Visiting Churches and Schools in Rural Cambodia

A Rural church in Cambodia

Cambodia is a small country with a population of about eleven million people. Because of its civil wars in the 1970's that destroyed much of its country's infrastructures and wiped out a whole generation of educated Cambodians, the entire country has been pushed back for decades in terms of economic and technological development.

Fortunately, there are many countries and NGOs that are willing to lend a helping hand in this country. We visited Rita and Matthew - two individuals who willingly gave up their comfortable western life style, sold everything they had in Canada eight yearsa ago and moved to Cambodia. They have been living and serving the rural Cambodians in their small village ever since.

A Sparsely Furnished Village Classroom

Besides visiting this missionary couple, we also visited a few other rural churches and their schools. These churches are doing amazing work and providing important services to the villagers. The churches first started classes in their own building and from there they grew into schools to fill the needs of the villagers. The schools are typically free for the children and all the parents have to do is register their children. Some church schools ask parents to pay $5.00 a month for the snacks which the students get daily when they attend school.

Making Balloon Animals for the Kids in the Village

Led by the pastor of the local church, we went to visit the village and and helped promote the church\s new Children\s Centre. As we entered the village, we made balloon animals and gave them to the kids to entertain them. The families and children were happy to see their local pastor and her entourage. The children giggled and just loved seeing Steve twisting his balloons and  making different animals out of them.

The Small Church was Packed with Parents & Kids

Judging from the attendance at that evening's meeting, we did out job and got the parents out for the meeting to learn about the new Children\s Centre!





R.T.
Rural Cambodia