PLACE OF RESCUE

Of all our destinations we’ve hit on this trip, I’m glad we saved this for last. Making Phnom Penh home and finding a community here is going to be no trouble at all. This might be a long entry, so if you’re short on time, here’s the skinny: It’s great. We love it. Glad our return flight isn’t booked yet!

After 3 days of gathering our bearings and getting an idea of how we’ll be spending our days, we are so pumped to be here. You know that feeling you get when you’re fully certain you’re where you ought to be? This is it!

A definite highlight was visiting Rescue last Friday. With our predecessors—3 girls who had been teaching since September—leaving the next day, and our new arrival, Rescue had a little “hello/goodbye” bash. Never in my life have I been greeted with so many tears. It was a sad farewell to the girls, but we were so warmly welcomed.

One moment spent on that site and you’ll see how wonderful those kids are, and how great a project Rescue is. First, the latter.

Rescue, which began in 2003, is nearly completely directed and operated by native Cambodians. Not only does it empower the workers, it plainly shows the children that aid and development doesn’t come only from foreigners. They can--and ought to--dream big. The Prime Minister of Cambodia. A business man. A teacher. The director of an orphanage. You name it, and those kids are gunning for it. I’m sure as time goes on and we get to know the kids more we’ll see their ambition even stronger. It’s pretty great.

Ok, back to Rescue. There are about 140 kids living on site—ranging from 2 to 19 years of age…all of which are either orphaned or have been abandoned by parents and family. Every one of these kids, in their short-lived lives, have had to deal more than any human should in a hundred year life. Yet they are so joyful and eager to shower you with love. There are 6 ‘boy houses’ and 4 ‘girl houses,’ each having a dad and/or mom. Each home operates as its own familial entity. The family will eat its meals together; everyone pitches in with chores. They do their best to put kids of all ages into each home. The house parent(s) will have helpers in the older kids, and the younger ones then have role models to emulate.

Another 30 or so children live with their mothers on site. All of the mothers have AIDS; many of their children do as well. These families have the otherwise-impossible opportunity to live as a normal family (each having their own home/hut to live in.) When the mothers become too sick to care for their children, there is help available. The kids, though they live with their siblings and mother, are adopted into a larger family and have the same routine (incl. school) just like the other kids. If the mother eventually dies, though it's no less tragic for the children, they have security and an established community to move in with.

One other project underway at Rescue is the “Granny House.” As the name would imply, it is a place where elderly women who otherwise would be living on the streets come to live. When talking about most things in or about Cambodia, it’s important to keep in mind the nation’s recent past that it continues to recover from (…we'll touch on this more in another entry.) Many of these grannies lost all their children, as well as siblings, husbands or anyone else they could turn to for care in their old age, during the ‘70’s. Place of Rescue is definitely just that for these ladies.

Another thing to note about Rescue is the attitude that no one comes for a free ride. The children and the grannies & mothers (if they’re able) all help out around the site, be it in the sewing centre, the garden, the fish pond, etc. It’s obvious that to keep a place like this up and running takes many a helping hand. And the residents, just like any other family members, are eager to contribute.

And speaking of keeping Rescue up and running, you couldn't mention this without talking about Marie Ens. She was of the master minds in getting Rescue off the ground. With her knowledge of this country and the language, and her immense love for its people and the Lord, it is not hard to see why God has used her the way He has. In the short time we’ve been here so far, it’s nearly impossible to see her walking around the compound when she isn’t smiling at someone, holding a child, or getting bombarded with hugs from the children. I think she has 140 grandchildren at Rescue. She has been a great help in getting us oriented around Rescue and Phnom Penh. Unfortunately for James and me, she is leaving in a week to spend a few months in Canada. Did we mention that Rescue is run nearly entirely by Cambodians? Well, she is that “nearly”, and without her we really have incentive to learn Khmer.

What else to say about Place of Rescue? Ah yes, our role here. We are the English teachers (or the “chas” as the kids call us.) We’ll be teaching nearly 70 kids, ranging from grade 4 to grade 12. We can’t wait to begin! More to come re. this once a few more logistics have been ironed out.