Last fall, when I traveled to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families I came away with a whole new concept of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church brings people together, it is a source of unity between people all over the world. That experience was just a taste of the feeling of worshiping with Water of Life Ministry in Cambodia.
Our first stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, the capital, where we spent time touring with a Christian Ministry called Water of Life. We got up 3:45 am to catch our flight out of Bangkok and arrived in Phnom Penh at 8:30 am or so. We went directly to church, arriving a little into the service and a lot exhausted from travelling. Though some members of the group found the hot, cramped church the perfect place for a nap (honestly who could blame them), I have never been more awake.
Water of Life is a Christian Ministry in Cambodia that houses about 40 teenage and young adult men who are orphaned or in need. They host free English classes Monday-Friday to about 300 students who come everyday after their normal school to try and better their life by learning English and being more marketable. Water of Life even does outreach in local villages, going and preaching the word of God every Sunday afternoon. Lucky for us, we got to be a part of this amazing organization for a couple days. (Pictured below is the gathering area at Water for Life.)
I knew my life would be impacted by these people just from walking into the Church service on Sunday morning. Arriving late, we missed the majority of the worship music but I caught enough of the unfamiliar language to get chills. I did not know a single word of Khmer, the Cambodian’s language, but I knew enough about faith to know what they were saying. I realized in that moment that worship is a language all its own. I did not need to be able to sing along or understand the words to know that they were passionate about their faith and were worshiping with all they had. Just seeing them made believing easy and gave me comfort despite being half a world away from anywhere I would call home.
On Monday we helped teach English lessons. English lessons were a lesson all their own for me. I taught a few things, but mostly learned a few things, including that I have been mispronouncing English words my whole life and I am not made out to be an English teacher. Luck for me, I worked with Erin, an English education major. You better bet she took control of the class and I am grateful for that. I got to watch the class and help a few students pronounce or understand words here and there. I mostly could not believe that these students took the time out of their day to voluntarily learn English. I definitely spend my free time watching TV or when I was in school possibly playing a sport, but I was not learning anything voluntarily outside of school. Heck, I complained about going to PSR after school once a week growing up, but these 300 students from Cambodia knew they needed to learn English to make their life better. I was truly inspired by their motivation and realization of the blessings they had of being able to learn English. The change in perspective was extraordinary.
The class I taught was fairly advanced. The students were somewhere between 7-10th grade. They were reading passages about travelling and answering questions in English. All of the students were very good at English, but many of them were self-conscious because they did not sound like native English speakers. Seeing 7/8th grade girls almost fluent in English but refuse to talk to you because they had an accent was upsetting. Those girls made me realize that many people that travel to America for college or a job opportunity are probably very conscious of their heavy accent when they speak English. It may be hard sometimes to understand when people speak in such accents, but I know now that I need to remember those students in Cambodia. They are trying their best, always.
Later Monday night a few of us stayed for a student lead bible study. Sunday during church and Monday during bible study were a very similar experiences. The boys at Water of Life led everything themselves. The preached at church on Sunday and led bible study Monday night (and every other night of the week). The boys even translated everything into English to accommodate us, even though we did not learn their language or their culture. I was amazed that the boys my age had been through so much in their life. Some were orphans and some left their families because of the poverty their families lived in, yet all of the boys had a strong faith, worked hard in school taking extra classes to learn English, and wanted to give back to their community in Cambodia because of the opportunities they had. It was amazing to me that they saw themselves as the lucky ones, when they worked so hard for every opportunity. If they were the “lucky” ones then what am I just for being born in America to a normal middle class family where I never went to bed hungry? I guess I am extra lucky. The people that were a part of Water of Life Ministry never stopped counting their blessings, which is a lesson I hope I can hold on to. We are giving so many blessing it is important to remember them.
More information about Water of Life can be found at their website: http://www.wateroflifecambodia.com/
