7:15 today! Finally into a normal sleep routine, which is exciting! And good, because the days are getting longer and more action-packed...
After going out to breakfast this morning we went to IJM (International Justice Mission)!!! It is one of the organizations I'm much more familiar with, and visiting today was such a blessing. The building was unmarked, and we were not allowed to post on facebook where we were or take pictures of the building, because of the nature of their work and ministry. We learned more about their undercover work, and how the industry is evolving the sex trafficking industry, causing more work for the people at IJM. For those of you that aren't familiar with their work, google them! They have twenty bases or so around the world, with each focusing on needs specific to their cities, Phnom Pehn's being sex trafficking of women and children.
From their we ate lunch and went to a different displacement village, which was even more heartbreaking than yesterday's village. They were forcibly evicted from their homes with no prior notice, being physically attacked by the government and police, their homes destroyed along with all their possessions. They were moved 40 km (25ish miles) outside the city, literally in the middle of nowhere. They were given no shelter, no land of their own, and left to survive on their own. The government compensated about half of the families with with land (lots smaller than the size of my front lawn at home), leaving the rest as squatters on the land. They have been there since January, and have erected shelter from sticks and tarps and whatever they can find, but they are no match for the rains. Many in the community are HIV/AIDS positive as well. Brett (from yesterday) is trying to build them homes with a toilet and simple water filtration system, but his first focus are the squatters; he is raising support to buy off that land from the government/developers so that everyone would have a place of their own. After raising the remainder of the funds for that (they have about 2500$ of the 6000$ needed), they will begin building homes for the people (which will cost about 600$ a piece). Just seeing the abject poverty and trials and suffering of these people is heartbreaking. I spent most of my time today holding and playing with a baby (no surprise, right? Lol) whose mother is a drunk. He is 8 months old, but looks to be about 3. His mother is starving, but is an alcoholic, most likely as a means for coping with depression. The people say she walks around the village with her baby in the sunlight, and seemed to not approve of her treatment of her son. As I held him and he lay, weak and exhausted in my arms, I seriously considered what it would take to bring him home with me. That was my biggest fear on this trip: becoming attached to children, but I never imagined feeling like I did today. It definitely confirmed my plan to adopt someday, and just holding him, I wished that I was finished with school and financially stable enough for it to be that child. I cried giving him back to his mother, praying that he would survive the hell he was currently living in.
We then came back to go to the hospital, broken and dejected from the sufferings of the villagers, to minister and pray to the HIV/AIDS patients. In Cambodia, many patients die of starvation in the hospital, not disease, because meals are not provided unless paid for separately. Some can pay, but most cannot. One of the ladies here, Pina, has an amazing ministry with these people and brings meals for the hungry four or five days a week. She led one young man to Christ, and he is ebtering Discipleship Training School here at the mission next month! To think he has only a short time left to live, and yet he is seeking and serving God full-heartedly, wanting to be a missionary himself. Seeing him today really inspired me and renewed my strength on this trip. Even though it seems like we aren't doing much (especially in my own eyes) we are planting seeds and showing the love of Christ through our actions that those we work with might come to know Christ some day. Even despite the language barrier we are still able to love and serve these people, and that is what they first need in order to be receptive to the gospel later. I just have to keep telling myself that we ARE seeking and working towards justice for the people here, and that it may not happen now or even in my lifetime, but we are doing what the Bible has called us to do (Matthew 25). Please continue to pray for us and the different ministries we are partnering with here!
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