In Search of Sanuk. Children's day in the Slums

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-20
A blog to go along with the Video I posted.
In search of Sanuk is a nonprofit organization geared towards not only bringing education to children that cannot afford it but also interaction to children that are in need of it.
Many parents are unable to spend time and invest in their children’s lives because they have to worry about making enough money to put something on the table at least once a day.
This organization, ran by some amazing Godly people Dwight and Nicole, brings English speakers to the slums to teach in fun and interactive ways. We are able to interact and spend time with the children and bring necessities like food and fresh water to the communities as well.
To learn more about the organization check out the video I posted. It gives an opportunity for you to give as well on the website.
This particular community literally straddles a railroad track. They have their houses/huts set up on either side of the tracks. Unfortunately for them, there is NO warning sound when the train is coming and the main way of getting around the village is by walking on the tracks. Many people have died or been seriously injured by the train.
Walls were put up eventually to help people with safety precautions. We saw when we arrived that the walls have been slowly taken down, at least enough for them to be able to see around. When your main way of moving is on the tracks it is hard to have that source taken away completely. And with the walls up it is difficult to see and you are closed in pretty tight.

Saturday we were able to bring fun games, songs, crafts, put money together to sponsor 3 families and give out food supplies to the 3 families most in need. The children got prizes and had a fun day of performances. This was such a wonderful opportunity I am so thankful God provided me with this opportunity to see lights of the world. We are to become more like children in their purity and selflessness. Remember the verses in Matthew:
Matthew 18:3-6 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Life Lessons and experiences in CAMBODIA

You learn a lot about a Country based on its History.
Not many know about the terrible oppression in South East Asia because in America history curriculum does not touch on Asian history. Many may say I am simply an Asian fanatic with a passion for Asia and that is why I study their history. But I think it is important for all to be aware of things that take place in other areas.
Awareness.
We learn about the Genocide of the Jews which was led by Hitler and the Nazi's but not about the Genocide of the Cambodian people. Both parts of history were devastating BUT the Cambodian Genocide was conducted by one of their very own people. Pol Pot's radical communist ideals and accusations against many he thought to be rebels against his plan, led to Genocide of millions of people. It was the end of the Cambodian Nation as a whole. A map hangs in the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh with an outline of the Country covered in skulls to represent the death of a Country.
Having read the book "Stay Alive my Son" by Yathay, one of the few that escaped and lived in the jungle making his way to the Thai border, inspired me to read more. His story was full of testimonials that will pull on your heart strings. This book encouraged me to read more about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pat. When going to Cambodia we were able to go to the Genocide Museum (this is the high school he turned into a detention center for extracting "evidence" and names of those rebelling (which no one actually way rebelling for fear of being tortured and killed). After being tortured for so long people started to make up things and in turn were killed anyways.
We also visited the killing fields. Pol Pat and the Khmer Rouge desired for Cambodia to not only be a communist Nation where there were no social classes and no ownership but he wanted them to get rid of ALL modern day ideals even religion and education, books and currencies. He killed all those educated first. He wanted to start at "year zero" and for everyone to live as peasants. He drove everyone out of their homes and into the fields where they worked 12 hours a day with little to no food. The Khmer rouge started to eat not only their portion but also the portion of the people and they began to starve or turn to cannibalism. To Pol Pot more people alive meant more mouths to feed so he told the leaders they only needed a certain number alive to work and start the new Nation so they needed to kill off all the rest. Families’ members watched other family members either starve to death or be taken away to the killing fields. They would have to dig their own graves and then they were hit over the head with something that knocked them into the graves they dug. Most of the time they suffocated.
O my people, plundered by your rulers, enslaved by your creditors! O my people, your leaders deceive you and lead you astray.-Isaiah3:12
Bad leaders of this world that are full of evil will reap what they sow Galatians 6:7

Needless to say, knowing this about the people helped me to better understand their background, the way they went about life and why they act the way they do.
Cambodia is a VERY poverty stricken Country full of lots of sadness and little to no emotion. When passing 2 men that had died on the road from a motorbike accident with blood and insides on the road I was physically sick and could not look but the Cambodian man in the tuktuk with us simply said "they are dead" and moved on with his conversation. They are SO used to death and seeing death they are numb to it.

The need in Cambodia is so great that it was overwhelming for me. One person cannot take on the entire need and I wanted so badly to be able to help everyone one in every situation. I brought toys for street kids that are sick in the hospital, we came together and paid for a month of school for a young student, we donated to the floating village school, gave to street kids the formula they asked for (while being pooped on by a nakey baby) BUT they still needed and wanted and begged for more. I was in a state where God really taught me that one person cannot do it all and then comes the call to the Church and Christian body! This is a task that with one person can be overwhelming and frustrating but with multiple people this need can be met and lives can be saved.
Matthew 10: ²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
 ²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Remember we are to store our riches in heaven because everything here will parish. I am not saying you have to invest in a ministry out of Cambodia but help somewhere in some way and we all have to remember these verses.

