Cambodia, getting to know more
In the last few days we saw a lot of the country.
We saw a public hospital that takes AIDS patients. The facilities are so poor and dirty, patients are not well attended to. The patients' kids are running around outside the hospital. They were so thrill to see us come, because that's the only entertainment they had besides goofing around.
The kids sleep in the same bed as the sick parents. The parents' immune system has been destructed by HIV and are getting all kinds of diseases such as TB. Imagine the kids sleep with the parents...We also visited Little Sprouts, a program run by Maryknoll to care for the HIV+ kids. Some of the kids lost both parents and are refused by(or do not have) relative to take care of them. They live in the group homes provided by Maryknoll, each home hosts a dozen to 20 kids, ages range from 2 to 18. When we visited them they were very happy. They love to sit on our laps, or have us hold them. When I played with them I felt that they were no different from other normal children. They laugh, they run and have fun all the time. But their life won't be easy. I think about when they grow up more they'll feel the rejection from society. They may not be able to get married and pick up family life which they had long lost, yet in Cambodia family value is exceptional important...
We saw the Royal Univ. of Phnom Penh, the oldest, largest and best university in country. Students wear uniform (white shirt, blue pants/dress). We visited an English class and moved into small group to chat with students. I spoke with 6 students, 5 of them are from the provinces, only one from Phnom Penh. Besides studying, they have part time job to sustain life. Three of them wanted to continue studies overseas, but they understand the chance is extremely slim. One of them told me she wanted to go back village to work for her people. These young folks are the best 0.5% of the school students. But their academic standard is far beyond US, one math student told me they were learning algebra, stat, and analysis now.In Cambodia there are 3 government colleges and 47 privates ones. The quality of private ones varies a lot. Most of them offer non-lab disciplines such as business and accounting because of the ease of setting up. The students can hardly practice. For a medical student, the only time he encounters a patient is when his family member gets sick!
You may wonder why the country is so beat up. A little and brief history... In 1975-79 Khmer Rouge(Cambodian communists) took power and turned the country into complete communist overnight. People were forced out of the capital and forced to work in provinces as farmers. Books were burnt, educated people were killed or put into exile. They killed those who could speak foreign language, who wore glasses, who couldn't produce as required from farming, because all these indicated they were educated people. In 1979 Vietnam liberated Cambodia. But the country's infrastructure was totally lost. Only 4 teachers and 36 students came back to rebuild the Royal University of Phnom Penh. These young people I talked to are motivated but somewhat worried about their future. They are so much expected to help the country walk out of darkness.
Today we visited Little Folks program, also a Maryknoll program. They are different from Little Sprouts that their kids are HIV negative. When children’s parents have AIDS, they have to stay home to care for them. By the time the parents die the kids will have already missed a lot of school years. It is common to see a 12 year old enter first grade, but of course, given the pressure, they drop out very soon too. Little Folks provides what is needed for the family so the kids are freed up to go to school. The kids will enroll in regular school. And for the orphans they also meet at wat (temple) once a week to be on a healing process through drawing and crafting.
This afternoon as I stepped out a museum a kid came up to me for money. I refused to give because I didn't want to encourage his parents to put him to beg. He then pointed to my water. I gave him. He went to his siblings to share out. I approached to take a few pictures of them. Then I saw them eating crumbs out of a discarded cake box. I burst into tears. I know things like that happen everyday, but to see it with very own eyes is so hard to take on.Later Fr. Charlie told me that none of us did anything to deserve our fate. We are rich and they are poor all because the place we were born. Life is a mystery. I'll have to take some time to reflect on that later.
Today I also got a chance to speak with a young Cambodian who graduated from one of the Maryknoll programs and is now helping the program in return. Though he is as young as 26, his vision has stunned me. He told me education to the young generation is most important. If you help the street beggars, tomorrow there will be more, this goes on forever. But if we educate the young generation, tomorrow they will lead the country into better. I'm so proud that Maryknoll has given him chance to become such a wise, positive and enthusiastic young man.
Sorry that this email is as long as last. Sometimes emails cannot convey the true feeling. For some of you I look forward to share with you face to face. Fr. Charlie has taken some pictures for our program. Go to http://www.parish-without-borders.net/cditt and look for 'friends across border' trip.
Please give thanks to God for what we were born with, and pray for those who suffer just because they were born in the wrong place. And ask God to guide us to bring His love to one another.