off-road adventure tour

Outside of the city most roads aren't paved in Cambodia. They are generally au-natural, which means dirt roads, full of bumps and other obstacles.

I've been on some pretty nasty roads in my time. Some of the worst roads I've seen were in Mozambique, sometimes I would wonder how we made it through as I was certain we would get stuck somewhere along the way or the crevices in the road would just eat up our vehicle. To keep myself from being scared, I would pretend I was riding a roller coaster. Including throwing my hands up and yelling "weeee" on some pretty treacherous hills. The staff would just laugh not knowing my true motivation for the outburst.

Recently I was in a northern province in Cambodia riding some bumpy, dirt roads. As I am being jostled about and trying not to bang my head against the window, one of the staff from Australia reminded me that people in Western cultures pay to have off-roading adventures - we get to do it as part of the job.

One of the Khmer staff who speaks English caught on to the paying part and asked some clarifying questions about off-road tours. He then proceeds to explain to the driver in Khmer that "barangs" (foreigners) pay money to drive on bumpy roads. The driver laughed so hard I thought he was going to lose control of the vehicle, there were actually tears streaming down his face and he was shaking his head in disbelief. Crazy barangs!

kindred spirit

I recently met a woman named Mily. She was in Cambodia visiting because this is her husbands home land. He immigrated to the US during the Khmer Rouge. She works for World Bank in the DC area and I just loved talking with her about life and family.

At this particular dinner she asked me what I make for dinner living in Cambodia. I told her that she just hit a sore spot. I am of the generation of women that don't make things from scratch. My generation has grown dependent on modern conveniences like microwaves, standing mixers, and pre-packaged dough. In Cambodia, I am a miserable cook.

Mily was so encouraging and gave me great ideas like having a weekly theme for each night. Like Thursday is pizza night. The pizza may have different toppings week to week, but every Thursday the family eats pizza. There is a Mexican night and an Italian night. She said themes makes it much easier in planning and preparing meals. Such a simple thing makes such a difference!

Mily and her family went to Siem Reap for a visit. When they returned we got together again to hang out. She told me a story about attending a cultural show and wanting to get closer to the stage and then falling in the water feature in front of everyone. In her husband's words, "she became the show." Everything stopped, including the actors on stage, to make sure she was alright. I could just picture it as they told the story.

She was laughing so hard while telling the story. We were laughing too. Then she says, "do you know the moral of the story?"

I am thinking she is going to say, "watch your step" or something like that.

She doesn't.

The moral of the story according to Mily is: keep everything in your purse in plastic bags. Ha! She then proceeds to show me the inside of her purse and how each thing is individually wrapped in a plastic baggy - toilet tissue, prescription medicines, tourist maps and even their camera.

Mily has arrived back in the States and has sent me some valuable recipes for quick fix pizza dough and quiches. I love this woman and the times we spent together in recent months were incredibly enjoyable. I admire her spunk and attitude. In Mily, I found a kindred spirit.

grapes and sunshine

I was at the grocery the other day, wandering the aisles, hoping for inspiration. Suddenly I saw something I haven't seen in months. Raisins. Small individually packaged Sun-Maid raisins wrapped in celaphane.

Maybe for you this isn't a big deal, but for me seeing something so familiar...something I've known all my life - ahh, my heart did a little jump and I made a beeline for the red and yellow box.

I bought a package in an instant and left them on top of the food pantry.

I came home after work one night to find there were only two small boxes left and I hadn't eaten a single one. Kenyon's response was, "you know food doesn't last long around me."

I savored my one box of raisins. As I was slowly eating and tasting each one, I happened to read the ingredients.

Just above the ingredients it reads: just grapes and sunshine. The ingredients are: California seedless raisins.

Grapes and sunshine. Who knew such simple things could bring so much joy?

"wash your hands"

How many times in your life have you heard someone, maybe a parent, say - "did you wash your hands?"

I know I heard it from relatives and teachers. Heck, I still hear it today from my husband when exiting the toilet or when cooking dinner.

I was recently at a meeting discussing clean water issues in Cambodia. Generally, we couple such projects with hygiene promotion. Encouraging individuals to wash their hands at critical times - after going to the toilet, before eating, or while preparing a meal. One man who has been working in the sector a long time said something that stuck with me.

According to this man, when someone tells you to wash your hands - that is demonstrating love.

Think about it - you wouldn't say it, if you didn't care about the individual. Those you say it to, you feel affection toward - why else would you say such a thing? Those who never hear it, likely don't have someone in their life who is looking out for their welfare.

So, maybe in the month of love and a looming valentines day - you could ask someone, "did you wash your hands?"

just read: Zealous Love

Today, I am posting a blog first. A book review for a book project I am proud to be part of. Yeah, I wrote a contributing article to the newly released book titled, Zealous Love: A practical guide to social justice. If you haven't read it and you want to know how to get involved, or what you could possibly do to help - I'd recommend you pick up a copy, take note of which stories move you to tears, and act on those emotions as a catalyst for change in our world.

It seems strange to be promoting a personal project, but when I was asked by the editors to contribute to this project I just couldn't resist. They were speaking a language close to my heart. The purpose of the book is to give Christian's who want to make a difference in the world a practical guide to do just that - provide others with ways to get involved and mobilize them through telling personal and compelling stories of ordinary individuals, like myself who are doing whatever they can, wherever God has placed them. If you read this blog, you would know it was an instant no-brainer. Yes, yes, triple-yes!

The book description provided by the publisher is below:

Zealous Love is a response to some of the world’s urgent needs in light of Christ’s great love. Through first-hand accounts and up-to-date facts about eight global issues, Zealous Love uniquely provides readers with the information, inspiration, and involvement they crave to personally make a difference in their world.

The book addresses the issues of human trafficking, access to clean water, hospitality and compassion for refugees, global hunger, lack of educational opportunities, environmental issues, HIV and AIDS, and poverty. Many of these issues I have written on many times on this blog.

The publisher has provided a place online to continue the dialogue started in this book. You can join the conversation here.

NOTE: I get zero proceeds from the sale of this book (with the exception of a couple of copies that I gave to my family who are my biggest cheerleaders in life). I contributed because it is something I am passionate about and was honored to be a part of.