women's group

Recently, I posted about a women's group I met with. This is a picture of my favorite lady from that group. I love her face. I love her smile. I bet she has seen some things in her time. I wish I could have a conversation with her, but alas, my language skills (or lack of) make that impossible. I don't even know her name, but I will forever remember her face and story of God's faithfulness in her life.

spiders: a cambodian delicacy

On a recent trip to one of the provinces we stopped at a roadside pit-stop/cafe. I saw a big bowl full of one of Cambodia's delicacies. What's that? Spiders. I haven't eaten one myself, but it was interesting to see as it isn't likely I would see such a thing at a roadside stop in the States.

If you were here, would you eat a spider? Alive they look like tarantulas. I just don't get in to eating weird things for the sake of the experience.

child safe zone

Just off one of the major streets in Phnom Penh is a community of families struggling to get by. I've mentioned before that people here work hard, usually six days per week. One of the problems with all this work is what to do with the kids while they are at work. Often children are left alone with no supervision. We have been working with church partners to provide a safe place for kids while their parents are at work. We provide training for community volunteers who eventually oversee the place. We provide toys and educational materials. We find church partners who are motivated to help their community struggle upward. These photos are from a recent visit to one of our child safe zone locations.

a day in the life: Prey Sala community

Recently, I went with the staff to visit one of the urban resettlement communities we are working in. Basically, these people lost their land and were relocated here over a year ago. At the time of relocation these families were given many promises, few promises have been kept. I thought you might like to see a day in the life of these families.

wedding season

Turns out, dry season is wedding season. We've been invited to a few weddings since arriving in Cambodia (after the rains stopped). Here is a copy of the first wedding invite we received. We weren't able to attend this wedding, but it was not our last opportunity.Something Westerners will find interesting about Khmer weddings is for the most part they are held in the middle of the street. Here are some photos from a wedding held in our street recently.

The weddings create major roadblocks. When this one was held I couldn't drive home that weekend because there was no way to get the car in (and out) of the driveway. One other thing to note is the loudspeaker begins at 6am. I was told the purpose of the loudspeaker was to scare away evil spirits. What I know is, there is no way an American wedding could block an entire street for a weekend and blare loudspeakers early on a Saturday morning...but we aren't in America anymore.



Just down on the next block is the kitchen for the wedding event.




A couple of weekends ago I attended my first Khmer wedding. It was for a colleague. She married a Japanese man.




Generally, the ladies here don't get so made up. The only time I see them look like this is for a wedding. I've always wondered if all that make-up and hairspray and fancy clothes made them feel pretty for their wedding day. I know Socheata well enough to ask. Her response, "No. I feel like a clown." I appreciate her honesty.



Being held outside, I totally understand why weddings would be scheduled during dry season because during wet season many of these same streets are flooded and no one would want to ruin their best clothes.