shopping

Yesterday we bought the dream. This mini muscle scooter provides a comfortable ride for any NGO seeking to reduce fuel costs. Easy transition from weekday work to weekend fun. The Dream comes with a modest storage compartment but allows acres of space for the entire family. Alternatively, let this reliable performer carry two soccer coaches with training gear, three full 50kg sacks of rice, five dozen live chickens, seven slabs of beer.... The Honda Dream 125cc. Asia's SUV.

Run Cambodia

On Friday November 5, Elissa, Bernie, Megan, Piers and Rachel came to Run Cambodia.

In some ways their trip was similar to itineraries arranged for other short term teams. They visited historical and cultural venues in Phnom Penh to understand the context. They learnt a few survival phrases. They met with some of my team mates in the City and visited development projects. In addition, they ran! They ran the riverfront and the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. They ran Siem Reap and along the Thai border in Poipet. Just when I thought they were done running, the team asked if they could train once more.... so we got up before dawn and ran the Highway. Finally, the Run Cambodia crew ran the Pursat River Run on November 14.

Through their efforts, this Brisbane team were able to raise $4000 towards our sports projects in Poipet. Amazing! Thanks Elissa, Bernie, Megan, Piers and Rachel for your mighty efforts training, fundraising, traveling and preparing. Thanks for running with and for Cambodians. I hope that Run Cambodia was a valuable exposure trip... with a good dose of fun! Thanks too for all those who supported the team with financial donations. We're shopping for about $1000 worth of soccer equipment next week. Woo hoo!

Orgun ch'raan.

Day of Mourning

Solitary and lonely
sits the city
that was once full of people.
Phnom Penh cries,
tears soaking her pillow.
City streets mourn
family and friends gone.
The highways lament
those who won't return
for this year's rice harvest.
Cambodia weeps.


Today has been declared a National Day of Mourning to remember the tragedy on the bridge to Koch Pich. On November 22, the last night of the Water Festival, over 400 people were killed in the crush of the crowds. Lamentations 1:1-2.

A Limping Leader

For the past few years, running has been my retreat. Running by myself in the early mornings or at the gym while others were taking a lunchtime siesta has kept me sane in busy seasons. This year, however, I started the Poipet Run Club. I learned to run with others and to train others. I also learned that God accepts a limping leader.

Run Club seemed like a good idea. Since I moved to Poipet, several youth have asked me to be their running coach. I figured if a handful of people were interested it would be good to get the word out, form a group and train together. (Note: no sports degrees, diplomas or coaching experience necessary!) Run Club also seemed like a crazy idea. Essentially I was asking people to get up before dawn, meet at my house at the break of day then follow me up and down National Highway 5. We chose this route partly because it's convenient but mostly because it's one of the only sealed roads in the city. During the months of dreaming and planning for Run Club there was a constant internal debate about whether this was a brilliant idea or... not. However, it did fit with our goals of connecting with local youth through sports. I feel free to give it a try. In July 2010 I ran a marathon PB and was positive about setting a start date for the end of August.

Two weeks before the beginning of Run Club, I was injured. I stopped running and started to swallow the maximum recommended doses of Nurofen each day. I rested, begged God to heal me and asked other people to pray for me too. Despite my fervent requests, I remained injured. At this point Run Club seemed even more ridiculous. But that's how I learned that people don't mind a limping leader.

When we started I would often let the guys go ahead for the first five or ten minutes while I ran slowly to warm up. As the pain receded, I'd increase my pace, catch the guys and continue the session. This didn't always mean I could finish fast. I remember the smile on one guy's face when he did, 'Big sister, thanks for letting me beat you!' I grinned back and replied, 'I didn't.'

Through Run Club I learned that for some people the specific activity doesn't matter at all; it's being together that counts. We would run, then stand in a circle and stretch. For some people, stretching was the highlight of the training session because we were all together! I also learned to keep things simple. We did our two trial runs on the highway with chalk to mark the starting line. I measured the course on my motorbike the day before and someone stood at the pink chalk finish line with a stopwatch and a scrap of paper to record times. We did have to break for over a week in October when the road was underwater. (Swim club?! Err..we could have had a short season!) But when the road was dry we ran. Some ran in rubber flip flops or slip-on plastic shoes. Others were in second hand joggers bought for thirty cents. But with what we had, we ran.

