The Latest Happenings
June 8, 2009 - Hangin' with Friends
I went to one of the little streets where the kids who used to come to
our house live because I hadn't been there in a while and I wanted to
see some of my friends there. I've realized how much I think I hate
the term "building relationship." I know why people say it, and I
often say it, but it seems to impersonal maybe. It seems to classify
the people we're "ministering to" in a different category from
ourselves when that's not really it at all. I have people that I
really care about living on that street or in the orphanage and I
don't want them to ever become a number or just a story I tell people.
They're so amazing and as far as ministry goes - they've got riches
and depths in them that I would love to learn.
One of my friends was telling me about the pigs he's raising. He buys
slop for them to eat from some of the little restaurants in the market
for a small price per bucket. Others of his neighbors give it to him
for free if his boys go to pick it up. I've often seen them driving
their dad's wheelchair up and down the street collecting a five gallon
bucket full. You can sell pigs by head or by kilo, but he prefers to
sell them by head. Most of the time it gets a better price.
He's lived on this street for the past ten years he said, but none of
the people there pay rent or actually own the property. They're
technically living on part of what would be a very wide street because
they've built houses on both sides and there's still room in the
middle to travel. He told me it belongs to Hun Sen, the prime
minister, so it's really government property.
One of the moms I was talking to today has three kids that are so much
fun. I've known the older two for the last few years. I had not seen
her baby in a few months and he's gotten so much bigger (obviously.) I
was watching her prepare some sort of banana tree soup to take to the
market and sell in the evenings while her baby sat in her lap. She
plays with him and makes him laugh. He's adorable when he laughs and
it's so crazy watching her work as she holds him. She was telling me
that the rainy season is the hardest for them because normally they
sell sugar cane juice outside our house to people driving by and the
kids can be with her. I did not know that during the rainy season no
one wants to buy sugarcane juice, so she must sell soup at the market.
She prepares it each afternoon and goes to sell it each evening. While
she is gone her 6 year old will have to take care of the baby for a
few hours. Sometimes he's hungry and cries, sometimes he's okay and
falls asleep with his sister. (He's about six months old.)
Please pray for her and her family. They all work hard to make a
living, but it's not easy.
U of N Battambang is a ministry of YWAM International
