| Phnom Penh City Overview Photo Gallery Director Bio Journals: · Jun 23 2008 · Jul 03 2008 · Jul 07 2008 · Jul 13 2008 · Jul 20 2008 Trek 2008 Home |
Global Urban Trek 2008
Hula Dancing HopeJuly 7, 2008
Surprisingly, one of the most fun ways that I have been able to build connections with people in the last few days has been through dance!
When we filled out our Trek applications, we answered a question about our skills or talents. I suspected they hoped for answers like guitar playing or hemp weaving or some other kind of useful mission trip activity, but since it is all that I have to offer I wrote that I love to hula. I had no idea that it would come in handy.
The other night at dinner I began to ask our host sister about Khmer dancing, and she put on the Karaoke and started to teach me! We had so much fun, and eventually everyone in the house was up and moving around. I traded hula moves for Khmer dances (which are kind of like raving meets Bollywood). The next night a bunch of neighborhood girls came over and we had a big marathon. It is really fun to be able to just play with these kids, some of whom don't seem to get a lot of attention normally.
Home visits in the slums are the hardest. In a few quick, translated introductions, Children at Risk staff try to explain the story of the people who I am meeting. Everyone is in fear of being transported to the relocation site, and those who are just renting are guaranteed no compensation.
Of course there is still joy, because people find ways to survive through relationships and play and belief in God, but the heartbreaking reality of every family we speak to is that they have barely carved out a place for themselves in this crowded, dirty place. After the election, even this will be taken away from them and they will be moved to the relocation site. There is a lot of trash, a lot of naked kids. It is a strange juxtaposition as the slum sits in the middle of the city.
It is hard to imagine ourselves initiating a positive transformation of the slum for these people. The city is reaffirming what most of them were afraid of – that they are unwanted here. This, perhaps, is the only thing that I can really offer this summer – a counter proposition, physical evidence that they are worth knowing and worth visiting and listening to.
Maybe we are all starting to see that nowhere is too toxic for love to enter in, not because we are nervous about some future divine team-picking and we want to be sheep instead of goats, not because they need to be saved, not even because we westerners could learn a lot from these poor folks, but because these are our brothers and sisters. Oppression anywhere threatens our liberation, so we are here to struggle together and try to view the kingdom as a real possibility because each one of us bears the image of God.
- Kimberly
Print
Email
