Maybe I'm just a girl

Nerves of steel???!!! Poor deluded child. I’m just too terrified to scream or say anything when I’m on the back of the moto! And his isn’t the only moto that I’m terrified of. I have decided that he was breaking me in reasonably softly when he picked me up from the airport. Since then , I’ve ridden on the back of motos with various drivers including paid moto drivers . None of them make me feel particularly safe. Perhaps that’s because of the traffic rather than the driver. I think the traffic is actually worse this time than it was when we were last here(2007?). There are certainly more cars on the road as well, all of which adds to the confusion. It’s pretty hard to describe the traffic here, you really have to see it, but “confusion” is probably getting reasonably accurate.

I have settled in to the bec reasonably well, I think. It has certainly been wonderful to see my children again. I have missed them very much. At the same time, it has been good to be here and see them living their lives in the way that Christ has recommended. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel”, he said. They start early and finish late each day. Fortunately they get some time in the middle of the day in which to do organizational type stuff or it would never get done. I don’t have as heavy a workload as they do but am thoroughly enjoying what I do have. My early morning (6-7am) student is rather wonderful to teach. His name is Dee and he seems to have understood so much in such a short time that I am a bit amazed at the end of each session. He comes 4 mornings a week.
I also have classes with Sister Kim Sreang. I have really appreciated the opportunity to get to know this little lady. She is the only older sister here in Phnom Penh. I should think we are about the same age .Sister Loy translates for us. We have been studying the Sabbath in some detail. Loy selected the subject and she must have done well because Kim Sreang seems to really enjoy it. On Fridays we do an extra hour on English. That is when Kim Sreang and I get to really laugh together.I have various other students as well, all of whom I really enjoy but if I tell you about each one of them, this will end up being the longest blog ever written. I will miss each one of them when I leave and will be always waiting to hear how they are progressing.


Sarah mentioned the new rubbish bins in her last blog. Jonno and I saw the end of the rubbish process yesterday. One of the dormers had been telling Jonno how a lot of people including children live at the rubbish tip and make a living there by scrounging through the rubbish as it arrives. The dormer felt that we should be trying to help at least the children. Jonno and I discussed the possibilities and set out to do our research. A trip to the dump made us very aware of the problem. The photos below give some indication of what the living and working conditions there are like. They don’t of course,fill your nose with the stench of the offscouring of Phnom Penh, or the feeling that the air is seething with malignant bacteria. They won’t show you the detail- the children barefoot or in thongs, the houses built of rubbish and in rubbish, the fact that they have to buy clean drinking water if they want any, or the fact that the kids eat the rubbish when they can. You stand there in shock, and wonder how people can not believe that we need Christ’s return, how we can’t want it more urgently than we do.
We decided to approach an organization ( one, we found, of several)that is doing some work with the children from the rubbish tip and spoke to the person who began the organization by just collecting children and feeding them herself. We also spoke to one of the managers of the programme. They are doing a truly excellent job. The People Improvement Organization is probably meeting the needs of these children as well as it’s possible for them to be met in a country like Cambodia today. Children are being fed a meal each day as well as being educated and offered scholarships and training after graduation. ( For anyone who is particularly interested in what is happening here, type ‘’Phnom Penh dump’’ into the google search bar)The programme was one of the top ten eligible for the Heroes award in2008 It is internationally funded and supported. Every classroom we entered had volunteer western teachers in there as well as their classroom teachers. Jonno concluded that there was no room for a small project for us here. The resources of our community are so meager compared to those of the internationally funded aid groups and this group is so well supported, that it would be a foolish waste of resources for us to consider giving financial aid to a programme such as this. Christadelphian aid programmes invariably try to help people have a better life today and offer an even better hope for a future in Christ. The needs here are already being handled as well as is possible in this environment.

It is so good to have opportunities to work with the dormers who have come from impoverished backgrounds, and the students from LCDI and our other contacts at the bec and be able to offer them help now, but even more, a hope for the future in which there is no terrible poverty , abuse or suffering. May that day come soon.

Love always

Mother Nutter