Yes, we celebrated Christmas in Svay Pak in November!! The schools honored today as a "holiday" and allowed its students to attend the festivities. Needless to say, our general number of attendees increased to about 139 children! Alli, Ruthie, and the youth leaders all planned an excellent event. The party began with a theatrical presentation of the Nativity Story, with Ratanak (whose name means, "Rocky", and who is the assistant pastor to Chantah) as narrator and the youth leaders portraying the various characters. As Ratanak proceeded to weave the tale of the beautiful birth of our Savior, the children sat hushed in wonder and anticipation. For the most part, they were very well behaved! Thanks, of course, to the great leadership team.
After the Nativity Story, various talent groups strutted their stuff, singing and break-dancing. Oh yes, break-dancing!
One of the break-dancers bustin' a move!
To our great pleasure, Ka-moi beautifully sang a few songs herself! She is such a talent. I feel like a proud mama, admiring my blossom as she brings down the house :) What can I say: I love her!
Ka-moi singing!
After the entertainment, we passed out Coke and chips (akin to Pringles), and a bag of delicious candies/chocolates.
This event was also the celebration of the youth team being formally introduced as the new teachers/leaders since Ruthie will be leaving to teach at another school. Everyone, including the kids, prayed over them together. No doubt they'll do excellently.
As the party neared its end, Alli instructed us to pass out the gifts she'd gotten for the children: a new school backpack filled with goodies!
Kids showing off their goods
Some of the little girls were given backpacks that were bigger than their bodies! Adorable!
These girls are SO precious!!!
Before the kids were led outside, signifying the end of today's celebration, Bunthan asked the crowd how many of them had accepted Jesus. Every hand was raised. How awesome!!! This is what brings me great joy: that even though we'll be leaving them this weekend, I will be able to see them in Eternity.
Alli had special gifts for the boys/girls who were top of the class. One of them was Ka-moi!! YAY!!
#1 in her class!
Of course, no birthday party is complete without cake! In this case, cupcakes made especially by the ARC girls. I wish I could describe to you how delicious they tasted! They were, furthermore, creatively decorated with pigs, penguins, elaborate flowers...
Passing out the treats!
Re-cap of Our Thanksgiving Dinner
Last night, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the staff at a fancy hotel. Jim, Kevin and I thought that we were at the wrong restaurant since we hadn't seen anyone yet, so we proceeded to explore other possible restaurants in the hotel that they might be. We stopped in front of "Le Royale" and was promptly confronted at the door that this was a "formal dining area" and our attire of shirts, shorts, and flip-flops was not only impermissible, but offensive. So, we knew for sure this wasn't the right place and proceeded to find Don and Bridget. We walked into the lobby, lined with leather sofas marked "reserved" (who reserves seating in the lobby?!) and briefly listened to the live violin and classical guitar players. Yep, we were definitely not in Svay Pak any more!
Not too surprisingly, I ate more dessert than dinner. You would understand if you saw the beautiful chocolate fountain and assortment of foods to submerge in its pool of rich, creamy goodness. I must have eaten over 20 of the pre-cooked mallows!!
On our way out, we decided to take a tuk-tuk back to our hotel. These are so fun!
It's a Dog Eat Dog World
Tonight, we decided to try something a little different for dinner....
Yes, that is what it looks like: a dog head.
Dog actually doesn't taste too bad...the way that it was cooked was tasty and for the most part, tender. It is a chewy meat, though. Jim and I were daring enough to try the head! (no, they didn't offer it to us like you see in the photo above...they sliced it in fine pieces) Dog head is not as tasty; in fact, it's quite tasteless and feels like you're eating rubber or a balloon.
While I was rummaging through the slices of dog head, Don and I saw the dog's brain..."Must not have been a smart dog," he says. "Who's going to eat it?" Jim asks, looking at me. Well, as daring as I was to try dog head, I admit that I draw the line at dog brain and allowed Jim to have it all to himself. "He looks smarter already!" exclaims Kevin as Jim chews on the brain. Jim didn't like it too much, though; says it tasted waxy.
This charming restaurant which served us Scooby and Snoopy was just down the street from Don's place. We invited a couple of canine connoisseurs who Don informed me have dog at least 3-4 times a month. We did have some left over dog head, and gave it to one of the connoisseurs to take home...in a doggy bag.
Visiting the ARC Home
ARC is an incredibly high security home. We had to sign in before entering and were each given badges. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, especially not of the girls since many of them are involved in high profile cases.
While walking in, one is greeted with an air of security and peace. The ARC/AIM staff and the Brewsters have done an excellent job in cultivating a space that the girls can truly call a safe haven. As we waited for Don and Bridget, we were greeted by a lovely young woman, Sisurat. She is an incredible hero!! She rescued a family from inside one of the brick factories while working undercover. I will see about posting her story in one of our blogs for you to read.
After a few minutes, Don, Bridget and Renee came down to sit with us and Don proceeded to go over the policies and proper procedures of walking through ARC. He then shared with us some of the stories of the ARC girls and what we had heard was incredibly disturbing and horrific; in fact, one particular girl's story was so painful and terrifying, that much of it had been edited due to the criticism that they received for it being too graphic. I cannot tell you how angry and frustrated this makes me feel. Yes, it's very difficult to listen to; but it's even worse, much worse to have experienced it. What courage it must take to give a full, detailed account of this evil...only to have it edited for our sensitive ears. The only thing we have to risk when censuring the truth, is that we would actually be compelled to act; our hearts would break to the point of rising above mere awareness of the problem to becoming strong activists fighting for the solution. And the solution is Christ.
There are over 1,000 brothels in Phnom Penh alone and the sex trafficking industry is taking a new route: large, elaborate, decadently styled buildings which you could easily mistake for a fancy hotel. One of these high profile brothels is located near our hotel. They have incredibly luxurious karaoke booths large flat screen TV; private bathroom; and karaoke machine with over 2,000 songs in English alone. There are over 300 sex slaves, including some under-age. They have numbers pinned on them, like cattle; they remain nameless, without identities. For I believe $5, you can do whatever you want with the girl except have sex with them. This costs extra; $3 extra, to be precise. Other Asian foreigners, Koreans and the Japanese, are among the top customers and in order to keep up with the high demand, places like Svay Pak are regarded as prime suppliers. Hundreds of young children and women are trafficked through Svay Pak alone; many are hidden underground in dark, filthy basements as they await transportation into one of these mega-brothels that are too big to raid. Virgins are the most expensive and prized commodity, selling for anywhere from $2 - $3,000 per girl. Not surprisingly, these [virgins] are younger girls; at about 15 or 16 years old, they become more "affordable". According to some of the ARC girls, Americans have been regarded as being the most violent and abusive, often performing torture rape which a few of the girls have been the victims of. Russians, they say, are the "nicest".
In another big brothel, women must dance naked atop pool tables while men select which girl he wants. From there, she will be forced to have sex with at least 12 other strangers.
What breaks my heart is that in the stories that Don shares with us, these girls are being degraded on various levels, not just sexually. "I hate myself" and "I have no value" are common phrases the girls use to describe how they feel after having been so severely abused. Sometimes, they have no concept or perception of morality, especially if they're younger. They are not aware that what is being done to them is wrong and evil so they remain slaves while being totally unaware of their imprisonment or that they must be freed.
I can go on and on about the stories that we've heard. They are enough to make you want to do something. And that's exactly what we're doing; because we can't afford to do nothing.
Some more photos...
Inside the Catholic church in Svay Pak (open only for 1 hour on Sundays)
Kevin bought Rahab's House a guitar!
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