Phnom Penh, Mary Knoll and Kong

As always, I’m home here in Phnom Penh. Its so familiar to me now. I have my spots and my hangouts. I have my people I see – even the people who run the little internet café next to the Cozyna Hotel. Its so neat to walk in after a few months and get to see people who are excited to see you back in their town. I got to see my babies. As soon as we drove up on the motos and walked in the gate, they all RAN over. I think they were more excited about the huge bag of stuff I was bringing them than actually seeing ME. Amidst the squeals of delight, I was so happy to see them. How much they grow in such a short time. We had so much fun with the beach balls and playing with the various toys. I always want to bring them home to California, but in the same thought, I know the contented hearts and simple peace of the Cambodian people and can’t help but think, in many ways, their native home is better. Life is very real here. There continues to be no time for petty things. Even Bangkok has acquired the ways of the modern first world. Coke advertisements dot the concrete landscape and skin brightening billboards nudge Thai women toward the west’s version of beauty…light skin. Funny that westerners all love to be tan. Not unlike the idea that the more food we have, the skinnier we strive to be. Not so in the third world of Cambodia. While there are travesties and depravity everywhere, there is one thing they haven’t lost….reality.

I think that is the thing that rings the truest with me when I’m in the third world. It is so real. The scarcity is universal, but widespread is the thankful spirit of a people oppressed. People often ask me to describe Cambodia. Its very difficult to capture the emotion of a place. I can show pictures and tell stores, but for Cambodia, its about the people. Its about their smiles in the face of starvation, their perserverance in the face of adversity, their generosity in the face of poverty, and their hope in the place of devastation. I continue to be amazed by the stories I hear of the rise of the current generation who lost every parent to a great evil. They raised themselves. They taught themselves to hope. They faced a dead country with courage and conviction. They fight adversity everyday for education and a better way. I admire them. They reside in my heart with great fondness and respect. I'm thankful that I've been given the privilege of another perspective on the world. I wish every one of us, in the United States knew just how easy we had it. I dare wonder what we could accomplish in our country with our resources and the kind of dedication and determination of these many men and women.