcased the effects of Vietnam War on the Vietnamese. It showed conditions that prisoners were held captive in (both American and Vietnamese) and the chemical effects of Agent Orange, a toxic substance used during war that cause many birth defects and deformities after the war. For the most part, many southern Vietnamese believe both parties were to blame for the war and the extreme fighting measures caused by the war.

 After visiting the museum, we then traveled outside the city to the Cu Chi Tunnels, intricate tunnels used during the war by the Viet Cong (North Vietnamese Communist guerilla troops) under the jungle terrain of South Vietnam. We learned about the different sections of tunnels and actually got to crawl through a 100 meter tunnel (a little over half a mile). Being in the tunnel was a weird experience! The echoes of other tourists in the tunnel made it seem like people were right behind me or in front of me when in actuality, they weren’t close at all. The tunnels were dark and moist, many times I had to use my cell phone flash light to see if anyone was really in front of me. I can’t imagine how people lived in the tunnels for months. Sadly, I didn’t think to take a picture of me in the tunnel L.

What the tunnels look like under ground

Entrance to the 100 m tunnel I crawled through!

traps

The following day, my roommate and I explored the Vietnamese coastal side, learning about traditional Vietnamese snacks, food, dancing, and music. We rode boats to get to the different islands, refreshing my soul more than I thought it would. I love Thailand but I’m not near the ocean or large bodies of water and having the ability to be near the water made me comfortable. I was around something familiar; the water, boats, sea birds, the smell of salt in the air. It was very much needed.

I think all of us on this trip came back with more real life education than any textbook could have ever taught us about these two countries. We all arrived at our homes after the 9 day trip with a better understanding of what poverty, hopelessness, and desperation really looks like and how it drives everyday life decisions. We also came back home with new definitions of hope and second chances, seen through our sponsored children in both the Khami home and floating village.

But before we could let all of these amazing experiences marinate in our minds, we were up and at ‘em again, having to pack our bags and jet set 5 hours into the mountains for a week trip with Mission View Church, who traveled to Thailand to host a VBS for one of the homes they sponsor in Northern Thailand.  And as life would have it, as soon as we came back home, English lessons started up for the house parents, helpers, and children. I have lived the expression, “Work hard, play hard” in its fullness this past month. Most of the pictures from the VBS are posted on my Facebook page Cristina in Thailand. 

But through all of these experiences, I’ve learned that hope shines through the deepest darkest stains life has left on us, it peels away at the layers of bondage hate and fear try to wrap us in, it is the gentle whisper in a world full of chaos and noise. Hope is what gives us a reason, a second chance to continue on in life. Hope is what encourages people in America to action for those less fortunate in other countries. Hope is what fuels our international workers to leave the luxury of the free world behind to care for the least of these. Hope is knowing that even though we live in a broken world, one day everything will be made right.

If there is nothing else that I’ve learned on this trip, it’s that I’ve seen God’s light shine in the darkest of times, the darkest of places, and I simply cannot believe that He isn’t here with us.