Nine staff members from the IM group arrived on Sunday and have undertaken an action packed few days. They visited Tuel Slang and the Killing Fields – which give a deep and sobering perspective on how Cambodia is today. It is hard to believe the genocide yet with so many graves and bodies, it is a grim reality.
Working alongside Manna4life, they have done a range if practical things. Starting with Thought for the day and a Khmer breakfast (soup, strong coffee, pastries and beef stew etc) soon they were hard at work in the heat.
After 3 days we have been involved in pouring a slab 30m x 14m (a large space), rendering a building that we are reclaiming and knitted about 100m of steel making columns for the structure. Praychin, our translator helps us communicate with builders.
We see the frustrations communication can bring – different language, culture and ways of doing things. We want to organise better yet suddenly they run out cement, when we could have had a production line going.
A number of the team had a go at teaching today really enjoyed the children interaction at the village school.
Each evening we reflect on what has happened, how we view things and the insights it brings. The team are struggling with some aspects, the heat, food, personal space – all part of a deep learning experience that I believe will better equip each of us in life.
A final thought
I visited the store at the Killing Fields shop – the lady tried to sell me a T shirt but not sure I want to walk around with such a genocide on my stomach. It is a sobering place where thousands died and were buried. How people treated each other, to death is truly shocking and calls us to better understand why intervention in conflicts may on occasion be necessary, even if we would rather stand by and say it is not our problem.