This last picture is the floating school we visited at the floating village. This village is made up people that cannot afford to pay taxes so they were put on the river to live. They cannot live on the land without paying taxes to the government. They built floating huts and a school for the little bit of education they can receive and they are fishermen. We helped as much as we could. This among MANY other things I see makes me not only thankful but hurts my heart. It hurts my heart because we have SO much and they have so little. Can we fix this please?

Other things we did on our journey included seeing the beautiful Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in Siem Reap. These are too famous temples in Cambodia that were designed to carry on tradition, culture and mythical legends. It was interesting to hear our tour guide tell us all about the pictures that were engraved in the walls that tell a story of their "gods."
The temples were beautiful and the nature was breath taking.
We spend our New Year’s having Cambodian food, watching Cambodian dance and then celebrating in the streets with hundreds of people jumping, dancing and acting craycray:)
We met amazing and beyond sweet Cambodian people. The Cambodian people are the most pitiful but yet are so eager to help and have such a sweet spirit about them.
Some people we met: Our tour guide to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom who liked to eat bugs as snacks.
We became friends with our sweet hotel receptionist that was in college to learn English. We had the privilege of being able to take him to see the capitol of his own Country for the first time (he has never been able to afford to leave Siem Reap) and he took us out for New Years.
We met a sweet tour guide on the floating village that we had the privilege of helping go to school his next month to learn English as well.
AND I met a new sweet friend named Asuka that backpacked with me and Holly.
I LOVE seeing God work!! Thank you Lord for using me and my friends as vessels. I want to be your hands and I want to be your feet, I will go where you send me!

Backpacking Vietnam

Two weeks in Vietnam
Many people have asked me why Vietnam? I say..why not Vietnam?

Vietnam is a very beautiful place and has lots of marvelous things to see that God created himself with his own two hands. There were many times I just stopped and took in a deep breath of fresh air and took in the beauty and Thanked God for his creations. What an Artist. Genesis 1:9-13
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Places in Vietnam I traveled and what I saw.
We landed in Ho Chi Minh(south Vietnam) and did not stay there because it is very touristy and we wanted to stay away from the touristy/busy areas. But we learned about Ho chi Minh later. He was a famous emperor who reigned during the North Vietnam victory. His body is kept in Hanoi, the most touristy place we went to at the end of the trip. We made up a song and dance to do in front of his body but we ended up missing the "viewing." Inappropriate? Possibly. "Ho chi Minh, Ho Ho chi Mihn.” Tune done to a two-step performed by Britney, Holly and Emily.
We landed in Ho Chi Minh and flew to Danang where we met the 4th member of our backpacking party. We learned quickly that there was a Western price and a Vietnam price for everything. And we did not play games! We demanded Vietnamese prices. Our first bus ride was supposed to be 15,000 dong(Vietnamese currency) and they tried to cover the sign on the bus and tell us 50,000 dong. Why they do this? I will explain later.

We took the locals bus from Danang airport to Hoi An- This was a beautiful French Inspired town. Vietnamese houses were more beautiful than Thai houses because the French took over Vietnam for a period of time and imposed their cultures, ways of living and beliefs. I loved this town! Our hostile was very nice, the owner was very sweet and helpful and we were lucky to have arrived on the Full Moon Chinese festival. There were lanterns everywhere and boat rides with floating lights on the water. We were able to play an ancient game of luck that I happened to WIN:). We rented cute french bikes and toured the town.

We took the locals bus back to Danang the next morning to catch a Sightseeing passenger train to Hue. This was interesting. The sights were beautiful but the hole in the floor to use the restroom and Vietnamese men standing by the door the entire time was unusual but HEY I had a lot of firsts on this trip! I met 3 Amazing people. 2 Australian men and also a woman from New Zealand that was volunteering in Vietnam in the medical field. One of the coolest people I have ever met. She had once lived in a small village in Africa before Vietnam and is a Doctor who volunteers and gives aid to those that cannot afford it and needs it the most. Talk about living the life of a servant like Christ calls us to do!

Hue was a very educational experience. We were able to not only hear about the Vietnam War as we do while sitting in classrooms in America but we were able to walk where they walked and see some life changing things. We went on the DMZ demilitarized tour where we got to walk in the only building still standing from the war which was the Catholic Church. Because it was a church it was considered off limits, although bullet holes were throughout the entire church. We traveled the road that was 3 body levels high in corpse. We saw the “awaiting mother and child” statue made in honor of the men that crossed the bridge and never returned. I was able to stand with one foot on the South and one foot on the North of Vietnam. There were years of fighting between the two because of the Northern Vietnamese communist views and the southern Vietnamese refusal to follow though views. Hints the Vietnam War. After hearing from both American Vietnam survivors and Vietnamese survivors I am so sad for those involved in the War, the family members of those in the War and the innocent bystanders. Many American soldiers’ lives were drastically changed because they were sent to give aid but not prepared with medical equipment or medication and had to see hundreds suffer and die. Overall I learned how sad War is. Not just for Americans but also for those on the opposing side. I feel that war should be a last option and only if we are attacked on our own soil. We went through one of the main underground living tunnels the North lived in for 5 years. You can barely breathe down there and you can’t stand up fully. Babies were made, delivered and lived up to 3 or 4. They saw light and
the outside finally about age 4.
But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. Matthew 5:39

