GRIFFITH GLEANINGS JUNE 2018

We have such a privilege to be living in this rural part of Cambodia. One of the life giving things we like to do around where we live is to take a bicycle ride in the coolest part of the day. Our own village is surrounded by rice fields, vegetable plots and homes encircled by tropical fruit trees, coconuts and palm trees. Our neighbours will often call out greetings, which frequently involves asking us where we are going. Occasionally we go for a longer cycle for 30 or 40 kilometres that can take us to some beautiful and interesting places. As we waited for some friends to join us for one of our long bicycle rides, we met the village lolly man who crafts animals on sticks from multi-coloured toffee to sell to children waiting outside the local village school. The children gathered to watch him making them chickens, rabbits, fish and elephants etc. He told us he does this because he did not have lollies growing up. Deb shared she could relate to not having many lollies as a child, but then he expanded that actually he did not have much food growing up. His story impacted on us, as does his joy and life choices. This is not a healthy treat but it comes from this mans heart to bring delight to children watching him plying his craft to create their own edible art. The Khmer people are open to sharing their life stories as we go about our every day lives here. These stories are shaping us and guiding us to walk alongside the Khmer people that God brings our way. Join us in praying that God’s sweet love will have a lasting and transforming impact on the lives of Khmer people we share with as we go about our everyday lives here.

Watering a garden is more than just turning on a tap. For Rob at the school there is an underground well that requires someone to wind a handle to fill a watering can. Watering is something Rob and his students are doing a lot of to help grow the garden produce. Now we see the importance of water for life is vital in any growth, really relationships are similar to growing a plant. A seed is sown, nurtured with water and nutrients and behold a plant grows, fruit and foliage appears and provides a place of shade and shelter. In a relationship a chance meeting becomes an acquaintance, it turns into friendship when you meet often and a level of trust is developed. Then you continue nurturing the relationship through care, love, a feeling of mutual respect and comfort. When you water the plants of your relationships they may turn into deeply rooted and sturdy trees. Through these long lasting relationships we pray that there will be plants of God’s kingdom grown.

Thank you for how you partner with us and allow us to be a part of this privilege of seeing God’s transforming work here in Siem Reap Cambodia.

Prayer Requests:
For full recovery of Rob after recent surgery.
For the preparations and partnerships of the 3-4 families soon to be new team members.
For our growth and understanding in our Khmer relationships.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS MAY 2018

ROB

The Khmer have a word for hard, compacted, difficult to work with soil. ‘Nain’ is a word that I think even sounds harsh to say. I think I have found the most ‘nain’ soil in all of Cambodia. It is at the front of the Chreav school yard, where I hope with the help of the Chreav community to start a school garden. The soil is so nain that the points of a pick hoe that I and the children have been using to break up the earth is bent almost at right angles to the direction it is meant to go. Maybe this is also evidence of the quality of the tools available at my local hardware store, or the many rocks mixed with the nain soil, but it is so nain that my hands are also blistered from trying to penetrate it with various tools. This past week I got a neighbour to deliver a load of sandy soil that hopefully mixed with the clay, might make the soil a little less hostile to the roots of vegetables.
The garden project at Chreav school has often reminded me of the parable of the sower. The school has some rocky ground, some nasty weeds to compete with, but at the moment the ‘good soil’ is more like the path that was trampled on and where the birds ate the seed. Someone reminded me this week that the parable story can be an encouragement just to keep doing the task of “spreading the seed” as we have little control of how the seed is received by the soil. Interestingly the Khmer bible translation identifies the ‘sower’ as a man…maybe a cultural insight for study another day where vegetables are mostly sown my women who place seeds by hand in the carefully prepared soil! Talking of things called ‘Nain’, a little before the sower parable in the Matthew gospel, Jesus raises a dead child to life in a town called Nain. The Hebrew word ‘Nain’ means “green pastures” or “lovely”. At the moment I look forward to the day when I can think of the Hebrew meaning of the word ‘Nain’ for the garden at Chreav school rather than the current soil quality.

DEBHe has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14
God rescues. Pondering on the verse above redemption is past tense but spills over to my current circumstances. I accept part of my redemption story God is still in writing. Lately I have been musing through God’s rescue through ‘redemption’ (a term that describes, not just saving, but gaining or recovering possession of something through payment, like clearing a debt).

