This morning we woke to the sound of the town speakers projecting Buddhist chants. Now this speaker goes every day, most of the day with songs, chants and readings that are loud and invade the air. But this morning was different because it started at 4:30am! Today is a holiday for the kids. They are out of school for a "holy holiday" called "Children's Day". The Orphanage kids are so excited to have a day off!
The town speaker is something that we have gotten used to since last time. Last trip it was a surprise because we certainly don't have anything like that in the States, but this time it's just one of those sounds that are peculiar to Takeo for us.
This is the view from our guest house as we walk out in the morning. Often we get up a little later than 5 and the kids are already out doing their chores on the grounds.
On their day off the kids began their day with their normal chores and then went to study and homework for a while. After that the free time began.
It was our day to wash our clothes. Grace and Anna were excited about hand washing the clothes again but the boys not so much :) All the kids here are so helpful and gracious when we are trying something. Behind the kids in this picture is where the clothes are normally hung.
Alfven, Benjamin and Grace went out on home visits in the morning with Joshua and Sothee translating again. They visited three houses. A few of the families weren't home. The last house they went to the youngest daughter had come to the school here but had to quit when she started her AIDs treatment. She and her mother have AIDs. There is a father and older sister in the family. The father used to sell ice cream to the schools but business hasn't been good so he is starting to grow cucumbers for sale. The mother still works in the factory. She rides 1 hour each way to work standing on the back of a truck. I'll try to get a picture of the factory trucks that take the workers in. There might be one from our last trip in the earlier blog posts. She said she is very tired from the ride and work and her illness.
Several of the houses we visited today had puppies. This is a picture of Grace trying to coax a pup over to pet at this family's house.
We enjoyed lunch after washing clothes, home visits and chores. In the lunch room the girls eat at separate tables from each other.
Then came the free time :) Most of the guys either took a nap or played video games. The guys asked for Joseph and Benjamin to join them.
Some of the girls took us to the market. Here are Grace, Anna, Chanter and Chanda heading into town. Wut was taking us all to the market for us to buy some material for some skirts. Here you buy the piece of material at one shop. Then walk down to the seamstress to make the skirt.
The girls were watching the flys stick onto the flypaper at the store where we bought the fabric :)
Below is the view out from inside the store. I wish I could capture all the unique and intriguing sights that fill our days. We still laugh about a moto that was covered in live chickens. It looked like a circle of chickens around the woman driver and they were just standing there riding.
When we got back from the market we pulled out some Mandala coloring books that had been given to us. Grace and Anna brought two on the plane and I grabbed an extra to do with the kids here. We brought a big bag of colored pencils and this is the beginning of the coloring fun. It grew as more kids came in the gathering room. The kids loved doing these!
We were offered to hang our washed clothes on new lines on top of the guest house and since it was so hot and the sun beat down they were dry pretty quick.
Later in the day, Grace, Anna and I stuffed some goody bags with pens that had been given to us to bring the the children, lollypops, fun dips and several M&Ms packets. Chocolate is hard to get in the village and it's very expensive in the city. The Orphanage is outside the village of Takeo so we only have the local market to shop from. After dinner started , Alfven and Benjamin handed out the goody bags.
In the afternoon, Joseph and I went out for home visits. We went to three houses. The first was home of a boy who comes to the school but hasn't been in a while. He broke his leg. He lives in a more remote house with his mother and father. The father is an alcoholic but was very cordial and gracious while we were there. The mother works in a factory and is hoping that her son can come back to school soon. He is able to walk now but not run around. We visited for a while and she served us fruit called "ping-ping" which is in season right now. They had a tree of it in their yard. It's small and purple with a seed. Sort of like a grape-sized plum. They had a Buddhist statute in their yard but they did know about Jesus a little too. The mother said she will believe in whatever comes along. The father is friends with an old man neighbor who plays Christian music loudly so he knew a little bit more about what his son is being taught at school. They had a litter of puppies at their house too as well as some rain collection barrels that were donated to them by the English school. They are very blessed to have those. They asked for prayer for family peace and healing for their son to be able to go to school.
The second house we went to was a grandmother taking care of her grandson who comes to school here. She also takes care of another granddaughter. She is 72 years old and has 9 children. Eight sons and one daughter. The grandson is her daughter's son and the mother is at work in the city to support her son and the grandmother. She works in the factory. There were friends and neighbors who came by to visit with us while we were there. One woman brought over her toddler son who was only wearing a shirt. Naked toddlers here are the norm. They didn't ask for much in prayer so we prayed for peach for the family and for the grandson to do well in school.
The third stop we made was to visit the lady with the AIDs house again. She wasn't home when Alfven, Benjamin and Grace had stopped by so we went back to specifically visit with her. She was most gracious and friendly which made the visit very enjoyable! She had a friend there who is actually a sister of one of the teachers at the school. The friend made the joke that she wants to send her kids to the Orphanage because she knows how kind the Orphanage kids are. She said they wouldn't take him :) She was laughing about it in jest. We prayed for peace and more money for the family, as well as strength for the mom on her rides to work and health.
We got back in time for dinner and found all the kids out playing around in the yard. Benjamin, Grace and Anna were in the middle of them. Benjamin was taking turns playing Ninja with the kids.
We all took showers and hit the hay pretty early :)
We are praying that we love well.
Psalm 119:32 "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart"
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