by: Candida Damian

As our trip in Cambodia is coming to the final week, I have been looking back to everything that I have learned on this trip. Wow. What an amazing time I have had abroad in Cambodia. The experiences I have had here are unforgettable, and I can’t wait to bring stories back home to my family and friends.

Today, I had the opportunity of shadowing in the emergency department at CMH in Phnom Penh. The staff and nursing students were so open and nice to me while I was there. It is such an amazing privilege to be able to do what I love in another country. It makes me extremely proud to be a nurse in the near future. Nursing is needed everywhere in the world, and it is reassuring when nurses do things here similar to how we do things in the States. Nursing is so universal and it is vital in every place in the world.

Emergency departments have always interested me, so I was excited when I was able to shadow in the ED. It is very busy, but it can also be calm. The staff took great care of each and every patient, and it was nice to see when a patient could get up from the bed and walk away from the ED feeling better. I enjoyed comparing and contrasting the ED here in Phnom Penh to ED’s in the U.S. Even though certain things are different, at the end, they still both perform the same exact tasks. A nurse asked me if I wanted to perform an EKG on a patient. When I went up to the EKG machine, I noticed that it looked different from the EKG machines used in the States. The nurse then taught me how to use this machine. It is cool to see that even though they looked completely different exteriorly, it functioned the same way.

At the end of the day, we went to one of my favorite places for dinner. It is called ‘Friends’, and we all got tapas. The reason why I love this place so much is because we all share our food. I love sharing and I love food, so putting it together is great. The food is so good, and I left with a satisfied belly. Some of us ended the night with a massage. I really enjoy getting massages here because it is cheap, and the masseuse was extremely nice. In all, today was great and I’m looking forward to our final days here in this beautiful country.

Today was a much needed recuperation day for us undergrads! We’re all so thankful to be back in Phnom Penh, because it’s really started to feel like home.

We began the morning with our familiar breakfast here at the Golden Gate Hotel (lots of mangoes for me!) and then had our daily devotional. We then broke into our individual pairs and prepped some for our teaching day later this week. We have the opportunity to teach some students at the hospitals, so we whipped our power points into shape and went over what we would say and do with our students. We had some free time this afternoon (a rare and beautiful thing) so a couple of us went to a local coffee shop to catch up on neglected school work. The shop we went to felt very much like home: modern, air-conditioned, and with good wifi. It’s cool to think about those shared experiences we have with the students here of going to trendy coffee shops to desperately try to study or write an assignment. It was also a huge relief to feel like I’m caught up with school and not let it distract me from all the amazing things we’re doing here. 

For lunch we ate at one of our favorite restaurants! It’s a favorite mostly because they serve amazing western food, including milkshakes. I know I left happy, and it looked like the rest of the table was pleased with their meals too. It’s hard to dine with so many people sometimes because Cambodians just bring out the food whenever it’s done, so by the time the last person gets their food half the table is usually finished. This bothered me a little when we first arrived because it felt rude to not wait for everyone but I think we’ve all learned that if we waited everything would get cold. It’s a small difference between here and the US, but it’s really noticeable with a group of 20 dining at a small establishment. 

The afternoon was free for us as well, so a group of us went to the central market! We’ve been to several markets before but I think this one was by far the largest. It was open air, though, and partially indoors in a spacious building, so it didn’t feel as suffocating as the Russian market feels. I proudly walked out without spending a penny, but several of us left with multiple sey, a small toy that you use to play a game similar to hacky sack. It’s our favorite game to play down in the lobby during the evenings, so I expect quite a few of you family members and friends will be introduced to it when we all get home. After the market, a large group decided to make their way back to a coffee shop to work. I, feeling that I had accomplished enough that morning, made the executive decision to take a nap instead. It was very much needed after our long days of travel and temples and clinics. 

Dinner was another lovely meal at our most frequent stop, Anise. They have such a good variety, so everyone leaves with something they liked. I know a few of us were feeling a little ill, but the group stayed positive and we had a great dinner regardless. There was plenty of lime soda all around!