God works redemption through his Son, Jesus Christ, it is through Jesus Christ that all of life is made well and whole, all of life is healed and restored, all of life is put right. Now our language program called Growing Redemptive Participatory Approach (GRPA) has 6 phases. Presently I am well into phase 4; a phase of Deep Life Sharing. Really this is a make-or-break phase, or perhaps the sink-or-swim phase. This is the phase when life among the Khmer people needs to take off. Really the cause and effect of the relationship building among the Khmer people resonates within me deeply. I sense God’s redeeming work at hand. I am moved by the privilege to come alongside Khmer people and listen with my ears, heart and soul to their life stories.

Living within the village now I am told by our Khmer community here I have become part of their families, homes, community, their hearts, their lives. I am not ever going to be a Khmer person but being an accepted outsider brings privilege, honour, pain, Khmer cultural responsibilities I am still learning; transformation and a deeper grasp of God’s redemptive work in me and for my Khmer friends.

A recent experience of God’s redemptive work in me whilst sharing life here. For the Khmer families living around us, a big part of their agricultural work is through long hours as rice farmers. We have witnessed our Khmer friends through these seasons of preparing the land, ploughing, sowing, ensuring it is well watered using channels and drains, making sacrifices and request for good favour over their crops, harvesting, drying, for some hand harvesting and threshing their rice, collecting the rice straw ‘hay’, finally storing the rice and hay. Then our Khmer friends will wait to sell their rice storing it by filling in and around their homes with piles of near to 100 kilogram bags of rice.

Waiting until the rice price is higher. Acknowledging that most Khmer people in these rural areas they do not have bank accounts. Rice is not only a staple part of the Khmer diet, but a currency here in rural Cambodia. Recently we were with our Khmer friends as they sold their rice which we have watched them labour over together in all the processes to get it this far and the ‘good rice price’ was 20 cents/kg. This reality of intense work labour and earning what to me (my cultural head space) is so little in return ‘costs me’ (it hurts deeply) as I adjust my cultural views and understandings to celebrate alongside my Khmer friends who are delighted with a good rice price. The value of the Khmer people to God does not dip nor wane but is a constant and they do not have to work for it. The price God paid he did for me, for you, and for the Khmer too. I am grateful for how you all are a family to us in these spaces and places of sharing his light, hope and love. I claim and release my growing pains in Khmer culture and in Khmer relationships daily and in these processes welcome God’s redeeming story at work within me and within the Khmer people. By acknowledging my personal cost and pain I am welcoming God’s redemptive work within me and ways I can share Him who sees the Khmer people as priceless treasures and that they each individually are worth the King’s ransom.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS APRIL 2018

DEBThe local village health clinic is a space surrounded by beautiful manicured gardens and is an inviting place to visit. Free health care is provided for those in need, or others pay $1 to see a Doctor, Nurse or Midwife.The health centre opens doors to building relationships within and around the village we live, having around 60 clients visit most days with their supporting family members.It is cleaned daily as it is situated beside a busy red dusty road. Half-way through the day I need to use the “feather duster” to clean desk, chairs and everything. Additionally I am improvising with equipment. The other day I was humbled by not being able to use my two hands for a procedure when I needed to use one hand to hold my phone for a light. Really I am privileged and stretched as each week I am exposed to many different generations of Khmer people in this setting and listening and observing them helps me in the processing of the Khmer language and culture. Thank you for supporting us to come beside the Khmer people in all their seasons of life.

Presently in my language stage I go around the local village to deepen relationships; part of this is by listening and recording various people’s stories. Later listening to them and going through them with my language nurturer. This brings up new words and the flow of content the Khmer use when talking together. I met up with a client in her families garden that I had met at the health clinic previously as I was sharing with her grand mother and hearing her story. This client I had silently prayed for when I met her through the clinic due to her extenuating circumstances. God facilitated this extra appointment with her to bring encouragement and connection. Remember my friend Mrs ‘H’ as she shared she believes she has three ghosts following her keeping her sick for four months now. I told her I pray a lot to Jesus; she has asked that I pray too for her and her family. May God bring his blessing of healing and shalom to Mrs ‘H’.

