Voice From The Past

A simple hug. A prayer of blessing. A pat on the shoulder. Stuff we do every day and forget, especially when you’ve been doing it for 15 years, almost everyday, with around 13,000 kids in the rear view mirror. It’s the little things we do and say that stick with these kids. Often children long forgotten, and statements erased from our memories, surface in unusual ways. Recently, at one of the many weddings we attend and often help fund, a young guest asked to be photographed with Mak Sou and I. I did not recognize her, nor remember her name. About a week later a large framed photograph arrived. It must have cost her a large amount of money.Srei Nak had grown up, years ago, in the Kakaoh Church Home under our FCOP Vice President Long Kit. She first came in year 2000. Now, Srei Nak's grown and married with her own family, but she came 400 kilometers for Long Kit’s daughter’s wedding. Srei Nak owns a prospering dry-goods business in Poipet. When she came to the house with the present she said to Sou, “I’ll never forget you and Pa Thom telling us that we could become anything we wanted, and that we were the future of Cambodia.” Thirteen-thousand kids later, her story is not unique. There are very few places Sou or I can go in Cambodia and not be recognized.[nggallery id=1201]