To top off a very good day, a few of us played sey before heading off for a massage. This was my first massage experience here in Cambodia, and while it was fun I don’t think I’ll be joining the ranks of the massage enthusiasts. I am far too ticklish to have a stranger touch my feet, but I’m glad I finally experienced what all the hype was about! It was a peaceful way to wind down and de-stress a little on an absolute whirlwind of a trip.

My roommate and I woke up this morning convinced that the world was ending. Music and yelling from the streets outside our hotel was so loud that we could feel the entire building shaking. Turns out it was just a parade because of the upcoming election that was casually going on at 6:20 AM. Cambodians are early risers, that’s for sure. Once we were assured that the world would in fact go on, we got up and got ready for the day. After a breakfast of noodle soup and iced coffee with sweet milk, we were off to our third clinic around Poipet.

On the bus in the morning, Dr. Massie led a devotional and prayer. She spoke about how we are all broken in our own ways, but that God uses our brokenness and our differences for the good of his Kingdom if we come to Him as we are and allow Him to work through us. If you are interested in the story that she shared with us this morning, google “Indian cracked pot story”. Unfortunately, the parades for the election caused a lot of traffic buildup and we were a bit late showing up to the Vision of Hope Center, a small Christian school that opened its doors for us to set up our clinic. Our lovely translators and other friends from Freedom’s Promise met us there. The building was small but we made it work as usual. Today was a short day due to both showing up later than planned and also because we had a three-hour bus ride from Poipet to Siem Reap, where we will be staying until Sunday morning. Despite only lasting a little over three hours, we were able to see a good number of patients. The nursing students switched roles a little bit so that we were all able to have multiple experiences over the three days. Kim and Paige soldiered on assessing and diagnosing, and the pharmacy team did an amazing job working together and working with what they had to provide the best care that we could for these people.

Last clinic in Poipet with all of the wonderful missionaries and translators who partnered with us to make these clinics possible!

I had the opportunity to be at the education and prayer station, which was the last table that the patients would go to before leaving. This was a difficult but really great experience for me both as a nursing students and as a Christian. A huge part of nursing is patient education, but I have not had many opportunities in nursing school so far to put that into practice. I found myself drawing from things I have learned in nursing school so far and being so thankful to Belmont and the wonderful education that I am so blessed to receive there. I spoke to patients about things like how and why to take the medications that they were given, different diet and lifestyle changes for things like diabetes or hypertension, living with asthma, relaxation techniques for anxiety, proper hydration and nutrition, and more. My heart went out to each individual that I spoke with, especially when it was clear that they were in need of the kind of medical care or

Getting fruit off the trees outside the school

education that we simply could not provide them with. After asking if they had any more questions, I would ask if it was okay if I prayed for them. Almost all of them said yes, and this was a special time to call on the Lord and ask for healing and safety for these people who we have grown to love so dearly in our short time here. Many of the people who I prayed over today were most likely Buddhists, but I was amazed at their reverence while praying and the kindness that they showed to me during our brief but hopefully meaningful interactions.

Around 1 PM, we packed everything up and ate a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and some delicious fresh mango from right off the trees outside the school. The translators and everyone from Freedom’s Promise showed us so much love and kindness during our three days here, and they gave each of us a gift of a beautiful Cambodian scarf. After a prayer, lots of photos and hugs goodbye, our group of 20 piled into our bus and headed to SIem Reap.

Views from our hotel in Siem Reap

The bus ride was about three hours long and the other undergraduate nursing students and I we passed the time telling gross and funny stories from our experiences in nursing school. We were stuck in traffic once again in Siem Reap because of the election. Once we arrived to the hotel we were greeted with cool towels and tea. We ate dinner at a rooftop restaurant on the top floor of our hotel. The hotel here in Siem Reap is very nice and we are all so excited to have a break from working hard in the clinics and for the opportunity to tour the temples around Siem Reap tomorrow! Everyone is going to bed early because tomorrow we leave at 4 AM to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat!

One of our translators Sarah!

