Gabby, Theresa and Frances visited a few villages when they were in Battambang for the SBA workshops.
We ended our Battambang project on a positive note. We got to know our students a little better and they opened their hearts and homes to us. Thus, instead of going back to Phnom Penh on Sunday, 25 August 2007, after mass inthe morning, we decided to accept the Tapung village students' invitation to visit their village.
At 9 am, Fr. Gabriel, SJ gave us a lift to Tapung village and arranged for transport to send us to Tahen village in the later part of the afternoon. On the way to Tapung, we stopped to pick up some candies for the children. When we arrived at the parish, we saw many bicycles parked there. We thought that there must be a big event going on. When we stopped and looked up at the church, we saw a big welcoming committee. A large group of children were all waiting there. Thus out came our cameras. It was a Kodak moment!
Thank God for the big bag of candies. It was distributed very quickly among the children. Our students, Sam Phana Nha and Ren Sophyna showed us their classes. They have to teach (even though they are Grade 9 students themselves) three hours a day; subjects in Khmer and some English too to the young children of the village. On Sundays, they teach catechism, (even though most of the children are not Catholics).
The youth of the parish gave us a little of its history. The "settlers" of the village returned from the refugee camp in Thailand after the Pol Pot regime. At that time, only two families were Catholic and they had to go Battambang for mass. They requested a church to be built. Thus, the first church was a very simple house of God. However, as the village grew, the church grew as well. There are 82 baptized Catholics today. Therefore in 2003, a bigger church, stunningly beautiful, was built.
On the way to the first church, we passed a couple of houses and at one of the houses, the lady owner invited us into her house. She has a half paralyzed husband whom she takes care of. Her four grown-up children have all left the village. We saw the leaking roof of the "main" room. It has neither windows nor a door. Both she and her husband sleep in the little extension which is supposed to be their kitchen. It pained us to see her and her paralyzed husband living in such poor conditions.
We had a quick tour of the first church. It was a simple building with basic features. Now it is used as a classroom for the kids in the village. Yan Sokhorn, a final year student who is majoring in English invited us to his family home for lunch. His mom had prepared a feast for us, including a dish of snake meat! (We found out that the Cambodians eat snake meat in the wet season and dog meat in the dry season). None of us touched that dish. However, I checked with Sokhorn. He shared that snake meat tastes like chicken but dog meat is much better than snake meat. Well, I will definitely take his word for it, especially as a vegetarian!) Their hospitality overwhelmed us as they even prepared half a dozen different kinds of local fruits too.
The transport that Fr. Gabriel had prepared to take us to Tahen, the next village, arrived earlier than planned. We left with heartfelt thanks to Sokhorn and his family for their warm hospitality.
We were invited to attend a baptism mass at 4.00 p.m. in Tahen Village. Since we arrived earlier than scheduled, we hung out with our students. Sokhorn and Chy Thy taught us the first five consonants of the Khmer language! Yes, we have made very little progress with the language. The mass was delayed and it only started at 5.00 p.m. with a procession from an 84-year-old lady's house who had kept her faith during the time of the regime.
The 84 year old woman, a symbol of resilience
The procession begins
Msgr Kike wheeling "the Lady of the Faith" at the head of the procession to the Church
Bearing the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the task of these ladies
A closer look of the Statue of Mother Mary carrying Baby Jesus, with a child of joy, a child with the word of God, a handicapped child representing our sorrows and difficulties in life
Part of the procession
Children watching the procession from a 'bridge'
The procession arriving into the church compound
Presenting the Blessed Virgin Mary to the gathered
The faithful gathers before entering into the church
At mass, there was a brief introduction of the international community. The Salesian Sister in charge of the International volunteer and her council members were visiting Cambodia. We were also introduced and thanked for our services to the youth leaders. Our students were introduced and also shared about what they have learnt from the workshop.
The week had been indeed a busy week for everyone. There was a Youth Synod of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, comprising 300 youth from the three dioceses. The T-shirt with its logo was designed by the youth of Battambang. They shared briefly and performed a dance item they presented at the synod.
Finally, it was the baptism celebration of the newly 'christened' Therese. The mass ended about 8.00 p.m. and was followed by a lovely Spanish dinner for all the guests.
After dinner there was a celebration of five dances presented by the community of Tahen. The dances depicted the lives of the villagers. After every dance, the bishop interviewed every child/dancer and gave them an opportunity to practice their English and Spanish.
At eleven, we ended our rememberable day and headed for our hotel.
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