Christmas 2010

We celebrated Christmas 2010 at home as a family.

It was a time to enjoy special treats like shortbread, fruit punch, olives and ice cream.(not together of course). With a few gifts and munchies to be had, lunch, a board game and family movie time, all in all it was a very pleasant day.

It seemed more strange than usual, that we were celebrating Jesus, while so many in this country do not know him. Strange too, to see monks wondering the streets and being given offerings on Christmas morning.

There is a growing awareness in Phnom Penh of Christmas, however this seems to be largely driven by commercialism. Christmas trees, tinsel and santa could be found in malls, but no nativity that I could see.

We look forward to enjoying the rest of our break before launching into semester 2 at school.

We hope that you have all enjoyed a blessed Christmas and have a fruitful new year.

Fiona

Hospital Visits - Chalk and Cheese

The Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital - post water festival tragedy.

In response to the water festival tragedy, our school took up a collection of money to be used to support people who had been injured. Even a few weeks after the tragedy there were many people still in hospital. While the government had promised to cover hospital costs, hospitals do not provide food here, so representatives from our school bought food and water, packed them into parcels, and I went along to aid in the distribution.

Visiting the hospital was shocking. The rooms for patients opened into an outdoor corridor. The patients slept on thin mats on simple cots, sometimes 4 side by side in a small room. There was no sense of hygiene, no toilet facilities obvious, no cooling, no equipment, no nurses station. The above girl was fortunate enough to have a piece of furniture near her, which her family used, as her mother slept in the room also, to look after her. I saw some shocking injuries as we moved from room to room, not all water festival related. I also witnessed very poor standards of care, due to lack of funds.

Royal Rattanak Hospital - Nathan's appendectomy

Within two weeks of visiting the Khmer Soviet Friendship hospital it was necessary to visit yet another hospital. This time with a medical emergency in our own family. Nathan developed appendicitis and upon referral from our family doctor, was admitted to Royal Rattanak hospital where he had immediate tests and then surgery. This hospital, only two years old, is a private hospital for those with medical insurance primarily.

Nathan's was given a private room, with ensuite. There were kitchen facilities (no food provided), and a day bed/sofa (where I slept to look after him). The room had air conditioning, a plasma tv and wifi. Nathan's bed was remote controlled in it's adjustments as in the west. There was a button to summon a nurse from the nurses station.

The room above was the first one they put Nathan in, before transferring him to another similar room. But you can get a good idea of the facilities.

It is now a week since Nathan's surgery, he was in hospital for three nights. He has yet to regain his energy and is glad soccer season is on hold for the Christmas break.

November and December certainly opened my eyes to the plight of our Cambodian neighbours spiritually and physically. Yet I still have so much to learn. I look at the Khmer Soviet Hospital and gasp in horror, there is an immediate shock and disbelief. However the Khmer people have lived with standards even below this for many years and are very resilient. My knee-jerk reactions are not necessarily a good yard stick for action. Khmer personal urgencies/needs may be vastly different than that which I would choose to represent briefly here. That is not to say that the conditions which so much of the community here endure are acceptable. But I do ask for prayer for discernment as to the most pressing needs in my local community and how best to support the work of missions here in my role within my community, church and employment.

Blessings

Fiona.

Water tragedy testimony

Testimonies are emerging as to the graciousness and faithfulness of God and opportunities to the share the gospel.

Revelation 12:11 declares the triumph of our brothers and sisters over the evil one by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Here is a testimony from a dear friend of mine.

(I asked her if I could share what I recalled with you)

Cambodian Harvest.
Marion needed to call a new contact for her organization which operates here in Phnom Penh
She was given the number and dialed it.
Unbeknown to her, she had entered the numbers incorrectly.
A Khmer voice answered, he did not know what she was talking about.
She handed the phone to her Khmer co-worker so he could explain who they were hoping to talk to.
(Still unaware they had dialed the wrong number)
Instead of dialing a new contact she had dialed a moto dop here in Phnom Penh.
"No" he said, he did not know the person they were after nor the organization they were after,
but neither could he ask his wife, for she was in hospital after being crushed on the bridge.
The Khmer worker chatted for some time with the man.
They arranged to go and visit the man's wife in hospital.
They went to the hospital to bless the family and pray for the wife.
When they said Amen the moto dop asked her if they knew Jesus.
Yes my friend replied, before asking if the man and his wife new Jesus. No, they did not know Jesus. Someone had come to their village and showed the Jesus film and so he had heard the word Amen before and thus made the connection.
Marion and her friend were able to share briefly about Jesus and gave the man some Khmer bible tracts.
They also gave the family their contact details so they could contact them if they needed anything or had questions.

What a blessing to hear of God's mercy and grace in the wake of such tragedy.

Please pray for ongoing opportunities for the gospel to be shared Cambodian people.

Water Festival Tragedy Supersititions

The Water Festival Tragedy of Nov 22 taught me more than I could imagine about the religious spirit at work in Cambodia, blinding the Khmer people to the truth of Christ. The Khmer are gravely supersititious and the fear among the people was clearly evident in the week following the tragedy.

Here are some of the supersititions that have circulated associated with the tragedy:

• A comet was seen in the sky 2 or 3 months ago. It was a portent of disaster and some monks said so at the time. The tragedy at Koh Pich was the fulfillment of that prophesy.

• The bridge at Koh Pich was never properly blessed by monks after construction leaving it open to bad luck and mischievous spirits. The tragedy at Koh Pich is the result.

• There was an abnormally orange sky at the time of the tragedy, indicating some higher involvement.

• Monks warned the government 3 days before the Water Festival that there were supernatural signs of impending disaster. The government warned the people to be careful and be on the look-out. They thought that perhaps it would be a bomb or a terrorist attack. When a young boy drowned on the first day of the Water Festival, they thought this was the prophesied ill-event and let down their guard.

• Koh Pich means Diamond Island. The island is like a giant diamond. It is too big. Giants eat people. The deaths on the bridge were, in a metaphorical sense, this giant diamond eating people.

• Phnom Penh is now overwhelmed with spirits of the recent dead, wandering the edges of the city, many lost and unsure where to go. Children are in particular danger of possession by these spirits and should not be allowed outside after dark. In fact, due to these spirits, it is unwise for anybody to go out after dark.

• Koh Pich (Diamond Island) is a name like Koh Dach. Dach is close to the word and phrase 'dach dong heurm' which means 'to not breath' or 'to be unable to breath,' which is what happened to the people who died on the bridge.

• People must assemble special offerings to display in front of their house. The offering should include bananas, salt, rice, water, incense and other ingredients. Some say there must be 7 items in the collection. Some suggest there should be some sort of blood offering included, presumably to satiate the tiger. (This is the year of the tiger.)

Indeed the price of bananas rose from about 60c as kilo to $7.50 a kilo, a regular puchase on Thursdays, it was not to be that week.

Please pray that the Khmer people can be freed from the strongholds of superstition.

Blessings

Fiona