Life in Siem Reap

We're safely in Siem Reap! We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a 6-hour bus ride. The team definitely prefers the atmosphere here to Phnom Penh -- much more laid back, though this is the busiest that Corinne and I have ever seen this city. We've eaten some fantastic Khmer food, and connected with the other teams here (a YWAM team, and a group of 6 people from another org). We met a younger team from Hawaii, also YWAM, in Phnom Penh, and they'll be joining us here in Siem Reap tomorrow.

Today is our first day of work, and later this afternoon we'll be going out to a village to observe a program run by an org that partners with YWAM in using teams. We'll be working with them, a small organization run by a Filipino man and his wife, for the bulk of our time. They run a private preschool, a village ministry to kids, and they run a program at a government drug rehabilitation center for men 2 days a week. This week we'll start working in all of these areas, trying to assess how we can be of the most help during our short stay.

I happened to ask the man who runs this organization, named Noel, if they have a website, and he said that is a need that they've been hoping to have met. I've never built a website, but with my HTML experience and a bit of research, I'm really hoping to be able to get something going for them before we leave.

Things are always changing in Cambodia, so Corinne and I are adapting to different ministry options this year, different people running things, etc., but the YWAM base is vibrant as ever, and continuing to grow. I ran into one of the young English teachers who I worked with 2 years ago, Somnang, and got to reconnect with him. He's studying English Literature at a university here! I could tell he was brilliant 2 years ago, so that was exciting to hear.

We're hoping to get in touch with Martin and Dary at the White Doves Center (a rehabilitation facility for women who have left brothels that we've been involved with in the past) before too long, but they're no longer affiliated with YWAM, so it's tricky.

Everyone on the team is doing well! No sickness, no injuries (aside from Corinne's skinned elbow today), and good spirits around.