This We Believe Part 2
THIS WE BELIEVE
Part 2 – Cambodians Living in Cambodia Must be Raised by Cambodians
With 19 houses for families living with AIDS, 20 Orphan homes, 2 Granny Houses and 3 Baby Houses, a primary school, a library, medical centre, offices and a meeting hall and with a staff of 70 Cambodians and 2 Canadians plus a few short-term English teachers from time to time, Place of Rescue resembles a Cambodian village rather than an institution run by foreigners.
We praise God for the wonderful Cambodian children, adults and grannies that God has created. We desire for them to enter their culture as Cambodians - understanding and accepting themselves and others as Cambodians. We feel this can only happen as our babies and children are cared for day after day by Cambodian care-givers and house parents. The people whom our children call “Mak” and “Pa” are the same nationality as they are. As they grow up they learn from their mothers what it means to be a Cambodian Christian in this culture that is often so different from western cultures. Thus they will be able to pass their Cambodian Christian faith on to others in their country.
Our children live in simple houses, 10 children to a house with a Cambodian house mother or house parents. They do not have separate bedrooms but live as most Cambodians live, in a communal room. They sleep on straw mats and eat sitting on the floor on mats. The food they eat is not western. Unlike the poor children from surrounding villages the food our children eat is nutritious and the rice is plentiful but it is always Asian food. Usually when they have a special treat or a special celebration meal it is special Asian food they learn to enjoy and associate with special times.
We desire that all our children have very good self images. We want them to appreciate and love the fact that they are Cambodians, created special by their Heavenly Father to fulfill His purposes in this country where He chose to place them. We desire that our young people fall in love with people of their own race, not seeing them as inferior to men and women from the west but rather seeing them as superior.
Except for the sin that brought so much misery to their young lives, we want them to love the way Cambodian people live. We want them to respect the lovely customs (and perhaps not so lovely) that are part of their culture, never causing them to feel that some other culture is better. We teach the children their own traditional dance moves with music set to Christian lyrics. In times of joy and celebration, such as Christmas, they dance their joy to Cambodian music and Cambodian dance.
Most important of all, our children pray and sing praises in their heart language, Cambodian, not English. This is what I long for: When these fatherless children imagine their Heavenly Father they see Him as a Cambodian, not as a Western father. This is crucial because if they think their Heavenly Father resembles a western person they will also think He must love His western children more than His Cambodian children.
Someone commented to me recently, “You hold the Cambodians feet.” This expression means that you favor someone when there is a dispute. I commented, “ I don’t just hold their feet! I kiss them!”
Baby PB bonding with his Cambodian caregiver.
Place of Rescue youth-May they fall in love with each other!
Place of Rescue dancers performing at Preah Khet Melea Hospital
A house mom and her "daughters".
House Moms in traditional dress sing at the Christmas program
