Wednesday, August 4

On Facebook I mentioned the fact that people might be able to visit Cambodia cheaper than coming on an Asia's Hope team. But the extras that we have been able to provide have been so rewarding. Among them are painting walls inside and out, providing pneumonia vaccine for all of the children and staff at the newest home, repairing a kitchen roof that was leaking, buying 200 elementary writing notebooks for one home, providing two meals for the kids as part of the party evening, taking 170 kids and all of the staff from Battenbang to the swimming pool with slides and sprays for the afternoon, and taking the director of each home and his wife out to dinner tomorrow night. I'm sure there was more but you get the point. These things are not a part of their regular budgets so we have the chance to be a part of these special projects while we are here.
Today we did our tourist shopping at the Russian Market. We met Jen Morgan for lunch at a place she suggested. It was great. Most of us, but not all, are about done with the rice and veggies. I had a great bagel with cream cheese and cauliflower soup. Oh, yes!
The Daughters of Cambodia organization works with girls and ladies who want to get out of the sex trade. Most of them have been sold by their family or tricked into the business by people promising them a good paying job. Then they are locked up and their stories are very sad. If they are able to get to Daughthers they are given the chance to recover, to learn a trade, and to learn their worth. Our friend Jen Morgan worked with them for awhile. They have a small gift shop that we visited and they offer manicure and pedicure services provided by the girls who are learning this trade. So the five ladies took advantage of this opportunity this afternoon and got our $3.50 pedicures. They also have a cute little cafe upstairs from the salon room where a group learning to bake provides wonderful pasteries - well at least the brownies were great!
We visited Prek Eng 1 and 2 today and spent a couple of hours at each home with no goals except to enjoy the kids and play with them - active games, conversation, Uno, duck-duck-goose, etc. PrekEng 2 is Central Vineyard's home. These kids love to sing. They are the only group who offers to sing for us everytime we visit. Dinner was at 9:00 pm again by the time we got back to the hotel.
Oh yes, I mentioned my distaste for my small ugly room with no window! I did ask Sherrod if he thought it was appropriate to ask for another room and found out that Aaron who also had a single room was in a room just like mine only on another floor. We had to pay $5.00 more for different rooms, but the new rooms and the old ones are like two totally different hotels!! I now have a large room with a nice balcony and a full-sized bath. Thanks, Lord. I really didn't feel safe in the other location.
Tomorrow we will make one more market stop. We'll need snacks for a very long day. We will drive to Asia's Hope School where we will be painting, then teaching English. The driving here is more than crazy as some of you know. So please continue to pray for our safety as we move around the city.