Mission to Cambodia 2013
from Brittany Ward
The School of Nursing is again sponsoring a student mission trip to Cambodia this May and students and faculty are posting about their experiences. Keep watch here over the next two weeks for new posts!
Today our group was assigned to go work on the service project we are doing here in Cambodia. The Sihanouk Hospital has a team that specifically goes on Home Visits. All the families that this team helps are people who suffer from HIV/AIDS. Today we had a leader with us named T who had been at the hospital since 1998 working with this home care team. He stated that he currently has 400 people who he and his team serve. They try to make it out and see each family once or twice a week in order to make sure they are doing okay and they are receiving medications.
The family who we are helping is composed of two adults who are both HIV positive, however none of their 8 children received the disease which is a blessing! Both the mom and dad work out in the rice field and have little money to spend on fixing their home. T informed us that the family we were helping lost their home to a bad storm that came through about a month ago. With the strong winds and heavy rainfall there is no way their home would have withstood the rainy season in Cambodia. Their home also never have had a toilet; so they had to run across the street if needed. Well one day the youngest daughter of three years old was involved in a vehicle accident because of her trying to get across the street. So we as a group are putting in our time and efforts to help rebuild a home and bathroom for this family of 10.
Today our task was to build the foundation for the home. They gave us wicker baskets that we were to fill with sand and spread across the ground to start the foundation. The next step would be to lay the bricks, then the cement. However all we got accomplished today was laying the sand part of the foundation. We also were able to assist in helping paint the wooden frame of the house. This allowed the wood to be more appealing to the family. When it was almost time to leave the entire family was there to show their support and gratitude. The mother of the family helped us pick some mangos from a nearby tree and showed us how to peel and flavor the mangos. She was a kind lady with such a joyful spirit. You could tell how grateful she was to have us there.
We were lucky enough to be able to meet everyone. We tried learning their names however the language barrier stopped us. But one common gesture that we all understood was that of a smile. They all were smiling and so were we. Even though we were all dripping with sweat and exhausted from the days work. We were so happy to meet this family and provide them with the basic needs such as a home and bathroom. Overall it was a powerful day filled with genuine smiles and love. All of us worked as a team and supported one another so we could provide this family with something special!