Today, we held our second day of clinics in Poipet. We started off the day with leftover, cold pizza for breakfast because we needed a pick me up from yesterday’s breakfast. Our group had ventured out and we were served Khmer porridge with chicken liver and some were adventurous than others. A woman from the community opened up her home so we could use it as the clinic. It was a smaller space with an open patio and curtains to block out the sun (we greatly appericiated this). It was amazing this woman who didn’t know us would offer up her home so we could run the clinic in her village. We didn’t know where we were going to set up clinic, but we trusted God would provide and He did. We saw around 70 people that day of varying ages. We saw several babies and children and it was sad to see what they were going through, especially the malnourished children and scabies wounds.

One of our practitioners, Kim, assessing this sweet baby!

This is such a huge problem in all third world countries, but it never gets easier to see children suffering from it. The children are still so joyful and want you to play with them despite them not feeling their best, which is very inspiring. Our translators from Freedom’s Promise were outstanding. There was no way we could do our job without them! We all worked with the same translator for the 3 days of clinics so we got to know them really well and enjoyed spending time with them.

From the outside looking into the clinic, it looked like mass, unorganized, chaos, but on the inside everyone had a place and job. We had nurse practitioners, undergrad nursing, and pharmacy all working together to make the clinic run smoothly. We functioned extremely

Some of the sweet children we were able to take care of

well together, especially since it was our second day understanding how the flow of the clinic should be. The most incredible part of the day was watching our entire team work together and really see all of the nursing & pharmacy skills we have learned put into practice. It was like it finally clicked with us how much we truly knew and have learned. This was a neat experience because we all had different moments when we realized this. Several of us shared stories that night during our highs and lows about those moments. Highs and lows are something we do (attempt) every night where we can share moments or stories from the day with the whole group. Even though we were together all day, we all had different experiences and enjoy hearing our different views. IMG_7055.MOV (click on link to see video)

Later tonight, we went to dinner and then came back for praise and worship with Freedom’s Promise. We sang and worshiped together and it was truly amazing to see just how powerful God’s love is. His love is not just in our Bible belt of the South, but across the entire world. It is very powerful to watch Him work in everyone’s lives and see how much impact God has had in Cambodia and in our lives the short time we’ve been in Cambodia. After we worshiped, Freedom’s Promise brought out handmade bags, wallets, and other little items for purchasing. Our group swarmed at them because apparently we can’t pass up a good Cambodian deal. Dr. Massie was the first one there and just about everyone in our group bought something! We had a great day and tomorrow we are doing another clinic in Poipet before we head to Siem Rep for temples and being tourists!

After nine hours of riding in a bus that reminded me of the Taj Mahal (purple curtains included), our entire team has finally arrived in Poipet, Cambodia. The bus ride started out a little rough. Unfortunately, the fire extinguisher fell from one of the overhead shelves and exploded as soon as it hit the ground. The white fumes started spreading everywhere, so we quickly pulled over to air the bus out. After that little hiccup, we were smooth sailing. And by that I mean the bus ride felt much like a wooden roller coaster at an amusement park.

When the fire extinguisher broke – note the purple curtains and seat covers.

Meat market at one of our stops

After arriving in Poipet, we checked in to our hotel and headed straight to dinner. We were all starving and in desperate need of some nourishment. One of our hosts took us to a casino on the Thailand border and we ate at the restaurant inside. For the past week, I’ve been on a hunt to find something green to eat (coming from the girl who eats spinach out of the bag like chips). Lucky for me, the restaurant had broccoli! I was on cloud nine to put something green and tasty in my mouth.

Casino on the Thailand border

On the way back to the hotel, our host and a few of the translators that will be working with us at the clinics tomorrow told us about Poipet. We drove by a street that had building after building of massage businesses with young girls sitting out front. I thought to myself how strange it was to have so many places to get a massage all lined up together and how it seemed awfully late to be going to get a massage. A second later, our host turned to me and said that the girls sitting outside were probably somewhere around my age. He added that the store fronts say that they offer massages, but their real business of prostitution is in the back of the building.

At first, I didn’t really comprehend what he was telling me. How could these young, pretty girls be caught up in such a horrible cycle like human trafficking and how did they get into this situation in the first place? It hurt my heart knowing that these girls were around the same age as me and didn’t have an escape route from their present reality. As I thought more and more about it, I started to realize a few different things. Human trafficking effects all countries and it does not discriminate against race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. There are many factors that perpetuate the cycle and a few that are especially unique to Cambodia. The country continues to rebuild itself after the mass genocide that occurred in the 70’s under the Pol Pot regime. With high levels of poverty, few job opportunities, and a broke justice system, trafficking and exploitation in this vulnerable country continues to persist.