ROB

We are very thankful to receive our work permits and my new 12 month visa in the past month. Foreigners in Cambodia are now required to have a contract of employment with an organisation approved by the government, even if they are volunteers. It has taken us quite a number of months to navigate through the changing requirements of living in Cambodia. The highlight of getting the necessary documents is certainly eclipsed by the opportunity that came about to engage with so many of our neighbours and the life of the local school to set up a garden and learn the life skill of nutritious food production.
The Chreav Primary School has never had a garden of this type and a fair bit of work is required to clear an area of rocks and weeds, as well as install a fence to keep the volley ball games clear. The average school classes are as large as 50 to 60 children, so there is no shortage of hands to help with the work from the 4 classes engaged in the activity! Volunteering one day per week has come with some new stress factors, such as managing so many children at once to safely work with hoes, picks and shovels and know what to do with the first snake a child had dug up and started to play with in a crowd of children! But by far the main challenge in his environment is to speak in a new language about everything from technical terms for soil management, to mundane things like crowd control to move so many year 5 and 6 students to and from a class room. It is certainly helping to support one of our other main activities at present that remains learning to speak and read the Khmer language.

Prayer Requests:
For safety and good rest for the Windus family being on leave for two weeks.
For God’s enabling daily strength as we are now in the least-comfortable season.
That transitions will be peace filled for a number of new team families preparing to arrive in Siem Reap in the coming months.
That Mrs H would know freedom and wholeness.

                                                               GRIFFITH GLEANINGS MARCH 2018

We look back, forward, around and above this month as we both have some different things to share. Deb shares a story from a shaded position under a banyan tree and Rob reports on progress with a work platform that leaves us feeling very thankful. Language and culture learning is still our primary focus at this point and well into the future.

ROB
A lot happens in a couple of weeks in Cambodia. In the past week I started volunteer work at our local village primary school. We last reported that I planned to keep applying for three month visa extensions until the right door opened to begin volunteer work in a capacity that satisfies the twelve month visa requirements. In the past month we were advised that the three month visa now requires the same conditions of employment as the twelve month visa. For work permit conditions likewise we need a specially stamped employment letter, as well as a health check and a certificate of residence. The government is now becoming very attentive to following up on work permit and visa requirements. Some foreigners are now reporting that they have begun being fined, or rejected for various applications that did not meet criteria. It has taken us some months to navigate to this point, but we now believe we have all the requirements in place to apply for both of our work permits and for my twelve month visa when it is due next month. The real bonus in this process is that I have been able to explore an opportunity to engage in the local community in a way I couldn’t have imagined a month ago. Cambodia does not produce enough fruit and vegetables for their own countries consumption needs, resulting in much of the fruit and vegetables being imported from neighbouring countries and many Khmer people have diets consisting of little more than rice and fish. What better way to assist the local community than to start a garden in the local school and help children and their families develop the life skill of healthy and nutritious food production? If nothing else I am on a steep learning curve of interacting with students and teachers in a language I feel like I am only at the starting point of becoming proficient in.

DEB

The banyan tree (pictured below) grows throughout Cambodia. It can reach a height of over 30 metres, and as it grows, new roots descend from its branches, some of which push into the ground and form new trunks. The roots grow relentlessly; many of the ancient temples of Angkor have toppled as these roots have become embedded in the cracks and crevices between their massive stones. A single tree might have dozens of trunks, and it is often impossible to tell which is the original.I am finding the usefulness of imagery and metaphor as tools in building Khmer relationships. This banyan tree provides a metaphor for Cambodia as they have a thousand intertwined branches, a thousand stories woven together.  As I sit in the shade preparing vegetables for market with those ladies in the village about me; listening to their fascinating stories and reflect on these and my own, I wish to share a story of my own. I am aware that within my Khmer relationships there is a limitation of my understanding and being able to relay. However I am experiencing through these relationships a willingness to establish roots of openness, understanding, connecting and sharing of the Khmer culture. I ask you pray with me to be enabled by God’s Spirit for ears to listen to Khmer and to be starting to think in and around Khmer culture as I listen. To be honest sometimes my own brain and inner voice of my own culture as well as my self awareness inhibits me. Being real and honest with myself and others as we sit together in the shade helps us all enjoy each others presence and I find the stories unfold more naturally.