We moved to Phong Nha where we stayed at a farm stay…the most beautiful sights and so natural. In the front of our dorm were watered down rice patties where the farmers led the ox to stomp the patties. We lived near a village that had seen Westerners for the first time only a few years prior. It was the first hostel that we had bug nets. We had sleeping buddies every night. And the dorm was different because we all stayed together with people we had never met. It was wonderful, you are able to meet such cool people and hear where they have gone already. When we did our Jeep tour the children would run out of the huts and chase our Jeeps waving. We had a very interesting experience. Holly and I decided the second day to go find the one and only school in the village and find the one and only place to eat. After walking miles and seeing beautiful sights we ran into teenage Vietnamese boys that were obsessed and followed us and ate by us. A. we were served dog but did not eat it.. B. The boys only knew how to say “I love you” and “I want kiss”…needless to say it was a funny lunch. We found the school and were able to meet the kids and have the teachers beg us to move their to teach..
We took a Jeep tour to see the caves and trekked through the mountains. Paradise cave was by far the most beautiful cave we got to see. It literally looked like a piece of Heaven under the ground. We were able to see Highway20 where the Vietnamese worked on the highway constantly while bombing took place and many were killed. The younger men always volunteered and as they fixed the road, the road was destroyed again. Many died working on either the road or the tunnels.

Double decker sleeper bus to Ninh Binh-
We are sitting waiting on the bus and Holly says, “Hey aren’t these things really unsafe? And its pouring rain and storming.” We turn and a motorbike driver falls and slides down the road and the passenger goes flying off the bike..Uneasy night to say the least.
In the beds on the sleeper bus Holly and I got the middle beds with no windows to protect us from flying out of the beds. We wrecked twice. The first time someone hit us and the second time we hit someone else. How are you supposed to sleep like this? PRAYERS for safety for sure.
We drove for 7 to 8 hours with NO bathrooms. Watching the people jump off the bus and wondering why, changed to ME jumping off the bus and on the sidewalk, behind a sign became just like all of the other Vietnamese lol.
We took a motorbike tour through the town and it was marvelous! We went trekking up the mountain to the highest point and also got to ride through the rivers and into the caves. We literally had to lie in the boat in order to not hit our heads and I have NO idea how the tour guide knew where to paddle because it was so dark.

About this time I am dying. I needed sleep. If we slept at all at night it was maybe 4 hours. Our only time for sleep was usually when we were on a bus going from point A or point B and that would mean you had to sit up straight, crammed with 30 others in a 15 passenger bus and try to sleep. They tried to fit as many people as possible in small areas. We went to Halong bay next. We stayed on the Bay in a boat overnight. Holly and I got put in a crew room and actually got locked inside the room. We thought we were going to have to break the window, jump out and swim to the back of the boat and get back on board. Praise GOD someone heard us yelling. We laughed for hours. Halong Bay was magical. Being on the boat surrounded by houses that floated (people lived on the water in legit houses) and kayaking on the Bay through caves and jumping off of the boat were only some of the things we got to do.

Our last place was Hanoi. I did not care for it simply because it was so touristy and there were SO many people it was too much like Bangkok big city life and we wanted to get away for a while. We met up with two Vietnamese locals and they showed us the first University which Confucius had visited. And we were able to learn about many Vietnamese myths. We stayed at the coolest hostel by far!
Overall, the Vietnam people are very pitiful and sad. The poverty is worse in Vietnam than in Thailand. The Vietnamese people have always had to fight to just defend themselves and their land. They were taken over by or attacked by the French, Chinese, Americans and even by each other (Civil Wars). They are very intense when selling things and even in the way they speak because they literally will not be able to eat if they do not sell at their stands. It was very sad to see all of the War victims without limbs and facial features. A lot were affected later in life while plowing fields and stepped on and activated a bomb. The Thai people always smile even when upset but the Vietnamese are true people that let their emotions show on their faces and through their words. There like has always been a struggle and they have never had true freedom.
Jesus loves the little Children of the World. Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight.

CHANG MAI- Northern Thailand
We left Vietnam and went to Northern Thailand. Mountainous and beautiful Northern Thailand..we rented motorbikes and took about an hour drive up the mountain to one of the famous temples and also visited the villages further up the mountain.
We went white water rafting and I learned how to drive an ATV and went on the tour. White water rafting with a Thai man that called himself “Johnny Depp” was interesting. That joker pushed me in the water through a current and I HIT a rock and thought I was going to die. He pulled me in the boat and said he “caught a fish.” He later confessed his love for me and told me he would “love me long time and to sit in his heart”..?
We were able to eat at a place that helped and gave all the money they raised to Burmese Refugees. Most importantly we volunteered at Agape orphanage ran by Mrs. Avis Rideout. An orphanage that takes in orphaned street kids with HIV that have lost their parents to AIDS. This blog has already ben posed titled “Agape in Chang Mai.”