Disclaimer: This is a long entry. Something on my blog is malfunctioning, it flushes all the text Bold even though I've closed all the tags... Anyway, I apologize. I appreciate your reading as much as you can muster.
This is Cambodia. Hello, from Cambodia.
I've been staying in Phnom Pehn with my friend Lynn. We met during Segment 1 of my travels in Vietnam with Thich Nhat Hanh. She and her husband have been living in Cambodia for almost 3 years now. They have a beautiful tiled apartment, set back from a quiet street, a big sitting room with lots of windows, surrounded by trees and birds that sing in the morning. It's really an amazing place to be.
Lynn and I!
They moved here after all 3 of their children had graduated from college, intending to use the new freedom as an opportunity to help those in need. Currently, Tom is helping to orchestrate a team of Cambodia physicians in the AIDS/HIV arena. Lynn spends her time volunteering -- teaching english at two prisons just outside of PP, caring for severely disabled children at a government orphanage, and aiding a French-Catholic NGO which distributes information on safe-sex, healthy relationships, and HIV prevention to young Cambodians.
Something, huh?
My original idea in coming here was to follow Lynn's husband day and night for a week or two, just to get a feel for the life of an AIDS doctor in the developing world. I mean, here he is, doing the work I've been dreaming of (carelessly) for years. The opportunity seemed to good to be true.
And you know, it probably was. Real life is a million times better.
As it happened. the dates of my travel to Cambodia and time in Phnom Pehn almost perfectly coincided with Tom's departure for the good ole' US of A. He's still there, and I am here. I haven't been in touch with his world at all. I have, however, had one of the most amazing weeks of my life.
Being humanitarian and wonderful, Lynn happened to have a number of contacts lying around in the AIDS/HIV treatment world of Cambodia. One in particular jumped to mind when I mentioned my particular interest in AIDS orphans and infected children. She made a quick call, and set up a meeting with her eccentric, Catholic friend John for the next afternoon. John has founded an NGO in Phnom Pehn which has, in a matter of three or four years, single-handly blown open the door on care for HIV+ children in Cambodia. There were absolutely no resources for them before he came along. His organization,
New Hope for Cambodian Children, now cares for more than 500 children in the southern regions of Cambodia. He is just in the process of building a village outside of town which will house more than 200 orphans, a village where they can not only receive treatment for their condition, but also learn vocational skills, live in a familial environment, go to school, laugh and play together. The designs are just amazing. And the first set of houses are complete! Children are moving in next week! It's just in time. Each of his 4 group homes in PP city are completely overcrowded.
The thing is, though. The thing is. His organization is different. It's different than the schools and orphanages I saw in Vietnam, different than the other places Lynn brought me to here in Phnom Pehn. The children he's caring for have a terminal illness. They are completely abhorred by society at large. Most were abandoned, even abused, by the families that bore them. Terribly tragic truths. But, in the centers we visited (one for infants and toddlers, one for elementary-aged youths) there was real joy. There was love and happiness and excitement. They call him Papa John, and when he comes to call, the cheer and run and shout and joke. These children are the happiest children I've seen in Cambodia. They have the most beautiful faces. I fell in love.
The kids, playing with Papa John
They kept calling him chubby (in Khmer)
He'd say Noooo, skinny!
While puffing out his bellyHis organization is different, because it is based on true love and a deep desire to stop the suffering of others. It understands that suffering comes from isolation, neglect, and rejection. It understands the basic emotional and spiritual needs of humanity. John and his wife saw a need, and they filled it. They worked hard, they wouldn't take no for an answer, and they loved everyone, every step of the way. "I haven't turned away a kid yet," John says. "Not even the girl ones."
I could go on about NHCC for just about my whole life, but I won't. I want to come back next summer to be a live-in volunteer at the blossoming village. I'm also learning how to fund-raise, so that I can do so at Columbia during the year, for his organization and others. Gotta get the resources, man. Gotta get the resources.
