Pack
the van – food, cooking equipment, sound system, water, plates, chopsticks;
bags, pillows, blankets; driver, ten people and baby Jessica. Start into the frenetic traffic that is Phnom
Penh on Saturday afternoon, past the airport and then on to the endless
kilometres of factories, worker flats, and workers crammed standing onto trucks
at the end of their working day for the journey to their accommodation. At
last, a stop at the bakery at Kampong Speu, and a very welcome warm bread stick
to eat (yum!). The last part of the
journey is short, but slow because of potholes, slippery mud and water pools.
We
arrived at brother Vitou’s parent’s home somewhat relieved to be able to move
around again, and unloaded everything in the warm evening. A number of brothers and sisters and dormers who
had travelled on their motos met us there.
Then an
amazing example of teamwork sprung into action.
There were 200 people to feed in the morning! And about 35 to feed that
night. Vegetables were washed, peeled,
chopped, washed; fish gutted and decorated, meat chopped, seasoning prepared, cooking
fires lit, and huge cooking pots heated.
By the end of the evening, 35 people had been fed a beautiful dinner,
and almost all of the preparation for the 200 person meal in the morning was
prepared. Just the fresh accompaniments
to be attended to in the morning. Thank
you team. – the food was great.
A
smartly decorated tent with rows and rows of chairs was set up ready for the
presentation to parents in the morning; after dinner, sister Bernie from India
had the teenage children happily playing school playground games. Later, there was dancing and talking for a
long while.
On Sunday morning, the children and parentsbegan to
arrive at 6.45am for the scheduled 8am start!
Receptionists were at the gates to welcome all the visitors,
brother Puthsa was parking warden for bikes and motos at the house across the road; final preparation was under way, tables and chairs were in place and the sound system ready to go. The children were occupied in their classroom doing last minute practicing and being organised by height to stand in groups for their presentations.
By
starting time, the number of children had grown to 110, all beautifully dressed
in their white tops and skirts or trousers; there were about 60 parents and
family waiting expectantly. Brother Tut
was chair and brother Dy gave a talk about who we are and what is our mission
in the village. One group of children
sang “This is the Day” (in English), another group sang “Bless the Lord” (in
English), a teenage boy read some of Matthew 24 from the King James Version in
almost flawless English, and the teens group did a play about coming to Phnom
Penh to study being able to live at Bethezer Dormitory.
A
number of parents spoke their appreciation, a group photo was taken, and lunch
served for 209 people!
It
was a blessing to be able to see the work happening in Kampong Speu. It is a long term ‘investment’ for our Lord –
may it produce a rich crop for Him, with His blessing.
Some more photos
Sis Jackie
25-26 OCTOBER 2014
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