Day 4, October 21

Today we toured a number of NGO's and visited the Russian Market. We went to:
1) House of Smiles which is one of the programs operated by Hagar. This program cares for children with cognitive and physical disabilities.
2) We went to Peace Handicrafts & Silks which is a store that sells silk products made by landmine and polio victims.
3) We ate lunch at Jars of Clay which is an NGO that took in 8 at risk girls and taught them how to operate a restaurant.
4) We then visited Harvest Cambodia which is a factory where canned and dried fruit products are made by landmine survivors.

It is remarkable how many NGO's exist in Cambodia and it is truly a gift to have the opportunity to visit these organizations to learn how they made the journey to Cambodia to help rebuild the social infrastructure here.

Everyone in the group took away different thoughts and had a special connection with one or more of these groups. The following is a summary of some of the comments shared at evening debriefing:
-Kim felt especially connected to House of Smiles. It took her back to a mission trip she went on when she was 15. She believes she is fulfilling her true purpose in life by having the opportunity to work with children.
-House of Smiles has a beautiful facility in a really nice, clean area. The landlord has recently increase the rent by 300.00 per month. The Executive Director has had to make the unfortunate decision to leave this property due to the rent increase. The only location she can secure is a facility which is under water and is not appropriate for the care of children with disabilities. Bill suggested they offer to help House of Smiles stay in their current location by trying to raise the funds back home to cover the rental increase. These are really amazing and beautiful children who are otherwise not accepted or treated well in Cambodian society.
-A few others talked about the faith/guidance and vision some of these women had when they answered their calling from God to come to Cambodia to help. Most left everything familiar behind and came to Cambodia with nothing but a dream. To come and start with nothing sacrificing all of the comforts of home is inspiring to all of us.
-Jars of Clay was started by a women from the UK. She has now turned the business over to the eight girls she rescued off of the streets of Cambodia and is leaving it to them to continue without her. Jana commented that this is a true example of empowerment, faith and trust.
-We talked as a group about the good vs evil. For example in the prisons, how does the good combat the evil that exists... how do you make a difference in the lives of people in prison. Jana said, "You can not take away my will to forgive". Hank stated that you can't attempted to fight evil with good, you can only continue to do good for people to and just accept that evil exists.
-We processed a bit more about the Khmer Rouge Regime and the terrible genocide that occurred during this time. We discussed how people could have followed this regime and carried out the evil, torture and killing from Pol Pot. Hank stated that "All you need for evil to survive is for a few good people to nothing at all".

We are experiencing some pretty powerful things in Cambodia. We will come back with heavy hearts and a new perspective. Cambodians are easy to love, they have the most beautiful and welcoming smiles.

On the lighter side of things - Kim and Lynn want to raise awareness of the Cankle disease that occurs in Cambodia. This is a disturbing situation where the calf becomes one with the ankle. It is a common disease for foreigners.

Also, Jana wanted to mention that this trip has officially become the bathroom and buffet tour. Many of the smaller eating establishments have a hard time accommodating a large group.

On that note, we wish friends, family and co-workers well. See you tomorrow.