Waking up at 5am on our only day off was not exactly what I had in mind this Saturday morning, but what the Lord had in store for us later that day made a few less hours of sleep well worth it. Our team traveled with members of the church and hospital to a village (Oudong village – I probably spelled that wrong) in the mountains about 1 1/2 hours away. This village recently relocated (for reasons I cannot remember) next to an established village, but lives in severe poverty. Here these families make a house out of garbage, straw and anything else they can find, but unfortunately due to the rainy season fastly approaching, these “houses” flood and do not provide adequate shelter during the rain. These people are also without many food supplies and provisions, including birth control, which explains the rapid increase in pregnancies and births throughout the village (no doctors are nearby so a grandmother non-trained midwife delivers the babies in these horrible conditions).
We supplied each family (that’s 180 families) within the village with salt, sugar, sardines, milk, purified water, soy sauce and most importantly rice. This food (depending on the size of the family) will nourish them for 3-4 weeks if not more. How awesome it is to serve such a giving God as ours. He truly amazed me today.
When we entered the village with all of our supplies, children came from everywhere to see the “foreign” people. Unlike the city, these kids ran towards us (nearly tackling us) and jumped into our arms. As I thought about this later, I realized that although these children do not see white people very often, they equate white people with food and provisions thanks to the hospital and church. All of us were SO glad to play with the little one’s before we handed out supplies. They loved to have their picture taken with our digital cameras and then look at themselves in the camera’s screen. Their laughter spread such happiness to everyone.

When we were handing out the supplies, I noticed the truck carrying the rice held a banner on it broadcasting the rice drive and all of its supporters and contributors. Instead of Belmont University’s School of Nursing, the banner simply read ” Belmont Nursing University.” We decided to take a picture and will email it to Mr. Bob Fisher upon our return home. He needs to know that Cambodians believe that Belmont is only a school for nurses 🙂 haha as it should be!
I had the pleasure to help an older woman bring her rice and supplies to her “house” and, with the help of a translator, heard part of her story. This woman’s children were all dead (due to the genocide the Khmer Rouge inflicted) and she was taking care of all of her grandchildren and in some cases, her great-grandchildren. She told me how she would give up food for many days just so the children could eat. She thanked me over and over again for the food I had brought to her door. How does your heart not melt at her humility and gratefulness? Before we left, my translator (almost in tears) opened her purse, pulled out every snack she had brought for her own family along with a wad of money from her wallet and gave it to this woman. Tears streaked down her face as the older lady accepted the unexpected gift with murmurs of “ha kuhn cheeron” (thank you very much). As we made our way back to the village’s center, I told my translator what a wonderful woman she was and her humbling reply to me was, “God has blessed me with enough to live off of and He has been faithful to me and my family. Now it is my turn to be faithful to Him and His family.” This really got me (as well as many other team mates) thinking about the way I live my life back in America. How superfluous many of our worries seem compared to the daily struggle to survive many of these people face. My eyes have been opened and this calls for change. Pray for our team members as we try to process all of this and please keep these people in your prayers!
Thank you all for your love and support! We appreciate all the prayers sent our way 🙂
Love always and in God’s grace,
–Emily Tice