Report from Our Team in Cambodia, 2010
Aldersgate Mission Team: Juanita & Steve Csontos and Dave Malzahn
February 26, 2010
Dear Friends,
Just an update on activities here….
Dave, Steve, and I were able to commandeer a UMC Mitsubishi truck and driver through Esther’s good graces Last Sunday to take us to Khnar Tey, our sister church in Takeo province where we attended worship at their 1 pm service. We arrived at noon and were treated to a wonderful Cambodian soup, rice, vegetables, and fruit prior to the service. We ate outside in the shade, so we had to battle the ants that kept crawling into our plates – rather like having a picnic at home except the ants were much smaller and more aggressive. The service was packed with children – over 80 – many of whom came from a neighboring village a kilometer away. The pastor, Khieu Vorn (hereinafter KV), said that Muslim children had been attending his church and were present during the service. Since our visit was a last minute arrangement, it was unlikely the attendance was skewed as a result of our being there. We met 5 children for whom we are providing scholarships; 2 more are needed for a brother and sister. I have passed this information on to Missionary Esther as it is the UMC office that disburses funds.
We had an opportunity to take a short tour of the garden areas where soil is being prepped for planting KV showed us the diesel pump which we furnished at his request after our last visit in February 2007. He also told us that he had been able to dig a well about 1 kilometer away with funds that we had sent. The irrigation makes possible food production in the dry season and enables this congregation and the village to be self sufficient. We are making a difference. J
This past week we have been busy visiting churches and projects with the California team, consisting of Bishop Warner Brown, Howard Parker (Katherine’s father), Connie Hunter (head of the UMW in the Cal. Conference), and three others, besides Dave, Steve, me, and one or two of the UMC staff.
We’ve been looking at land because of the ever-increasing need to accommodate the growing Methodist churches here and also discussing how to handle the problem of itinerating pastors. This is complicated because some have contributed their own small land area upon which to build a church. You can understand why the tradition of moving pastors presents problems. A partial solution seems to be to make sure the parsonages are as nearly equal as possible and that the surrounding area is arable so that gardens can feed folks in the dry season. If the land is not arable, then a business such as weaving or basketry or animal raising or chicken growing is necessary to make enough income to buy rice. The pastors themselves need extra income because so many depend upon them for help.
The newly formed Social Concerns Committee, consisting of 2-3 pastors per district, is in training in order to monitor the projects to insure that adequate records and receipts are kept for money that is expended for seed, animals, equipment, thread/fabric, etc. The missionaries simply can’t do it all; and, unfortunately, some groups don’t see the need to produce records and be accountable. It seems to be a cultural problem, so it is a learning experience for both sides.
After several days out in the boonies checking on projects, we are in town today, recuperating from head wounds suffered from bumping against the van ceiling. Those roads/paths are tough. There are no seatbelts except for the driver and front seat passenger. The law about wearing seat belts is rigorously enforced, however, for those front seats! We are stopped while the gendarmes inspect us. The fine is $5. They are unconcerned about anyone in the back. Last week we had to pay a fine because our translator was in the front seat and was not buckled up. I have a strong suspicion that that fine never made it to govt coffers. Police are among the lowest paid, along with teachers.
After coming back from one trip, I was so wiped out that I decided just to shower and eat some cereal I had in my room. I just reached in the box and munched on it dry. Upon closing the box, I noticed some ants crawling on the outside. Yes, you guessed it. I’d been eating ants along with the cereal. They were crawling all over inside the box. I’d forgotten that when I was here before I had taken the precaution of keeping cereal in the small refrigerator in order to avoid just such a problem.
The latest news, politically speaking, is that Hun Sen, the P.M., is hitting up businesses to support the military. The new govt. initiative creates formal patronage relationships between military units and private companies, which will provide “…material assistance, food, medicine, tools, harvesting equipment, cattle, seeds, wells, ponds, means of travel or transportation, shelter, and working buildings. ” So far, 59 separate partnerships have been created. I’m wondering how well this will work out. At the very least, it should discourage new businesses.
