Bloom Asia and Daughters of Cambodia

Today was our first full day in Phnom Penh. We had appointments to meet with Bloom Asia and Daughters of Cambodia today, but as life in the developing world (okay, in the developed world too), things happen, meetings fall through, etc., so you just kind of roll with it. We place every step we take into His hands... life happens... no big deal… He’s in control and there’s no better place to be.

So we ventured our way to Bloom where the girls are trained, and where there is a beautiful cafe where some of the girls serve delicious cupcakes that the girls have made. A huge group of students were passing through, causing quite a bit of madness for the staff at Bloom, so we suggested coming back next week to meet Ruth and staff. We ate our cupcakes, drank our coffee, and off we went.

Since we had some time to kill before our next appointment, we decided to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a high school converted into a prison during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge reign, where more than 17,000 men, women, and children were tortured and killed. We wandered through the school grounds where these innocent lives were imprisoned. We stood in their tiny jail cells, stood next to the instruments by which lives were tortured and killed, walked through halls of "mugshots" of these innocent victims and other photographs of tortured and beaten victims. I watched an older Cambodian woman stare into the faces in these mugshots, nudging her grandchildren towards photos of these children who were arrested and killed. Tears filled her eyes as she looked into the eyes of these photographs. I wondered what she might have gone through during Pol Pot's reign. As I looked at the faces and the slashed bodies of victims, I thought of Jesus and the torture he went through... for someone like me. He understands… our Father understands. As I watched the sadness and pain in the eyes of this older Cambodian woman, I thought of how God's own heart must have been breaking at the sight of his precious children being tortured and killed by these horrific sins. I thought of how painful a beating Jesus had to endure to pay for those acts.

After visiting Tuol Sleng, we headed to meet Daughters of Cambodia. Our meeting with them was also changed but we decided to wander over anyways and pay a visit to their visitors center which houses a café that they use to train and employ past sex workers. As we sat down at the Café, 3 ladies were having a business meeting of some sort at the table behind us. As we enjoyed the delicious brownie (…and I mean DELICIOUS) and coffee, I’ll admit I was eavesdropping a bit, wondering if and which one might be Ruth, the founder of the organization. Once again, He showed us again that by simply being open and willing to go as He leads, He does open the right doors He wants us to walk through. After their meeting, Ruth sat down with us to share her passion, her vision, challenges and opportunities, and we really just got to know this beautiful woman from Australia who has dedicated her life to the people of Cambodia, giving sex workers another chance at life, giving them the skills and tools to pull their lives up and restore dignity, peace, and real joy into their lives. We were thankful for the time we had with her.

After Daughters, we wandered our way down to popular Rendang, a restaurant training and employing men and women from the slums… street kids…, teaching them to cook and serve, educating them, and equipping them with language and hospitality skills. Delicious dinner. A great way to finish off a good first full day in Phnom Penh.