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GRIFFITH GLEANINGS APRIL 2021

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Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hands of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS APRIL 2021   

We wish you a Happy Easter.

What are your favourite ways to celebrate Easter? As a family we would always have a supply of hot cross buns on Good Friday. Easter eggs emerged on Easter Sunday and provided a lot of joy to our children when they were young; so much so that they even liked to have multiple Easter egg hunts with the same batch of eggs!

Back in Cambodia this year there is little evidence around us that Easter is here at all this year. A bakery that some of the local foreigner’s visit is advertising specials on donuts this weekend. So, it appears that they have forgotten about this weekend being Easter and possibly are missing a marketing opportunity to sell hot cross buns. To our delight one of our local team mates did cook a batch of hot cross buns on Friday and dropped us off a couple!

As a family in Australia, we often went camping at Easter. Travelling to have special time together with family is also something that our Khmer friends like to do to be with family. They usually work 7 days a week all year, but once or twice a year they like to go back to their place of birth for 2 or 3 days and celebrate together Khmer New Year (this year in the middle of April) and another festival called Pchum Ben (in October).

Last year Khmer New Year was cancelled for COVID-19, and this year the festival whilst not cancelled at this point is going to be very subdued, due to heightened fear of the current COVID-19 outbreak and a lack of money in the local economy.

The capital city Phnom Penh has introduced a curfew between 8pm and 5am to reduce the threat of COVID-19. A more virulent virus strain began spreading in Phnom Penh on the 20th of February and containment efforts have not been successful since with 11 provinces now having infections and the 7-day average is currently 79 new cases per day. This might not sound high by international standards, but we know that many people are frightened to get tested when they have symptoms, there is limited infrastructure to treat patients and there are no reports of local contact tracing to give confidence that the virus will be contained. There are now regular reports of people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s dying.

In the midst of our village friends living in fear, we are imposing our own personal restrictions on mixing with people from outside the village where we live. There is no curfew or lock down at present where we live, but out of concern for vulnerable people in our community, we are staying clear of the city and places where people are mixing widely with others such as cafes and brought all of our meetings with foreigners to online meetings again. Our neighbours have expressed their thanks for caring for them in this way.

Thank you for the many messages at Easter and other times of love and encouragement you have sent our way.

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When we were allowed to attend a Khmer wedding. All gathering like this have now been banned.

 

 

Being in our friend’s gardens colours our conversations.

There are many ancient temples near to where we live and throughout Cambodia. They each have a different style and tell a story.

 

Rob and a Khmer friend exchange gifts of a shirt from their country. Rob was loaned glasses as his friend wanted Rob to be matching for the photo.

 

Growing in school garden and in Khmer culture.

Sunrise symmetry of equinox. The equinox is a phenomenon when the sun rises upon the middle summit of Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia. It is an astronomical event in which the plane of Earth’s equator passes through the centre of the Sun. This event happens twice per year. We went later on that day, photo credit to a friend.

 

Thankfulness:
That hot season power blackouts have been short in duration.
For the delightful influence of creation in the tropics.
For progress in team families returning to Cambodia in this season.
Requests:
For wisdom and protection for all those involved in dealing, treating and seeking eradication of COVID-19 from Cambodia and around the world.
For a balance of rest, energy, hydration and exercise in the hot season.
That our Khmer friends would have sufficient income to maintain their families needs through this COVID-19 season.