Life in Cambodia
Cambodia is an awesome place to be. If you've never been before, it's totally worth the visit! Fantastic culture, food and surrounding scenery - this is my first time here and has already been the experience of a lifetime. I arrived on the 11th of January with sister Beth Palmer (UK) and we were joined a few weeks later by sister Faith Jenkins (UK) and sister Bethany McGeorge (Australia). We’ve been staying in Sihanoukville, a city and province of Cambodia situated right next to a stretch of beautiful beaches.
It was very exciting to meet the brothers and sisters in the ecclesia here in Sihanoukville - they are all so welcoming and friendly! I felt quite overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome we received. On our first meeting, a fellowship meal was cooked for us at the Bible Education Centre (BEC) and we read God’s Word together, sharing important lessons and experiences.
There are three Bible Education Centres in Cambodia - one in Phnom Penh, one in Siem Reap and one in Sihanoukville. The BEC here in Sihanoukville was moved to a new location a few years ago and this new building has been unused for a little while, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic. Our aim has been to help out as much as we can - dusting down cabinets, unpacking boxes of books, washing kitchen utensils and making the place look as homely and welcoming as possible. Beth had a lot of fun creating Bible displays to go up around the room and Faith designed an eye-catching ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ tree. The BEC was looking bright and cheerful - it was wonderful to see the excited reactions of brothers and sisters whenever they popped into the BEC and saw the new displays!
We’ve been enjoying spending time with brothers and sisters and getting to know them. It’s inspiring to hear their stories of how they found the Truth - some of them learnt about the Bible through free English lessons which were being advertised at the BEC. They are all wonderful examples of faith and I have already been greatly encouraged by them. We all meet together on Sunday afternoons to break bread and share fellowship. Sometimes we cook meals together at the BEC and other times we go out to various local restaurants.
Koh Touch is one of our favourite Khmer restaurants to frequent - they serve endless bowls of rice and have an exciting array of seafood with different kinds of fish, squid and octopus. Although I'm still not fully convinced crabs are worth all the effort of cracking through the tough shell, it has been a lot of fun to try some new and exciting food. They also have chicken, pork and beef dishes - for the western palette!
Street food is everywhere! You can stop pretty much anywhere along the roads for iced coffee or fresh coconuts - just what you need in this hot weather. One of my favourite things to stop for are the fried bananas! It’s interesting to see how the locals run their own businesses outside their houses: a small shop, iced drinks stand, laundry service or motorbike repair. Quite often you will see people driving around with a mini food truck or a shop-on-wheels. The roads tend to be quite chaotic, especially in the city centre - motorbikes weaving in and out of cars, tuk-tuks dodging the big lorries. Taking a ride in a tuk-tuk is another experience never to be forgotten - the drivers are all super friendly, but some of the side streets are quite bumpy and make an interesting challenge for driving along!
Being immersed in the culture and lifestyle of Cambodians has been interesting. Timing is one thing which stands out for sure - everyone is always running at least half an hour late!
There's a wonderful community feel with a clear hierarchy of age and much respect is shown. We're doing our best to learn the ways of the culture. Placing hands together and giving a small bow is the way to greet someone older than you and respectful terms such as "bong" (which means "older brother") is used to gain someone’s attention, in a cafe or shop for example. Another sign of respect is to take off your shoes before entering someone’s house or shop.
Streets come alive at night. The Night Markets are fun to visit whenever they appear - bright and colourful, with so many different smells and noises. The quantities of sea food being sold is rather impressive! If you've never sat down to eat street food before, you're in for quite a treat. We definitely wouldn’t trust all of the street food stands around here, but thankfully the brothers and sisters know the best places to go. We’ve experienced the delights of barbecued frog, baby duck eggs and scrumptious fried rice.
We've also thoroughly enjoyed being able to pop down to the beach on our days off for a swim in the beautiful clear sea. Otres is one of our favourite beaches - with its beautiful white sand and palm trees. It's so picturesque seeing people swinging in their hammocks in the shade of the trees.
Cambodia really is an awesome place to visit and the people here are wonderful. If you are interested in coming to support the ecclesias over here - do it! You won't look back - you will create bonds with brothers and sisters which will last forever and your faith will be greatly strengthened.
Thank you so much to WCF for funding us on this trip.
– Sister Ruth Legg (UK)