Humans of Preah Vihear 2

Today I want to introduce you to Ry. I first met her when she was in grade 10, her first year as a student at the Plas Prai dorm. Like other students, she was from a low-income rural family that lived too far from a high school to send her there without help. I remember Ry was always up for a volleyball or soccer game, and she consistently attended the optional Bible study. 

After graduating in 2020, she attended Discipleship Training School with YWAM. Last fall, at age 21, she joined YWAM as a faith-based volunteer at our dorm. She was offered a full scholarship to university, which we're hoping she'll accept after her 2-year dorm service. She's also a student in our part-time Bible school, and like the others, she recorded testimony videos with our guest lecturer Bora back in January. Ry is laid-back, quick to laugh, and passionate about Jesus. No wonder some of the male students have crushes on her. 

I'm getting to know not only Ry but also her family. Ry's younger sister Khoun, age 20, is a new grade 10 student this year at Plas Prai. (Many rural students start school late because they have to walk or bike to school, and repeating grades is also pretty common.) Last week, I got to join Ry and two others to visit Ry's parents back in the village. More on that below.

 

Video 1: "My life has hope"

“Hi, my name is Ry. I’m from Jey Sain district, Preah Vihear province, and currently living in Preah Vihear town. I volunteer at the Plas Prai dorm for high school students, which is where I first became a Christian. I want to tell you about how I first believed in Jesus. I used to be really shy and critical of myself, always comparing myself to others. I was insecure, timid, and afraid. I was so focused on comparison that I didn’t want to be around other people. 

But when I came to live at Plas Prai, I learned a lot about the God who created the world. He’s the only one who can rescue us. He came to earth, died for our sin, rose again, and returned to heaven. When I believed in Jesus, my life changed dramatically. I understood my identity: who I am, where I came from, and where I’m going – to heaven to be with God. 

Once I believed, I wasn’t afraid anymore. I trusted God’s plans for my future and stopped comparing myself to others. I understood Jesus’ love for me and I wanted to show it to other people around me. Jesus humbled himself by giving up heaven to become a humble person and He loves people no matter their situation or status. He forgives our sins. The Bible says healthy people don’t need a doctor – only sick people do. Similarly, Jesus came to save people who know they are sinners. 

In my life, since believing in Jesus, I’ve seen that He’s with me every day and He won’t let me lack anything or be afraid, no matter what situation I face. He’s our best friend who will never abandon us. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus tells us to teach others to obey His commands and know that He’s with us until the end of time. Learning all of this helped me to trust Him even more and see how amazing He is.” 

Video 2: "My experience being mocked for my faith"

"I want to talk a bit about my experience when I first believed in Jesus. I experienced some persecution as the first believer in my family, but more than my family, it was my neighbors and especially my friends who really spoke out against me. They made fun of me and called me 'Jesus.' But I told them, 'No, I’m not God.' My older brother-in-law had learned about Christianity before, but it was so different from what I had learned about God: that He’s the God of salvation who created the heavens and the earth.

My friends also used to criticize me: 'You’re graduating high school [which is rare in Jey Sain] but you don’t have a job. Why do you want to be a volunteer serving God with no salary?' But I told them, 'I’ve received Christ and now want to serve Him. I don’t need to focus on earthly wealth that can be stolen or devoured by bugs and rats. I’m focusing on treasure in heaven that can’t be lost or burnt or destroyed.' To me, the most important thing is to see people around me receive salvation. 

God encouraged me that even though I’m a poor volunteer right now, I can have joy in seeing people accept Christ. We can’t take money with us when we die, but God is preparing amazing heavenly treasure for believers. So I want to encourage my fellow Christians not to worry about wealth on earth and what to eat every day. Let’s trust God and follow Him daily.”

Ry's family

The trip to Ry's village last week was 27 miles but took us about 90 minutes, mostly on the last few miles after we got off a good road. It was so bumpy that poor Sophoeurt, Ry's best friend and fellow dorm grad-turned-volunteer, got carsick multiple times even after moving back to the truck bed. 

On the way, Carolyn and I asked Ry about her parents. She said her mom is quiet but her dad is social. They married for love, somewhat unusual for their generation, and still love each other, which is even more unusual. They don't fight much, partly because Ry's dad rarely gets drunk. Ry is the 6th of 8 children and the first in her family to finish high school. 

L to R: Sophoeurt, Ry's parents, Ry

When Ry was a child, her dad had a plowing accident and lost a toe, but because the local clinic didn't treat it well, his foot became infected. Ultimately the regional hospital had to amputate his whole foot and he now has a plastic prosthetic from a NGO (non-profit group). Since then, he mostly stays home from farming their rice and cassava fields. But he loves running errands by motorcycle to the market in the nearest town, maybe a 20-minute trip, for the few staple ingredients that they don't grow themselves, like oil, sugar, and salt.