Sokai and Lynn
The dancing fiend! He's ten years old.Lynn and I also went to the orphanage and spent time with ten severely disabled Cambodian children. I was worried that the experience would be too difficult or too consuming, as people at home had warned, but it was simply wonderful. Though the children's bodies were under-developed, they smiled and loved and received love in just the same way as all the other children I've had in my life. They were in a clean, simple space, with toys and books. They lay together on a mat and absorbed our presence with such alert energy! One boy gave the most jubilant smiles whenever one of us would muster a goofy dance to the screechy radio muzak. Another radiated silent joy for simple peek-a-boo games. Pure and light and living, as much as possible. They squirmed when they diapers were wet, they fought against naptime, they exuded innocence and love. I feel so blessed to have met them. They gave me such a gift.
The slum, home to Aziza Schoolhouse
There's another American here, Drew, who came a little over a year ago as a tourist, saw and experienced the poverty and the need, went home, and came straight back. He infiltrated a really impoverished slum area just a block from Lynn's apartment, and started a free school for the children who live there. He just burst in, threw some things together, and opened up shop. He offers scholarships for medical and dental care to each of the kids, passes out toothbrushes and new sandals, pays Cambodian teachers and wrangles the odd volunteer, like Lynn, to provide guest lessons on English, visual art, karate, or leadership. It's a beautiful thing he has, but his mind is all over the place! His funding comes primarily from his friends, only $1000/month for the whole school which serves something like 90 children, 8 hours/day, 6 days/week. On Friday afternoon, Lynn showed the kids how to fold their own simple books from a single sheet of paper (actually, she taught me, too. It's a really cool trick!) and gave each of them the tools to write their own "Little English Books." It was great! 30something kids, in varying states of dress, huddled over folded computer paper and colored pencils, biting their tongues while copying Latin script, letter by letter, curve by curve.
A dedicated student
Those are the service projects we've visited. She's described at least a dozen more. The need is so great here. Cambodia was so devastated by the wars and the genocide. The government is still hideously corrupt. The rural areas are without jobs, without aid, without anything.
This is really difficult. There's so much to talk about.
If you couldn't tell, I've sort of ingested Cambodia and turned it over and over within me. Combining centuries of culture, architechture, and leadership with the recent years of devastation and suffering, Phnom Pehn is truly unique. Because of it, I feel a new awareness, a new existence. With everything I've learned being here, as hot and as buggy as it is, all I can think is
I can't wait to come back. I can't wait to go home, learn more, and come back. It's beautiful and sad and so many things, it's terrifying.
I can't wait to come back.
Maybe I'll re-organize my thoughts and edit this post a little more cohesively. I think it's a bit
allovertheplace, but then again SO AM I. I'll blame it on the fact that it's very late and the day has been long. Visiting Tuol Sleng genocide museum, getting lost, watching
Pan's Labyrinth, packing for the next leg of my voyage. Withstanding the heat. But I am envigorated by the challenge and the promise of what's to come. Of what there is to be done!
I invite any and all of you to join me. Fo reals. Everyone. Really.
Also, this has lead me to great curiosity. If you've read this far, my friends, or if you've skipped to this paragraph: what issues are important to you? What cause draws you in? Is there something really pressing you into action? I see us as a pretty mobile and socially-aware bunch, my generation. My peers. My friends. My human family.
Is there some suffering in the world or in your backyard that you feel a personal drive to alleviate? If yes, what is it? If yes, how do you intend to do so? What skills do you rely on? What skills do you hope to gain?
Until Next Time, "In our time, the struggle between old and new will reach its crescendo. It's not over yet, and we carry scars of this struggle in our hearts. Questions raised by contemporary philosophers makes us feel lost and anxious. Confused minds suggest that existence is meaningless, even absurd, and this adds another coat of black to our darkened hearts. "Existence is foul. Humans are loathsome. No one can hope to be good. There is no way to beautify life." Even while adopting such mindsets, people cling to the illusion that we are free to be who we want. Yet most of the time we are merely reacting to the wounds engraved in our hearts. Almost no one listens to his or her true self. But when we are not ourselves, any freedom we think we have is illusory. Sometimes we reject freedom because we fear it.
Our true selves are buried beneath layers of moss and brick. We have to break through those layers in order to be liberated, but we are afraid it may break us, also. We have to remind ourselves over and over again that the layers of moss and brick are not our true selves."
- Thich Nhat Hanh,
Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966
