Monday, January 28, 2013

Cambodian DMV



If Cambodia had a DMV, this is how I imagine the booklet they give out would read...

When driving down the road it is important to watch and slow for the following:

  • Large buses full of tourists. The buses will crush you
  • Other motos
  • Herds of cows crossing the road
  • Dogs
*note: It is not necessarily important to slow for pedestrians. Use your best judgement

Parking:

  • Just find a spot. Block someone else if necessary 
  • Motos can and should be put so closely together that no person can actually get on their moto to back it out

Safety Laws:

  • Drive on the right side of the road, unless it is more convenient to drive into oncoming traffic, then use your horn to let oncoming traffic know you are there.
  • Always wear a helmet while driving a moto. Passengers (including children) do not need a helmet while riding. If however you simply keep a helmet in the basket on your moto, that is safe enough.
  • Use headlights at night to alert other motorists of your presence, unless you are afraid of ghosts following you home, then you may leave your lights off.
  • Never use your headlights during the day. No exceptions.
  • Red lights are always optional
  • Two people on a moto at a time. But feel free to be clever and fit as many Cambodians/pigs/chickens/mattresses/propane tanks/groceries as possible
Oh Cambodia...

These pictures were just to help illustrate the point, but are not actually my pictures.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

They're Too Young


A dirt floor and rusted tables with plastic chairs for customers (most of which have giant cracks in the seats). Thick sticks are tied together and neighboring trees support the tarps that are tied together to form a covering. The 1 1/2 sides it has are plastic table cloths with holes in them, which does allow for a breeze I suppose, and of course a view of the emaciated cows in the grass next to it. Scraps of food that have fallen off the table are picked through by the scraggly dogs that wander around, and one can only hope and pray that their patchy "so greasy it has a gelled quality about it" fur doesn't come in contact with your actual skin. This, my friends, is where I spend many-an-afternoon. And let me answer this question now: yes they do take reservations, since I know you're all dying to go ;)

Bella and I do outreach in the community most everyday. It comes in different forms depending on what is happening, but mostly it is maintaining and building relationships. We have good relationships with three massage parlors and one karaoke club. We alternate locations throughout the week so we can spend time with each group of girls as well as in our own salon. Today was a karaoke day.

As we were sitting on cracked seats (and yes I am sad to say that today I had actual contact with a dog) and eating bananas with some girls, I realized I was in such an odd situation. Two girls we hang out with a lot were sitting sharing a drink and talking with us. They are 15 and 17, respectively. Several karaoke girls joked and laughed as they ate and played cards. Everything was  as per usual until I noticed what the two teen girls were drinking. They were drinking wine coolers. My first reaction was to stop them, then I remembered I'm not in America and it is legal for them to drink here. Then I thought "But they are too young! Who cares about legality of it! They're going through them like a thirsty adult with a box juice!" But even as I thought it, I couldn't figure out how that conversation would go, "Girls, I know your job requires you to get drunk every night with customers, but I don't think it's wise to be drinking that." Oh yeah. That would go over swimmingly. I couldn't figure out in what way Jesus' name would be glorified if the subject was brought up, so I left it alone. 

 As I was sitting in our salon shortly there after, I was watching a teenage girl waiting to get her hair and make-up done for work tonight. She was playing with a practice doll head. She kept braiding and unbraiding the hair. Braiding and re-braiding, over and over again. I've seen her there before, doing the same thing. Not talking, just playing with the hair. I asked her once if she wanted to work in a salon. She said yes, but could never afford to go to school for it. 

Today was one of those days where I have been so blessed by the conversations and time spent sitting and just being present with them. It is also one of those nights where my heart just breaks at the loss of innocence. I know there is no such thing as an appropriate age for this, but I wish she was at home playing with hair and they were at home drinking juice right now. Instead they're out working.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Back in the Bode Again


"Take it easy. Take it EASY!" Came from an overly anxious Bella sitting on the back if my moto as we drove through the streets of Siem Reap doing outreach. This was quickly followed by a quiet chorus of "Oh please don't kill me. Oh you're going to kill us..." As you can imagine, her confidence in my driving abilities is overwhelming.
Okay, yes I almost tipped us over once, but in my defense, we had a dog chasing us down the road jumping up and trying to bite us. And what help do I receive as I am trying to steer us to safety? Bella flailing around on the back of my moto yelling "It's going to bite us!!!!!" As she kicks her legs up repeatedly kicking my arm controlling the steering. But yeah, sure, I'm the one going to kill us...
Coming back from being home in the states for Christmas has had its moments. You know, it's 'This is awesome and I'm so happy to be back!' moments and of course the 'Oh my goodness I'd forgotten how scary driving in Cambodia is' moments. Well, followed by the "We might die right now" came an incredible afternoon.
For those that don't know, or have forgotten what I do, here's the short of the long of it. I work in Siem Reap building relationships with girls in the community that are currently working in brothels (aka karaoke clubs and massage parlors.) My job is to help girls in the community come to know about and trust our facility (Rahabs House) so that if a girl wants help getting out of sex trafficking she knows she can come to us and we will help in whatever way most beneficial to her particular situation. So most everyday, one of our awesome Khmer staff, Bella, and myself go out to foster these relationships.
After our harrowing drive to one of the massage parlors we frequent, we were met with an ecstatic group of massage girls. Armed with fruit we walked over to join the thirty plus girls sitting around tables. Several asked where I had been for so long and others kept saying how happy they were to see me again. Since building trust can be very challenging in the Khmer culture, I cannot even express to you the extreme joy I felt at being surrounded by so many loving girls.
We sat around and talked, ate fruit and yes I'll admit it, danced and sang (quiet loudly I might add) to One Direction. ( The best part of course being that the girls recorded me singing and dancing...always a joy to have those embarrassing moments documented.)
Fast forward a few hours. We've long since left the massage parlor and are passing out fliers that night to the karaoke club near us to let girls know about a party coming up.
We strategically go into the club just after the bulk of the girls arrive, and just before the bulk of the johns come. Usually we are admitted to pass out fliers and told to hurry up. This time, we weren't told to hurry. In fact the "ice moms" that usually sell the girls and are the ones who admit or don't admit us in, engaged us in conversation! When we went inside, a girl ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and had apparently been asking everyday when I would be back. As we stood there hugging, some men came in for girls. My heart sunk. We were in SO much trouble. We are NEVER supposed to be in there while there are customers. If we see them, we've already messed up. And here we were, in the middle of the room with girls surrounding us.
But God was so good! Not one girl near us made a move to get the attention of the men (as is their job) and none of the guys seemed to even notice our presence. As a result, the manager and the "ice moms" didn't care we were there while customers were there. When we tried to leave, all the higher up staff stopped us so we could chat and catch up!
I could not believe it! For the staff and girls of both the karaoke club and the massage parlor to be so open and so eager to engage in relationship with us during work hours is truly a testament to how God is slowly turning some of the hearts in this community.
I was so blessed by the whole day I wanted to cry! Fortunately I didn't because if I had I probably would have crashed us and then Bella would never get on my moto again and then where would we be?