Emma Price, Pharmacy Student

Good Morning or Evening depending on which side of the world you are reading this post from. This post is about 5/21/18.

Some of the team started their morning with a pool side work out. The other half of the team took that extra time to sleep. We ate breakfast at our beautiful hotel before leaving for clinic. You can tell the hotel is trying to accommodate for us Americans because there are french fries at breakfast and scrambled eggs instead of their regular fried eggs. But don’t worry there is still the traditional rice and fish for breakfast.

Everyone knew today’s clinic was going to be a little different because Continue reading →

 By: Cayley Norton, Nursing Team

Wow, I can’t believe we’ve been in Cambodia for a week! So much has happened these last seven days from visiting markets, learning of Cambodian history, traveling and most importantly our clinics. Today is Sunday and a day of rest. We are very thankful for this day.

It was a blessing to be able to sleep in today. We got to experience church the Cambodian way! It is really neat to see how other cultures serve our awesome God. He created this magnificent world and it’s just so inspiring to celebrate it with all of his children. Continue reading →

A glimpse into the treatment rooms

By Allison Courtney, Nurse Practitioner student

Thursday May 17, 2018

First official day of clinics! After three full days of taking in the new sights, sounds, and unique culture of the Cambodian people we set out this morning for our first clinic hosted at Freedom’s Promise Sewing Center. During breakfast there was a sense of anticipation and curiosity unsure of what we would be doing today but excited to see the day unfold. We circled up with students, faculty, and translators prayed for the day and moved out in faith. 

As a team we saw the provision of God in so many ways both big and small. From covered waiting and treatment areas to powerful cross cultural prayer experiences God had clearly prepared a way for us and showed up in the details.  Continue reading →

by Jacqueline Murphy, Nursing Team

Chomreabsuor! (Hello!)

We had a bright and early morning today that started off with each off us packing up our luggage to head out to a new hotel, brand new, at that. The hotel we will be traveling to is only 10 days old. As you can imagine, the entire team was very excited about this new adventure. Before we would go there, we set off to our third clinic here in Poipet. This is our third in a row and we were tired but so very excited to spend another day serving as the hands and feet of God. 

When we arrived at the Bridge of Hope, we experienced another powerful Continue reading →

Megan Heath, pharmacy team.

Today we started off our day with breakfast at the Destiny Cafe. It was very welcoming and homey with pancakes and syrup along with omelets and fruit. After breakfast we traveled to the Bridge of Hope Center and were greeted by lots of little kids in the middle of a school lesson. Then we went into the clinic site and met with Perlito. He gave us an amazing devotional that was helpful and inspirational to start our day off and centered around breaking through any downfalls or doubts. We also had a great time worshiping through songs lead by his two daughters. After devotional, we began to set up and organize our clinic for the day. We had a lot more space and tables to work with than at the last clinic site so everyone was thankful for that!

Things at the clinic already started off better and smoother than the day before I think, everyone was getting more used to their individual roles, but were still integrating as a team to get work completed. Throughout the day kids would Continue reading →

by Kendall Schoenekase, Graduate Nursing Student

The morning began bright and early today as we set off for the 6 hour drive to Battambang
at 6:30am. In addition to our Cambodia team, our Freedom’s Promise translators, who will be with us during out clinics in Poipet, joined us on the buses. This was a wonderful experience, as the translators began teaching us about the Cambodian culture, the villages, their home towns, etc. from their perspectives. We listened to Cambodian music, tried Continue reading →

By Hannah Stirnaman, Nurse Practitioner Student

Today was our second full day in Phnom Penh and the last day for us to soak in the atmosphere before traveling to Battambang.

Our first stop of the day was to The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center to tour the killing fields. After reading books and watching films dedicated to this topic, it was overwhelming to see the fields in person. Although this was a somber topic, understanding more of the Cambodian history shed light on the resilience of these amazing people.

After touring the fields, the group spent time getting shoes made from a local shop here in Phnom Penh. Each shoe is made Continue reading →

By Shannon Stuart, Pharmacy Team

We have survived our first full day in Cambodia which was accompanied by 89 degrees and 77% humidity weather. It was scorching hot, but fortunately, everyone was able to do every event and the worse outcome today was some sunburn. We started out with some wonderful breakfast which included much of the same foods we eat in America and then a beautiful devotional to begin our day. Our first adventure was familiarization of the city. We walked for about 2 hours and were able to see many monuments.  We also designated a special meet up place if someone strayed away from the crowd on accident. I have attached some of the photos of the monuments for you to see them. There was an independence monument which signified independence from the French (a.k.a. meet up place). It has the lotus’s flower which carries a very strong meaning. To the Cambodian’s it means renewal which we saw throughout the whole walk. 

Another monument which is the one pictured with 2 Vietnamese soldiers and a Cambodia woman in front carrying an infant, demonstrates celebration from liberation from the Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge was the group of Cambodian’s who were communists and helped carry out the devastating Cambodian genocide. The monument would have been a great gift, but it signifies that the Vietnamese were happy for them, but they wanted the Cambodians to know Continue reading →

By Kelsey Bivacca, Nurse Practitioner student

Today we arrived at the Nashville airport on May 12th at 5:30am, and took off to Detroit, then Detroit to Seoul, then Seoul to Phnom Penh. Currently I am sitting on the plane about to depart to on the longest leg of the trip to Seoul, and am feeling upbeat and excited for the new environment we’re about to be entering.

Mid flight one of the passengers needed medical attention and Continue reading →