It's better to do something...

So today Em and I had the privilege of hanging out with our sponsored child and her mum today. It was kind of surreal - here was this girl that we'd been sponsoring over the past ten months, whose photo is up on the fridge, who was now with us in the flesh. It's hard to describe what it was like actually. It was funny when we first met because I think we were all as nervous as each other. As the day went on all of us became a bit more relaxed.

For the purposes of my blog we'll call our sponsored child Grace. It was great to share a bit of life with Grace and her mum. I love hearing stories. Grace's mum had not worked today because we were visiting. She has three different jobs - cleaning her neighbour's house, doing laundry and selling eggplant at the market. She told us she begins work at 4am and has a small break around 11, and then works until 7pm. Grace's mum has five children and her husband is unable to work at the moment because he is a farmer and the crop he works is not in season.

It was really encouraging for us to see the impact our small contribution can have on a child. When Em and I decided to undertake sponsorship of Grace it said in her bio that she'd been struggling at preschool. Today we learnt that Grace got an award for being third best in her class. Her mum showed us her medals and photos from the presentation, she was very proud.

I can say I'm thoroughly impressed with the Compassion child sponsorship program. I've heard people at times question child sponsorship because supposedly so much money gets sucked up by administration fees. From what Em tells me having worked at Compassion, they as an organisation are very cognisant of this. I also feel that without some of that administration, there is no way we would have been able to have an impact on a little girl half the world away.

So what am I saying? Child sponsorship may not be for you and if it isn't do something else! You're probably reading this from a Western country so therefore you're far, far richer than most of the world. To do nothing, is to be irresponsible with what you have been given. To do nothing, will prevent you from making a positive difference in a person's life and being able to share in that experience. To do nothing, is to be nothing.

Grace (in yellow) and her family in the bamboo hut that is their home

Random Thoughts

This is my first post from my mobile phone. We're here at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a three hour stopover.

We had a great time in Cambodia and I'm a little sad to be leaving but I'm also excited about going back to the Philippines for the first time since 1997.

I love being in Asia and experiencing different cultures. One thing I'm interested in observing is occupational health and safety or lack thereof. Perhaps it's just a lack of safety in general. Things like people balancing on bamboo scaffolding or severely overloaded vehicles.

Yesterday we saw a family riding a motorbike and the father had a small child in a baby carrier. There were four people on the moto in total. I might have been a bit shocked had I not got used to seeing a bunch of other unsafe stuff.

It got me thinking (and I'm not sure why) about safety and our need to try and control things. Sure, it was easy to look at these Cambodians and think they were being a bit reckless. But then I was thinking even if we try to be as safe as we can and protect those who we love we need to face the fact that much of life... indeed much of our existence is out of our control.

I'm not saying we should just be unsafe because that would be irresponsible, I guess it was just a realisation for me about the fragility of life.

So, should we worry? I haven't found worry that useful to be honest.
Matthew 6:27 NIV
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

My response is to try & control as much as I can and worry about the stuff I can't control. My response should be to trust in something a lot bigger than myself, someone who truly is in control.

Kampong Thom - journey or destination?

I don't know about you, but I always like getting to a place. Whether it was driving with my family to Narrabean, NSW as a kid for Christmas or getting to where I'm going on a holiday, I always like arriving at the destination.

Over the past two days we decided to do something a little different. Ordinarily we would have travelled direct by taxi from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (about four hours). This time we decided to stop at a place called Kampong Thom - about half way to Phnom Penh... and I'm really glad we did.

I wasn't sure what to expect because after doing a bit of Googling and being advised by Trip Advisor - it seemed there were only four hotels, six restaurants and three attractions in the whole place. Part of me wondered if it was even worth stopping. In the end, we decided it would be good to see somewhere different, a place where none of us had been before.

After checking-in and some lunch we thought we'd utilise the free bike hire provided by the hotel. On our bikes we made our way to check out the bridge that was built using money from the Australian Government.

It made be feel proud that foreign aid from Australia had been used to help with infrastructure over here, something that while improving, is still lacking.

Riding down some of the back streets it was a privilege to see people at home, just living life - eating meals, running their business, playing with their kids etc. I don't remember seeing a family gathered around a television or with their heads buried in their technology... but maybe it does still happen.

Last night for tea we ate at a restaurant called Run Amok (Amok is a traditional Khmer dish served with either fish or chicken). It was run by a New Zealander and his Cambodian wife. My two red-headed travelling companions really enjoyed their cheeseburgers and I my pizza... Apparently the Khmer menu is coming soon :) The lady was telling us that no-one really stops in Kampong Thom. She was also telling us about the various temples and attractions that are nearby. She also sold me on a large mango smoothie because her mum had just brought the mangoes that day and they were really good.

The girls keep telling me off because I'm always preaching... but I write this blog not to preach but just to share stuff I'm journeying with. I think sometimes we can be so focussed on getting somewhere that we miss out on all the beauty and the wonder in between. I think sometimes we can be so focussed on getting to where we want to go that we miss the beauty of where we are right now. I'm just so glad we stopped in Kampong Thom. I'm glad we slowed down and took in the city and its people, even just for a little while. It has been a definite highlight of the trip so far.

P.S. I think the girls are having a better time than when they last caught up... see below.