As I began to heal, I'd sometimes run and just see who could keep up. One of our interns did a great job running with some of the beginners. After she left, I chose one run a week to go out with the stronger runs, having a short conversation with each one of them. Coming back, I'd jog or walk with the slower members. In this way I could chat with most of them at least once a week during Run Club. Mostly, we talked about running. Sometimes we spoke about family, school, work & money. I discovered that not every conversation needs to be deep or serious. I think the youth found it helpful just to have a few moments with an adult who was interested in them and available to talk more afterwards.

Another lesson was that I didn't have to prescribe what the members were supposed to get out of Run Club. I didn't preach so much or teach or tell stories. I repeated stories. When someone said that running was helping them to endure hardship, I shared their story. I told everyone when one member said that they used to run when they were lonely but it was even better to be able to run with new friends. I repeated stories of new confidence. One runner said that if he looked at me he was tired but if he looked at the finish line, he had energy. Therefore, we used this comparison to learn about 'fixing our eyes on Jesus'. God uses limping leaders.

We trained for ten weeks and then we raced. Looking back, there were about nine out of ten weeks in which I had some kind of pain. Just before the race, however, I realised I'd stopped favouring the right leg, shortening my stride and running on my toes to protect my quads. I discovered I could run for over an hour or do speedwork without my leg hurting the next day. On November 14, our group of twenty five joined with a total of over 800 people to race.

Ten days later and there's a group already in training for next year. They don't want to stop. This morning I asked one of our regulars: why do you run? She said, 'I run for those moments when it feels like I'm flying.' That when it really hit home: God can use limping leaders to teach people to fly.

starring the khmer

featuring the foreigners

it don't stop

Somehow I thought that running the 1ok's at the Pursat River Run last weekend was going to be a finishing point. The plan was to train for 10 weeks in Poipet, do a couple of time trials, run Pursat and stop. But it seems as though some of my Cambodian friends have caught the bug and want to keep training, keep racing, keep running!

I took a team of 17 Cambodians and 8 foreigners (6 Aussies, 2 from the US) to race. We had to leave Poipet the day before coz it's about 250K from Poipet to Pursat City. However, it was such a great experience to travel together, eat together, race together and cheer each other across the finish line. The 10K route was everything good about rural Cambodia: rice fields, palm trees, a wide flowing river, clear skies, lazy cows, motorbikes, short sections of dirt road, curious crowds and a few stray dogs. It was a fun run! The Phnom Penh Post printed a full article including quotes from Pip Miner. Go read!

Also, I haven't uploaded photos yet but please go to these pics on Gretchen's flickr if you're keen to see where I stood on the podium!

love...

...kids' soccer!

Pouv's Pic

Pouv's Story

My name is Pouv Chum. I am Cambodian. I have two younger brothers, and one sister. There are five of us in my family. I am the second oldest after my sister. I was born in Pursat, Cambodia in 1988. My father is half Vietnamese, and half American. My mother is Khmer. I am half Khmer, and half Vietnamese/ American.

When I was very young, and living in Pursat, my family was living very happily together. But, in 1990 my father went to work in Thailand, and he left our family in Cambodia. My father was a good man; he was responsible for us, and he worked hard in the rice field to grow enough food for my family. A lot of people admired my father. Every job he had he worked at hard, and worked fast. I was so scared of him in my childhood. I was too young to understand why. When my father left for Thailand my younger brother, Colar, cried out and ran after the van to stop it. I myself felt very depressed in my heart. I could not cry.

After my father left for Thailand, my mother raised us on her own. She was in charge, and looked after all of us. My father sent us money for just two months, and then he said he was in love with another woman. He talked to my mom on the phone and said, "I want a new wife. Would it be okay?" My mom replied, "Yes, but please help the kids with money for them to go to school, and buy food." Unfortunately two of my cousins heard about how my father was taking a new wife. They were very angry, so they went to Thailand to meet him and fight him. My father found out my cousins were coming to fight him, so he ran away from where he was staying. Since then I have not heard anything about my father.

My mom decided to move to Poipet. We heard that it was easy to find jobs, and easy to make money. In 1995 I first arrived in Poipet. Everything was so new to me. I did not go to school. Our family spent all our money on building a small house. The house had no walls, it just had a roof. We were very cold at night time. My mom said we only had two baht [about 5 cents], so she decided to go find a job... During this time I was a beggar, and a bag boy, at the market on the Thailand side of the border. I did this for eight years.

During my time as a beggar, two times things went very terrible for me. One time the Thailand police caught me while I was begging. They beat me. After, they made me walk across the border into Cambodia by walking through a mine field. The second time I was caught again by the Thailand police. They sent me to the Thailand police station. At night time a man, I don't know where he came from, came and beat me. He was drunk. The man beat me very badly that night. He hit me on the head with a big stick hundreds of times. I cried out with pain. In the morning they let me go. My face was swollen, and there was dried blood stuck to my face. After all this happened, I told myself that I would take revenge on them. I wanted to have a high position in the government. I began to study English very hard so that I could teach my friends, so that I could make money to continue my studies.

