Oh My Awesomeness: Cambodia! Phnom Penh

After a very long 25-hours of travel, we made it to Cambodia! Poor Adele and Geoff were sick with a nasty cold the whole way, and one of Geoff's duffles was caught and/or dragged somewhere along the way, leaving a big hole, but other than that it was uneventful. Our hotel in Phnom Penh is very comfortable, and we settled in for the next five days.

Today is Adele's 16th birthday! Her one wish for her birthday was to spend the day in an orphanage. We had arranged the day with one of Geoff's former work colleagues and her husband who are serving a humanitarian mission here, the Thurstons. Our day included an orphanage and more. We could not have designed a more perfect day.

The Thurston's look for organizations that are helping people become self-reliant in their humanitarian efforts and determine where to give humanitarian funds from the LDS church. Our first stop was a wheelchair shop and prosthetics shop where those who need these services make the items themselves. It was a quick stop and I didn't get any pictures.

Next, we walked over to a nearby clinic where they will treat anyone who walks in the door. This usually ends up being those that can NOT pay, or pay very little, as anyone with money will leave the country for medical help. Doctors who volunteer here have local doctors assist and try different procedures in an attempt to educate.

I was drawn to a woman and her son, both laying on their stomachs. This woman had acid thrown on her. When her three-year-old son heard her screams he ran to her and his legs were burned. Despite her scars, she was absolutely beautiful.

I wanted to communicate with these people so badly! I wanted to love them and build them up and give them hope! Sister Thurston said she prays every day that through her smile and eyes she can communicate just that.

Next we went to the orphanage. This was the Thurston's first time to this orphanage, and it was where the children go when no one else will take them. When a mother sees her child born with defects, they'll "throw them away". Hospitals call this orphanage to come to the rescue. We've never been anywhere like it, and we couldn't have been prepared for what we would see. Pictures can't capture it, and I mostly wanted to be interacting with these special children, not behind an iPhone.

Most of these children were immobile and left in a crib or lying on a mat on the floor with flies landing on their faces. A few were in cages. Most couldn’t speak. All were wearing a cloth diaper. All ate rice gruel. Many would smile big, wide toothy grins as soon as we made eye contact, many took coaxing as it seemed no one was home behind those distant, gazing eyes, but sure enough they would smile. A few would cry out until we looked at them, and then they would calm. They knew we were there!

One small child was moaning and crying the most heart-wrenching cry with the most pathetic and sad face imaginable. When Ceci was young, with a super sad face, I would break out into “If you chance to meet a frown” with dramatic facial expressions. Without fail she would be smiling at the end. I even do it now, although the sad faces are not so common, and maybe not quite as appreciated… Anyway, we broke out into this song, not sure what would happen, since this little one maybe didn’t know how to smile. But sure enough, at the end of our song, that face broke out into a big grin! I will never forget it. I wish I had a video, or at least a picture, of this transformation.

Imperfect, and therefore abandoned, children. It made me appreciate and admire the many mothers who keep and cherish such children, children who need constant care and attention. And I wanted to hug and express gratitude to the blessed workers at such a place!

There are certain places that I believe have an extra helping of angels, and this was one of them. This was a sacred place. These little souls are loved and watched over by heaven. We could feel it.

This guy took a few hobbled, uneasy steps and fell into my arms in pure joy.

Our next stop was Trash Mountain. On the plane I read a book called The Rent Collector, a story about a family living on Trash Mountain, only Trash Mountain was closed nearly a decade ago. But at its prime it was the city dump, and hundreds of people lived on it’s 100 acres, picking through waste to find metal, plastic or other goods to sell or trade for a bit of rice and rent money, rent for their shack of found cardboard and scrap. These days it is still smoking in areas from the trapped methane gas, but mostly its mounds, once 20 feet high, are sprouting weeds and bushes.

Several years ago a Hollywood executive, Scott Neeson, vacationed in Cambodia and visited Trash Mountain. He was so mortified at the toxic living conditions, especially in contrast to the environment he lived in at home in Los Angeles. He left his work and devoted his time and resources to making the community around Trash Mountain better. He has created villages and schools where everyone has a responsibility. We visited a few of his “neighborhoods”, one of his first, and his most recent, which was much nicer, a community the locals aspire to live in. BYU made a documentary about his work that you can watch here.

There are several members of our church that live here in the first community, and we stopped and visited them in their homes. And the children! Oh my goodness, we wanted to smuggle them all home! The people live in such humble circumstances, and they are so open and kind and welcoming.

This cute grandmother is 106-years-old! The stories she could tell. What a surviver.

Our last stop of the day was the newest neighborhood. The school children were all still playing at the schoolyard. They were so happy and joyful, and many gathered around us and followed us around, clinging to our hands.

The Thurstons just assisted in building a school library and filling it with its first 1000 books. We spent at least an hour playing with these adorable kids. None of us wanted to leave! I could spend a lot of time here volunteering and teaching and loving these children. Maybe someday I will.