Over the next couple of days, our team will be working with an organization called Freedoms Promise as we set up clinics and see patients in different provinces around Poipet. Their mission is to free those who are caught in the cycle of human trafficking by restoring communities, empowering leaders, and sharing their vision of freedom from oppression through the love of Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for our team as we treat and educate patients over the next couple of days and love on the people of Poipet.

Many people in many different countries around the world have been affected by genocide. When most people think about genocide they think about World War II and the Nazi’s decimation of Jewish people. Many people think that genocide is a thing of the distant past, but in Cambodia it is all too recent. From 1975 to 1979, only 38 years ago, Cambodia was thrown into chaos, by a radical regime, the Khmer Rouge and their leader, Pol Pot. Pol Pot saw hardships faced by people living in provinces outside the cities and blamed it on the people living inside the city. He saw education and wealth as a selfish and destructive nature that needed to be eliminated. Yesterday myself and others on the trip visited a cite where his radical ideas became a reality, and what a disgusting and horrific reality it was.

Upon arriving, the first thing you notice is an articulate archway, created in the traditional Cambodian fashion, as well as a tall building built with the same beautiful architecture,  about 100 yards away from the entrance. After we walked inside the camp we dawned our headsets and began the audio tour. Another student on the trip, David, explained an interesting view of this after the tour stating that it felt odd to him that we had the privilege to listen at our own leisure and pace while we were walking on the souls of thousands. As we walked towards the first checkpoint, we grew nearer to the large ornate tower in the center. As we came closer the beauty of the architecture fades away as you notice the thousands of skulls and bones displayed inside; it was truly perturbing.

Entrance

tower in center

tower as we came closer

I won’t go into every detail of the audio tour, as it would take up too much time and my memory would not do it justice. As I began to walk around one of the things I noticed was birds singing and wildlife in full bloom. It was an oddly peaceful and almost tranquil place to be; almost as if it were a place to meditate and relax.

The path we walked and the audio tour portrayed a very different more terrifying realization. As you walk down the path there are sometimes fragments of bone and teeth scattered on the ground. There are dozens of pits and small mounds where mass graves had been excavated and the horrible reality hidden beneath brought into light for all to see. On the tour there were signs with descriptions of each area and recreated pictures of what the place was like while the killings were happening. Death and despair was everywhere and you could feel it.

The mass graves have been decorated by tourists with bracelets as a sign of respect and sorrow for the victims, two places in particular had many bracelets; the mass grave of women and children and the child killing tree.

As the tour moves on. It brings you to a tree titled “The Magic Tree” that is explained to be the same species of tree under which Buddha found enlightenment. However this specific tree is ironically called this and was used to hang tools of massacre as well as lights and speakers that blasted revolutionary music to drown out the screams of agony. The audio tour provided a music clip of the music combined with a diesel generator recreating the noise the victims last heard. This was the hardest part of the tour for me and many others. The noise was terrifying and seemed to bring up the emotions of the anguished souls. There are no words to describe the feeling.

At the end of the tour we were allowed to visit inside the tower, I think it was called the Shtupa but don’t quote me on that. As we entered, we took off our shoes out of respect and were offered to buy incense or flowers to leave for the memorial. Inside the tower were many skulls and bones as well as the killing tools. Each skull had a different marking describing how they were killed.

This place is rough on the conscience and for religious people can be a place of questioning. If there is a God how could he let this happen? How can the world be so cruel if there is an almighty? Many people would answer different things, but none of them can take away the heaviness of the reality. After leaving this place I felt I will never be the same. It is hard to go on living the privileged way we do when you know there was and still is so much hardship for others. This place and this country makes me feel ashamed of my fortune and ashamed of my trivial worries. There is nothing left to do but give back as much as I can and try to better myself and the people around me one action at a time. Let this place be a reminder to all of the terrible possibility of genocide. It could happen anywhere, but when the time comes we must make an effort to prevent catastrophes like this to ever happen anywhere.