The great divide (5)

On Monday morning and the third day of the Cambodia Youth Camp, our fifty-over teenagers were looking forward to a thrilling ride over the high seas, and they were only disappointed because it was so short: less than 15 minutes! After breakfast, we put them 10 to a boat, and sent them off to Bangkachang island where they had a medical mission as well as visits to the school and ministering to the poor kids in the slum kampungs of Bangkachang.

I didn’t go with the group, but heard later that all of them had a fine morning, including a seafood lunch. They were no less as enthusiastic as the day before in their interactions and service to the poor community, and their eyes were opened to the poverty and simple lives of the people there. Our doctor saw many patients and gave out most of the rest of his medicine.

In the afternoon after lunch, the team returned to Koh Kong, had a short rest and then it was off to the Koh Kong hospital. Our visit to this hospital 3 months ago helped us to build relationships with the staff and when they requested us to donate used computers since they were using a borrowed one, we promised to bring a few used desktops the next time we visited. We had a simple handover ceremony in the staff office.

One of the doctors showed the team around the hospital after that. We dropped in at the maternity ward, but there were no new babies born that day. Next, we visited the general ward, and our girls and boys were introduced to the Aids patients. These patients were usually at the end-stages of the disease when they come to the hospital, and some of our girls were moved to tears during that visit. Reluctant to leave, they persisted to share the blessed Good News, through an interpreter, and prayed for God’s mercy to save the souls of these helpless patients.

We had to plan where to take the massive group for dinner that night, and the decision was finally made to have it at the Koh Kong Resort, near the Thai-Cambodian border. This hotel cum casino is huge and ostentatious, with an ornate ceiling which took the breaths of the first time visitor away. Dinner was in a big banquet hall and we occupied 6 tables, feasting on simple dishes such as fried rice, tom yam soup and other delicious dishes.

At the end of dinner, it was still early and thus we gathered in a corner for a debrief. One of the girls shared her views of this extraordinary day – they had started the day with a visit to one of the poorest slums, ministering to the sick and the needy, and they had ended it in a huge, beautiful, wealthy resort casino for a feast of a dinner. What a contrast!

At the dinner, we also met a Cambodian family who owns a hotel in Koh Kong, and had a chat with them. Their teenage son studies in Singapore, and when one of our youth told him about Bangkachang, the boy said he had heard of the island but he had never been there before. Even though it was just a quick 15 minutes by boat from the doorstep of his family’s hotel to the island, he, a rich man’s son, had never been there, never seen or mingled with the poor in the slum. What a contrast, what a huge divide between the rich and the poor in Cambodia!