“Men are gold and women are cloths. Gold can be washed, but cloths are stained.”-Khmer proverb
The killings of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million people (out of a population of 7 million) during the years of 1975-1979. People of education including teachers, doctors, college students, and even those who wore glasses were either shot or died in a prison camp amongst the 'killing fields'.
In 1979, survivors returned to Phom Pehn (the capital) when the Vietnamese Communist party invaded Cambodia. In 1998 and 2003 Prime Minister Hun Sen was re-elected.
Cambodia is still in the process of trying to rebuild itself, which is a daunting task since all government and social structures were demolished by the Khmer Rouge.
65% of the adult population (35-40yrs old)are women who face the task of working more than 12 hours a day, mostly in factories.
Many women are widowed and struggle to make enough money to feed their children for even one day. Women with partners often face abuse and polygamy. Girls are forced to discontinue their education to join the work force. Girls as young as 5 years old are lured into brothels where they are forced into prostitution.Children are lured by what they think are legitimate job offers like waitressing, but then are forced into prostitution. Children are often held captive, beaten, and starved to force them into prostitution.
These are the desperate situations and the hearts of despair, where God implores us to go. Most of us in North America have no grid to put such a lifestyle of despair and labour on. It is so easy to read about the destroyed and hopeless lives and feel that they are very far away and have nothing to do with us. These people are very important to God and He longs for them each moment. They may feel forgotten, uncared for and thrown away, but they are His treasures. Wont we care for these precious people, and be truly rich?

'You cannot live low enough. That is where the freedom is; that is where the joy is.
-H.A. Baker

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