It is now one month that fieldworkers from
the Phnom Penh BEC have been back teaching at LCDI (Leadership Character
Development Institute). Located about 45
minutes moto ride from the BEC, LCDI is a non-government education project that
offers free English lessons, and leadership development (hence the name) classes
to its resident students. These students come from poor families and for a lot
if not all of them this has meant they haven’t had the chance to properly go
through the schooling system. Fieldworkers to Cambodia from yesteryear would be
familiar with LCDI and a quick google search reveals a blog Michael Hewitt ran
during involvement there in 2010.
Our first trip back there saw Vitou, Dany,
little Jessica, Ratana and all of us fieldworkers take a van out there. The road out of Phnom Penh that leads to LCDI
is currently undergoing significant roadworks and as such the going was slow
and bumpy at times. Once we arrived we were greeted by about 25 enthusiastic
students. After some introductions we got everyone seated in one of the main
teaching areas. Richard Benson and Vitou ran the lesson which consisted of an
introduction to the Bible, God and his son Jesus. The students were all very
attentive. There weren’t too many questions during the lesson, but being our
first time meeting with them I think they were a bit nervous about speaking up.
After the lesson we sat down with them to have some snacks and get to know them
better. As a gift we took with us an Aussie rules football courtesy of the
Riddle family who brought several over for the BEC and friends during their
stay. Visitors to Cambodia would know that Soccer is by far the most popular
sport, while Volleyball probably comes in second. LCDI has a volleyball net,
but not much room to play soccer, and so volleyball is there preferred sport.
When given the Aussie rules football and shown some of the ways AFL is played
they could see the appeal in hand passes, but when it came to kicking a lot of
them gave us looks as if to say “Are you serious?” Evidently a ball that
bounces in seemingly random direction is a bit silly to them. That being said
they still got a lot of enjoyment out of it, but for them nothing beats
volleyball.
After a brief introduction to AFL, duster
hockey came next (I believe there may be a video of this on the BEC facebook
page), and finally volleyball (of course). Being the middle of the day the
games finished with everyone tired and sweaty. We said our farewells and then
hopped back on the van and made our way to a pool only 5 minutes drive away.
This was the perfect way to cool down and reflect on what had been an awesome
few hours with a great bunch of young people.
The next week Carolyn and Sophorn made the
trip out there for a lesson scheduled from 10-11. They returned just after 1 and
from looking at the grin on Carolyn’s face it had obviously been good. She told
how the lesson went really well, with that same enthusiasm and attentiveness we
witnessed the week before, but now with more questions from the students. For
the lesson they looked at Genesis 1. Afterwards they played some games and
shared a light meal.
The following two weeks were my turn to go
with Sophorn. Within this time the road showed significant improvements. The
first trip took Sophorn and I just over an hour each way, similar to what
Carolyn experienced the week before. The second trip, however, was closer to 40
minutes and much smoother. In these weeks we continued looking at Genesis (Chapters
2 and 3). The calibre and shear amount of questions these students can ask is
incredible. Sophorn comes into his own in these situations. He is awesome to
have in teaching situations not just for translation, but also because of his
passion for the Gospel. Both times we ended up leaving LCDI around 1, which
gave us just enough time to get back to the BEC for other classes.
If you’re heading over to Cambodia as a
fieldworker I highly recommend getting out to LCDI. The only negative I could
think of is how long the trip can take, but this really seems to be improving
on a week by week basis. Other than that everything else is positive. Teaching
alongside one of the local Brothers is really enjoyable and for LCDI has seemed
quite effective thus far. It goes without saying that the students are awesome
and they do a good job of keeping you on your toes. LCDI is a place where you
can easily lose track of time in a good way. God willing our preaching efforts
will be able to continue there over the coming months, years, or until Christ
returns.
Love in the Lord,
Tim
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