Life in Battambang

Hello again from Cambodia or Kampuchea as the Khmer people call it...our team has had an action-packed week and are starting to get our feet under us in Battambang.

Last weekend I attempted to update our team blog, but it didn't really work and so I've just realized that I haven't posted very much at all about our time in Cambodia, so I'll try and catch you up....

We are spending 5 weeks in the city of Battambang which is in the province of Battambang, on the Thailand side of Cambodia.  It's one of the larger cities in the country (Rob guesses about 200 000 people) and although it is quite busy, it doesn't have a big city feel at all since it is made up of a number of villages which have joined together as they expanded.

Most of the people drive motos (motorcycles) although there are quite a few imported cars as well (many Camry's on the road, although I haven't spotted one like mine yet!).  People drive on the right side of the road which is nice for a change since Australians, Kiwis and Balinese all drive on the left and no matter how long I spend in countries who drive opposite it still feels strange!

We eat breakfast together each morning at the house we are staying in which consists of baguette-like bread with spreads (pb, jam) as well as some fresh fruit.  The rest of our meals are cooked by two Khmer women who work in the house's kitchen and are a huge blessing to our "Fine Dining DTS."  On days like today (our one free day of the week) we are given a food budget of US$8 and eat at local restaurants.  Most meals consist of rice, stir-fry, soup or fried food and some fruit.  My favourite thing to do on free day is to go to the White Rose restaurant and have fresh coconut shakes....

This week and next we are part of a new agriculture program with the YWAM Battambang base.  Students who have done 1 dts already who want to continue with YWAM do what's called Phase II and have options for different focusses such as healthcare, education, ESL teaching and water issues.  The agriculture program is being taught by Dave Askins (a Kiwi agricultural missionary and university professor who has spent many years working on improving tropical agriculture in Papua New Guinea and who spent some time with us at Ounatai and lives not far from Oxford, New Zealand), David Hewson (another Kiwi who works with Kiwi farmers on issues of soil and water improvement and protection and whose family did their DTS with the Blakely family in Kona Hawaii), as well as Rob Blakely our DTS leader.

Each morning for the past week we have had discussion-based lecture time with 4 Khmer students (Sath, Pisith, Channouen and Lan-the only girl).  The pace is a bit slower as everything is translated from English into Khmer by our Cambodian staff Seang.  We've talked about topics such as composting, green manure (planting legumes to increase soil fertility), using small family gardens to supplement vegetable needs for a family to decrease costs, including animals into the farming system, and how to experiment with new farming techniques.  It has been really encouraging to learn alongside the Khmer students.

We also went on two "field trips" one to the site of a new NGO (non-government organisation-non Christian) called Children's Future International.  Seang worked with them before coming to New Zealand for DTS.  Their director Jenny, who is from Switzerland has a vision of a school and community centre which supports children who are at risk of dropping out of school.  It will have ESL as well as Khmer classes to catch up learners who have left school and want to return, or are too old to attend school.  It will also consist of a small children's home where those whose parents can no longer look after them will be able to stay under the care of a house mother.  There is a soccer field out back and Jenny is hoping to plant a flower garden as well as an instructional vegetable garden used to teach the community and students about agricultural practices.  The property was aquired in September adn the school building is almost complete.  She hopes the children will be able to move into the home as early as next week I believe.

Our team is praying about getting involved in the garden projects and experimenting together.

Our other field trip was our second visit to Seang's house where his family has a small vegetable garden in a more rural area about a 20minute tuk tuk ride from Batambang city.  Last week his mother cooked us a delicious meal and this time we helped dig up some land for a corn patch and got to put into practice some of the agricultural practices we have been learning about.

Other than agriculture training this week has also included visiting and working with the Youth Centre at the YWAM base.  The Youth Centre is a program on base which offers free English classes to youths in Battambang (aged 14-30) as well as Khmer guitar and cooking classes.  Each week they reserve 1 day for "God day" when people share about Christianity and personal testimonies and also 1 day for "relevant topics"where they cover basic first aid and some AIDS education I think.  This week is the beginning of a new session so there were two God days because the relevant topics hadn't been established yet.  I've attended a few classes and also shared on both God days--once with the story of how God brought me to teaching and DTS and once with a Khmer version of the prodigal son story which the students helped me tell.  I also worked with Mark who is also on our team teaching an English lesson for one of the teachers who is sick.  Who knew I'd be substitute teaching in Cambodia?!

Our team has decided to partner with a Foursquare orphanage (Christian) for church on Sunday each week and last week I shared the "sermon" on God's father heart for us and we spent some time imagining our room in heaven.  We are hoping to be able to do some songs, games, crafts, and bible teachings as well as church but our schedule is still a bit unknown and full of agriculture stuff for at least one more week.

Last weekend we were blessed with an awesome surprise-the Southeast Asia Backpacker team from Oxford base stopped for a quick visit in Battambang.  It was so amazing to spend some time with other familiar faces and encourage each other with stories from where we've been.  It came at a really good time as last week quite a few people on our team were not feeling well. Most seem to be ok at the moment, with just a few little tummy upsets.

Next week we have more hands-on agriculture training and will be back at the youth centre and hopefully back at the orphanage.

Prayer for health, team unity, and our leadership.

love you all and miss you!