The other day there was a funeral in our local village. Funerals in this village see every family attend or at least one member go. This funeral was for the family member of a Khmer friend and near neighbour. Roots are established together as I am prepared to sit with my friends through all seasons of their lives. Even though I may be navigating new and unknown cultural concepts I want to grow deep roots together with my Khmer friends.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS FEBRUARY 2018

This was our third consecutive Christmas in Cambodia, even though we have only been living here continuously for a little over a year. Our main recollection of the first Christmas was that the only Global Interaction worker in the country that December (Catherine) worked a normal work day (Christmas is not celebrated as a public holiday here in Cambodia). After we relocated to Cambodia later that year our second Christmas was more eventful falling on a Sunday and we shared it with new friends from a Khmer church gathered on a lake shore. Our own family felt a long way away in Australia, but our memories were still fresh with the experience of having an early Christmas celebration with our children (admittedly we had to Skype one in from Europe for the occasion!). But this Christmas was very special indeed as we had all of our children together with us in Cambodia (one child only just made it late in the day due to the challenges of last minute flight changes enroute). We enjoyed having the family see where we live near Siem Reap and the opportunity to share with them some of the Khmer culture and people that we have come to love. It was very sad to say goodbye to each one again. We will certainly look forward to Christmas 2019 when we will be back on Australian soil again. You might need to remind us how Australians celebrate it by then!

Recently Rob and Deb shared one of the smaller Buddhist festivals with Deb’s new language nurturer (Bon Meak Bochea). Deb’s new nurturer is closer in age to Rob and Deb and lives in the same village. Part of this festival involves very elaborate floral decorations. Sometimes when our Khmer nurturers are introducing us to culture they are also learning with us. An example of this was when Deb was learning the art of folding lotus flower petals sitting on a mat with a group of ladies. This was also the first time her nurturer had experienced it. Learning side-by-side with our nurturers can sometimes be more about relationship building than learning a new skill.
One of the changes for us in 2018 is more involvement in our community. Deb is now stretching her learning of Khmer language and culture by volunteering as midwife and nurse one day a week at the local village health clinic. Which has required her to register for both in Cambodia and go through governmental acceptance processes. The activity has also made possible Deb extending her visa by 12 months. Deb is enjoying broadening and deepening relationships within our local village, but she is also finding it a great way to gain cultural and professional relationship insights in this role. Rob is still investigating opportunities in agriculture and is extending his visa 3 months at a time until something is in place with an organisation recognised officially with the government.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS DECEMBER 2017

What was your year like in 2018? It is hard to imagine a year for us with more changes. This time a year ago we were still Australian residents and saying goodbyes to friends and family. We had visited Siem Reap and knew we had ahead of us learning Khmer language and culture, but did we really appreciate the extent of change ahead of us? In many ways this year has been like starting life all over again. We have relocated to a very different climate and culture and been learning to speak a different language, but possibly the biggest changes have been on a deeper personal level. Leaving behind careers and relationships where we were skilled and functioning as experts and advisers to others has been a profound change. Previously we were able to function using our own wits, strength and capacity. We may have found the balance of work, study and relationships challenging a year ago, but we were still very able. We have found being less ‘able’ or possibly ‘disabled’ is a big part of starting a new life cross-culturally. On one level this has been an empowering experience, but not with our own power. We have often felt like young dependent children again; things like negotiating a lease agreement on a house we were mostly dependent on others. Being a child isn’t a negative thing. Children see things like trust, life’s priorities, relationships and time management differently. As we have read some bible stories recently we have been struck by how often the people who were used most powerfully saw themselves as lacking power and confidence. At this point we are encouraged that in history often those who had a humble perspective and sought God’s help and the help of others were used powerfully where they had been placed. As we grow in confidence in this new life in Cambodia we pray that we will keep some of the positive aspects of this disabled perspective that will limit what we seek to do in our own strength.
Further on the theme of being disabled, both Rob and Deb this week were involved in a multiple bicycle accident during a fund raising event for the local Children’s Hospital. Deb needed some stitches which were administered at the site then follow up medical care in Phnom Penh the next day. We’re both a bit sore, stiff and bruised but our love for bicycling is not lost.
In 2018 we are anticipating a growing team, with one of our team members returning and another five families preparing to join us. With the in country Cambodia’s team and our language Nurturers this month we looked forward to the future and symbolically prepared some ‘accommodation’ for the new team members arrival using some of the Lego that one family had sent over. We also expressed our gratitude to all those who have nurtured and helped us through our first year in Cambodia.

Although Christmas is not celebrated in this culture, we will be taking leave and making ways to celebrate it with our family when they visit this month. May you know the wholeness and well being of God’s presence in and shining through you as you gather with family and those important to you this Christmas. Take time to reflect, celebrate, breathe, love and heal.