When I believed in Jesus my desire to take revenge faded away little by little until it was gone. God's word was touching my heart more each day. Now I know that Jesus has a plan for me. I survived walking through the mine field, and I survived the beatings. Now my goal is to be a pastor, and language teacher. I want to give my life to tell people about God.

passion and pride

Independence means a lot of things and many countries around the world cherish one special day that they will never forget. There are many countries in the modern world that has been a colony of a powerful kingdom sometime in its history. Many of these countries have sacrificed a lot to gain independence and the kingdom of Cambodia is no deferent.

November 9th marks the special date that all Cambodians celebrate with passion and pride.

Pushpitha Wijesinghe, an 'experienced independent freelance writer' at world village.

I don't mind pretending I'm a tourist sometimes. I pick up free guidebooks & advertising junk. Why? It fuels my passion and pride. In one small book I learn about HOTELS:

Now, the accommodation providing to travelers is readily found. ...all the staff will be able to speak English up to the guesthouse because they think that talking English is easy to all foreigners. At the present, both hotel staff in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap use English language, actually it is not a question for them. In Siem Reap, though small children can be short communication may be three to four languages with visitors a long the way to the temple.
There are a lot of restaurants that is easy to find for travelers, served Khmer and Asian food. Western food is available also, but you may have it in every big towns and the large hotels.
You will be exciting with the luxurious hotels a long the beach with beautiful sea's view in Shihanouk Ville.

There's also a short paragraph about TRAINS:

There is a regular train service from Phnom Penh to Prsut and Battambang in the north, and to Kampot in the south. Although these trains are now safe from banditry, it is generally not recommended that they be used for travel.

Yes, I will be sure to avoid the bandit trains and check into a luxurious hotel that will make me exciting. Happy holiday :)

After The Storm

On the weekend of Friday October 15- Sunday October 17, Poipet experienced the worst floods in recent memory. Thousands fled their homes. People lost livestock. Crops were destroyed. Day labourers couldn't work. At a local church service the following week, one of the praise points was, "I had no food for a week but thanks God for providing frogs to eat." The flooding in Poipet didn't seem to make the news... but it did shut down the city.

In response, we gave some emergency food relief in two nearby villages. We partnered with a missionary/ church planter named Perlito. The donations were given through the village leader to each household; the amount of food depending on how many were in each household. The distribution to 136 families was completed on Friday October 29 and Saturday October 30.

I was encouraged that the first donation for this small emergency flood relief action came from the local church. We simply added to what was needed. Another well-timed email from Australia meant that we had enough cash to buy the rice, noodles and cans of fish.

At both villages there was a short message given by one of Perlito's co-workers and another co-worker said a public prayer to thank God for the food. Someone asked Perlito at the first village if he was going to preach. He said, "No- the food preaches for itself." I agree.

Post Script

On the weekend one of the girls from Run Club was training when some random guy called her a "hippo". To quote him in full: "There's no need for you to run. You're a fat hippopotamus." My friend said nothing in reply. Kept running. Told me afterwards how hurt she felt...

If I had to preach on the weekend I would have followed the lectionary reading and gone with Luke 19:1-10. (I didn't preach, by the way. Actually, I didn't even go to church...) However, if I was giving a sermon, I would have re-read the related chapter from Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E Bailey. I'd have said that this story should be seen alongside the story of the blind man in Luke 18:35ff. At the very least I would have made the point that Jesus shows compassion both for the oppressed (the blind man) and the oppressor (Zacchaues). That would have been my message. Sounds great... until a guy calls one of your run club chicks a hippo. Then I want to shove his fist so far down his throat that he gags on last night's dinner. At the very least I want to challenge his skinny butt to a 10km race and see him fight for breath, his tongue hanging so far out of his mouth that he's too exhausted to use it to use it for stupid insults.

Compassion for sinners. It's a novel idea. I want to see the oppressors get what they deserve. Justice for the big, bold, hardened ones and for the small, sneaky oppressors. Curse the drug smugglers, traffickers and the money exchanger who tried to rip us off when we were buying food for emergency flood relief. Yet Jesus showed compassion both for the oppressed and the oppressor. So I need to find grace in order to love my friend whose confidence was dented and the guy who didn't realise how easy it would have been to destroy it. Here endeth the lesson.