Yesterday Dave, Steve, and I went out to one of the resettlement areas where so many of the poor have been dumped. The place is an open sewer. There is no water (it has to be brought in small containers) and no toilets. The exception is the toilet in the feeding facility for the children. It has an enclosed closet that is tiled with a hole in the center. Clara started a feeding program when she realized that children were being left alone all day with no food while their mothers left to work in the city. Since there were some mothers with young children and some grandmothers in the complex of shacks, she organized a team to prepare food. Still, some children have no supervision or protection.
Sometimes the problems and the corruption in Cambodia seem so insurmountable that you wonder why you try….and then the faith of the Cambodian Christians and the faces of all those children flash before you and you think again….of Jesus saying that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few….and of the story about the little boy and the live fish washed onto shore --when his grandfather criticized him for picking it up and tossing it back, saying “what difference can it make??”….and the little boy replies, “It makes a difference to this one.”
Maybe that’s what keeps us all working. We want to make a difference.
Thank you so much for all your prayers, and God bless,
Juanita
February 18, 2010
Greetings from
After sleepwalking through the first few days, I hope I am now coherent enough to present an account of the ongoing activities and projects here. It took some time to adjust to the shock of climate change. Steve and I left
The most obvious difference in the city landscape is the removal of the poor from the riverfront, together with the hovels they put together with odd scraps of metal, plastic, wood, and rags. There is much new construction of hotels and casinos in their place. The Japanese have helped solve the problem of annual flooding along the river by constructing deep canals to channel the excess water. New condos have gone up in the area, as well, which is called “
Private company construction continues apace throughout the downtown and tourist areas. One cannot walk 2 blocks in any direction from the hotel without encountering huge piles of sand, stacks of bricks, bags of cement mix, etc., blocking what sidewalk exists, so we walk in the streets, which is a constant hazard. Thanks again for the prayers!
One of my responsibilities here (until the team from northern
It took Katherine and me roughly (and I do mean roughly) two hours to get from
- To check on two individuals that a recent visiting medical team had identified as having serious problems – the first being a young woman with mysterious headaches and skin problems who was in need of a proper diagnosis, and the second being a young boy with a serious blood disorder. In addition, we learned that the boy and his widowed mother had no food and the church there couldn’t help much because they were poor as well. This is the dry, or “hungry,” season when the rice crop from the rainy season gives out. I was not carrying much cash with me and was embarrassed to hand over only $15. That $15 was enough to buy rice for mother and son for an entire month. I was even more embarrassed when the pastor asked if I wanted to have a picture taken of me handing the money over to the woman – as if this was some grand thing I was doing. Jesus’ parable of the old woman who gave out of her own need came to mind. This was certainly no sacrifice on my part. Needless to say, I declined the picture with me in it, but I did take a picture of the little boy and the mother. We include money for rice banks in our Alternative Giving brochure, but we can’t help all the poor to help themselves during this dry season. The problem is too overwhelming. One of the solutions to the hunger problem at this particular church is to dig a well for irrigation so that vegetables can be grown during the dry months.
- To evaluate a chicken growing project that Aldersgate had funded. All seemed to be going well; the chickens were still small but growing – not yet able to produce eggs but seemingly healthy and gaining weight. The children were helping care for the chickens.
- To meet with the newly formed Health Committee in this UMC district. Volunteers from three churches, plus pastors from Trapeng Raing UMC and Prey Chheouteal UMC, joined with Angkrosaing to discuss how to help ailing church members get to medical clinics for treatment. Folks here are mistrustful of doctors and nurses even when medical care is attainable, so members of the Health Committee will attend training sessions with Irene to familiarize themselves with what is available and will take ailing members to these facilities in order to help overcome their fears.
After this meeting was over, we got back into our hired van for the long and spine-jolting ride back to PP. The days are always long when we go out to the field; we leave at 6 a.m. and return around 6 p.m, dirty, dusty, sweaty. I can hardly wait to jump in the shower. Sometimes we have hot water, sometimes not. Who cares at this point!
Dave Malzahn arrives late tonight; Esther, Steve, and I will meet him at the airport. Luckily, he can sleep tonight and all day tomorrow if he chooses. I’ll be working at UMC Hq building with Katherine, Irene, and others. The Methodist Conference from
More later…..we’ll be out in the boonies next week. Please keep us in your prayers. The roads could qualify as combat zones. J
Blessings, Juanita