We went mostly to ask permission from the village chief to conduct a clinic at their house in July with a short-term medical team from the US. Their home is plain and the yard is all dirt, but things seemed well-cared-for. Ry's younger brother and older sister were there most of the time, as well as the sister's husband and son, but they said hi briefly and then went off to do other tasks. 

It was my first time meeting a village chief, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I asked if I needed to dress up, knowing that for meetings with Phnom Penh officials, there can be quite a formal dress code. But Jim and Carolyn told me to wear my regular rubber flip-flops instead of nicer shoes so I wouldn't make him look bad. They were right - he didn't make a special effort to look nice. I guess going to someone's house is different from meeting at a government building.

The first five minutes with the village chief were terrifying. He told us to keep the clinic very low-key by accepting ten patients once a week, so the school wouldn't have too many absent students. Clearly he'd heard a very partial account of our plan. We hesitantly explained that the visitors were coming to this village for just a day and that they hoped to welcome 100 patients. Thankfully, he was open to that and our other ideas, and sat with us for hours under the house, chatting about his trips to distant provinces and eating Ry's mom's delicious sticky rice with jackfruit and coconut... all three were home-grown. 

Rice (regular and sticky varieties) grown by Ry's family

Ry's mom sent the leftover sticky rice with Ry for Khoun and the other dorm students

The chief's house, right across the road, will be our second clinic site so we don't have to cram 100 patients under one house all day - especially if it's stormy or sunny. He and Ry's dad debated for a while about which road would be more reliable in rainy season. The conclusion? Both could be problematic for the pickup truck. Unless a bridge is built over a creek on one road, we'll probably need to rent a tractor to make it through the mud on the other road.

A bridge is apparently coming soon. In the meantime, the creek is passable during dry season, but might not be by July.

Ry and Sophoeurt cooked lunch for us with Ry's mom ("Auntie") while we met with her dad and the chief. Afterward, Carolyn and I begged for permission to help wash dishes so we could spend time with Auntie, who surprised us by being very sweet and happy to chat with us, though a bit shyer than Ry's dad. We watched her make another kind of sticky rice to send back for Khoun (her younger daughter) and the other dorm students, along with a jackfruit and another kind of fruit that Ry and Sophoeurt scavenged in the forest behind their house.

Sophoeurt shows off her forest findings - a bit like grapes

Ry's mom steaming the sticky rice over an open wood fire

Effortlessly flipping the sticky rice to steam the other side

Ry's mom said she feels stupid because she doesn't know how to read, even though illiteracy is common among women of her generation. I told her it's pretty amazing that she raised eight children to adulthood. It couldn't have been easy to care for them all. I also surprised her by telling her that in America we don't know how to make sticky rice or wrap things in banana leaves - in fact, I'd never seen a banana leaf before moving to Cambodia. Doesn't she make it look easy in the video below? (The banana leaves keep the hot sticky rice from melting the plastic bag, which Ry had brought from the market in town - the only plastic bag they could find in the house. I'm sure the leaves were from a nearby tree. Cambodians often wrap smaller snacks in just banana leaves, but such a big amount would be hard to secure.)

We joked that Auntie is the opposite of Ry, who was at the top of her class but isn't known for her cooking. She and Carolyn bonded over their adult children and the fact that neither of them knows how to drive a motorcycle... Carolyn drives a truck, but Ry's mom can't leave the village unless someone takes her. We asked her what she thinks about Ry being a Christian. "No problem," she answered. What would she like Ry to do in the future? "It's up to her." Most of Ry's siblings are farmers in the same village. Her older sister, who thinks she's 22 (Ry's age) or maybe 23, has a 7-year-old son. Her younger brother dropped out to help on the farm - subsistence farmers often can't afford to let their sons finish school. Ry's life is such a contrast!

While Carolyn and I were up in the kitchen with Ry's mom, Ry gave her dad a small device with a recording of the New Testament, which she'd received the previous week from a local NGO. When we came back downstairs, her dad was listening to it. Her parents are not yet believers, but she's courageously shared the Gospel with them, and they're interested in learning more. Ry says Khoun has also changed - she used to make fun of Ry for her faith, but since coming to Plas Prai, she's become more spiritually open. She prays to Jesus when she has a headache or at bedtime when she's afraid of spirits. She even cut off the amulets around her waist, which were meant to offer spiritual protection. I'm praying for their family and glad I'll have more contact with them. They seem warm and resilient, they were very patient with my Khmer, and they made me feel welcome. 

Khoun is learning guitar at the dorm