Andong Village

This place is truly amazing. It is so absolutely strange to see such intense poverty and such sincere joy all in the one place. Walking through the slum village of Andong was quite unbearable. I just wanted to leave. The conditions were unbelievable and I thought it couldn't possible get any worse for them. Then I got told about how during the monsoon period the people have to walk knee deep in watery muck. During this time most of the village people go into the city and sleep on the street. All this because the people were unfortunate enough to live on prime real estate coveted by the government. One man I met, clearly not in his right mind, took me by the arm and showed me his sorry excuse of a home in mock pride. The man lost his mind a short while after the people got displaced from Phnom Penh. He was so angry and inwardly disturbed by the move that he just snapped. He is not the only one, there are three people who suffered the same fate. They got moved away from a steady income and now live about 40 minutes drive away from the city. To make matters worse they got moved into the area of another village where the village people did not welcome their presence. They were unwanted and despised, desperately poor and completely without hope. Their children were playing in the streets, growing up to be just like mummy and daddy. However, God took pity on these people and worked in the heart of a man (who was himself saved is a wonderful display of God's grace) to come and live and dedicate is life in service to these people. Abraham was just the man needed for a situation like this. Along with his supportive wife (Sohpan) he came to live in Andong. A school was started and initially teachers volunteered their services for free. God provided for the building of a school and for the employment of a lot of the slum people. A church was started and with fervour and urgency the gospel was preached. Because of the visible love and service in the heart of Abraham and many others people were receptive to the gospel. A church quickly sprang up and is growing. So much is needed here but these people have hope. You can see the evidence of this hope in their sincere joy and thankfulness. They are the blessed ones. So very many others in Cambodia do not have such a hope.

First Impressions

How to describe this place? In less than 5 words I think it would have to be: 'CRAZY!' . It is just so different here. I'll give a couple of first impressions:

The People – Unfortunately I have not had plenty of contact with Khmer people so far. I will be going to Andong village (a slum village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh) today though. Most contact I have had with Khmers so far is just in the market where they are trying to rip me off by asking double the price of everything. You learn to bargain pretty fast, they expect you to. They are also very friendly and smile a lot.

The Traffic – The traffic here is like some form of bug colony. There are the big cars which can basically push their way in wherever, like big bugs. Then you have thousands of small motorbikes and push bikes zipping around them like a bunch of tiny ants. There are traffic lights but only on a few of the larger streets and mostly it is just a free-for-all. By free-for-all I mean you honk to let people know you're there and you push your nose into traffic like you would push a drill into a piece of wood. That is the way it seems to me anyway.

Transportation - I bought myself a helmet yesterday and had my first experience on a moto (a motorbike taxi). It is a very standard form of transport here and it costs about $1 to get to the other end of town. However, the moto drivers cannot read a map so you have to know where you want to go either by name or you have to point in the direction you want to go. When walking through the street moto drivers signal you for a ride. You don't have to do anything to get a taxi in this place. You just have to look western.

The Food – Is excellent and cheep! I had some of the best Chinese I have had in a while here and it cost me $6 for a meal and a beer.

The Coffee – They put condensed milk in it which kind of ruins it. An ice coffee is a black coffee with tons of sugar and ice in it. They seem to like sweet.

I'll put photos up as soon as I get my hands on a camera USB cable. Anyway, my internet cuts out soon so I'll have to leave it at that.