Kunthea

Susan and I went to see the girl we had working for us the first year we were in Cambodia. She is working in a bar/restaurant on the riverfront. Kunthea is a beautiful Christian girl who struggles like thousands of other young Cambodians. She learned to speak English by paying 1 dollar per session and standing at the back of a crowded room listening to a Cambodian teacher say phrases first in Khmer and then in English. She is bright, industrious and full of humor. Her problems begin with the Cambodian culture. She is responsible for her mother and father who do not work, she is responsible for a brother who has not worked for some time, she is responsible for the brother's wife and their two children. To provide enough money to keep them all fed she must work 11 hours/day  six days a week. Kunthea's hours are 7A.M. to 8P.M. Here in Cambodia it is dark by 6P.M., this means that she goes home at night in the dark. One night she was knocked off the moto, had her backpack and phone stolen. Our hearts went out to her. Had she been in North America she would have finished University by now and had a great future lying ahead of her.

There is nothing to be done for her- she cannot afford to miss any work to go to school, she cannot work at  a nicer job because they don't pay enough.

The final blow for her is that she must work on Sunday and cannot attend church where she would be able to socialize with other young people her age.

Susan and I love this little Cambodian girl. We hope and pray that in the future she will somehow have an opportunity for personal freedom and dignity.

Daughters of Cambodia

We visited this neat place where girls who work in brothels can come during the day and be treated with love and respect. While at this house the girls have an opportunity to learn a trade whereby they can earn money and pay off their debt to the brothel owner. Once this debt is paid the girl then has the option of leaving the brothel and living a normal life. This house ( called "Daughters of Cambodia" ) is funded by Ratanak. What is so surprising about this operation is that the pimps and brothel owners agree with the concept. Apparently the pimps and brothel owners are friendly with the people who operate Daughter of Cambodia. (  how does this work???). Anyway there is some 60-70 girls who regularly come to this facility. The operators of Daughtes of Cambodia do not pressure the girls to leave the brothels- it's entirely up to them individually. What the operators do is love the girls and tell them of God's love for them. 

If a girl is pregnant DofC will pay the hospital costs for the birth. DofC will then find good foster parents for the children if the mother does not want to keep the child. The whole operation was well run. We were impressed.

This week began with a lot of fun.  On Monday we took a Cambodian cooking class with our friends, Pat and Patrick from Saskatoon along with six others who are now a little more than acquaintances.  We met at the restaurant, Frizz, which puts these classes on and from there our instructor, a young (22)Khmer man, Heng, took us to the market to name, describe and give us the uses of all the interesting, beautiful fruits, veggies, herbs and spices.  As we looked with some dismay at the meats hanging in the heat, he was quick to explain that everything was fresh every day and the meat left over that day would be sold for sausage, mince and other meat products.  It was interesting to watch the women crouched on their seller's pallet filleting squirming-fresh fish.  Pictures were taken by all ten of us of the roasted cockroaches, tarantulas and other lovely, tasty insects waiting to be eagerly bought by Khmer, but not so by foreigners!

From the restaurant we went to a rooftop classroom with a roof but no side walls, so it was lovely and breezy for cooking on a warm day.  Khmer cooking is very labour intensive.  We had to mince our meat by hand - do you know how long it takes to mince enough chicken and pork for 2 sausages?!  We also used a mortar and pestle to pound our spices and herbs into a paste for curry.  However, the end result was worth it.  We made sausage wrapped in banana leaves for an appy, chicken curry and amok for the entree (Brian, next time you visit I will have to make amok for you!), pomello salad - I love it, but the first spoonful I took had ALL of the chili pepper in it, I'm sure!  Tongue, gums, lips, palate, throat were aflame! But it was tasty!  The crowning dish was pumpkin cooked with custard in it.  Yum!  It took all day to prepare, cook and eat.  By the time we got home, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

As I chatted with Heng, he told me that he was from Svay Rieng, a very poor province in the south-west near the Vietnamese border and his family was very poor.  His mother died when he was young and by the age of 12, he was living on the streets of Phnom Penh.  He was able to go to a British Academy to learn English for some time and then an NGO, "Friends" found him on the streets, took him in and began teaching him everything about the restaurant business.  This is where he learned to cook.  "Friends" is a thriving place with great decor and even greater food, all prepared and served by kids rescued from the streets.  Heng is now working full-time at Frizz instructing cooking classes for foreigners.  He is very good, lots of fun and knows how to keep us on track.  Heng is also going to university at night learning English and taking TOFEL so his English will be good enough to become a foreign student enabling him to get a better education.  His ultimate goal is to then return to Cambodia and help his people.  We really admire him for his work ethic, tenacity, good wit, knowledge of world affairs and ability to speak intelligently about many subjects, including the culture and politics of his own country.  I think he would be an ideal candidate for a Canadian university scholarship.