Cambodian Christian Related Articles

Everybody Knows this is Nowhere! -chapter 11

The Cry of the Gecko

Chapter Eleven                         Everybody Knows this is Nowhere!

1979– Thai Border Camps[1]

Massacre at Preah Vihear

On June 10^th, 1979, it was at the Preah Vihear Temple complex area where 43,000 to 45,000 Cambodian refugees who had already escaped from the Khmer Rouge were herded back over the cliffs along the border into the land mines and Khmer Rouge automatic weapons below. The Thai military had committed the worst forced repatriation in UN history. It was also the site of the Khmer Rouge’s last stand before the remaining remnants surrendered after the last coup d’état in 1997 and after Pol Pot died in 1998.  The area is still infested with landmines and only marked tracks are safe to negotiate. The temple site, the highest temple mountain in Cambodia which commands an impressive view of the Cambodian jungles and plains far below, is probably one of the major spiritual sites in the whole region and part of the ancient Angkorian empire that covered much of Thailand, Laos, southern Vietnam and present Cambodia. “This could be one of the major ancient spiritual foundation stones of the region which need to be broken with much prayer.[2]” – Bruce Hutchinson.  Currently (August 2008), Thai and Cambodian forces are engaged in skirmishes over ensuing political conflict concerning the land rights of property. The temple can only be accessed from the Thai side of the border but the UN had ruled in 1962 that the land and the temple rightfully belongs to Cambodia, although it is disputed by the Thai because they believe biased maps were used.  Below is a news clip from the Bangkok Post that indicates that Bruce Hutchinson may be correct in his assessment which was quoted in 2005.

BREAKING NEWS: UN to discuss Preah Vihear dispute Thursday

(BangkokPost.com) – “The United Nations Security Council will discuss the military standoff between Thailand and Cambodia this week, the Thai ambassador to the UN, Don Pramudwinai said Wednesday.

His statement came after a week-long confrontation between troops of both countries near the Preah Vihear temple on the border.

“I have been informed that the U.N. has included Preah Vihear on the emergency agenda to be discussed at the Security Council meeting tomorrow (Thursday),” he said.

Thousands of Cambodian refugees fled to the Thai border where the Thai government quickly set up refugee camps. The Thais were overwhelmed by this, and in desperation tricked thousands of Cambodian refugees into boarding buses for Bangkok, thinking they would then be repatriated to better places. They took them up north and dumped them off a cliff in Preah Vihear Province into a mine field back across the border into Cambodia. Many lay for days in their own filth and body parts of loved ones who had tried to move through the minefield.  Anyone trying to climb back up the cliff was gunned down with automatic weapons by the Thai military. It was as if the beleaguered Cambodian refugees had not experienced enough horror. This was all to tell the international community, ‘we refuse do this alone’! The United Nations Border Relief Operation (UNBRO) was given permission to step up emergency relief. Methodist Pastor Joseph Chhleav Chan, former chauffer for King Sihanouk, lived through this horrible tragedy, as well as many members of the Asian Evangelical Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

As Phnom Penh in the early 1970’s was a vehicle for the spread of the gospel, so were the camps.  Many people came to Christ in the camps through Cambodian Christian refugees, who became followers of Jesus through the C&MA, World Vision, World Relief, YWAM, Southern Baptists, Campus Crusade, OMF, CORD, and the other Christian Groups who ministered there.  This was the platform which enabled many of today’s overseas church leaders to be expatriated to a third country where they were sponsored by a church, converted, and went on to Bible college.  Many have come back to Cambodia to plant churches. Most Cambodians repatriated to America had at one time been in Khao I Dang. Refugees in other camps like Site 2, or Site B, etc, ended up being repatriated to Cambodia in 1993 in time for the elections. There were many valid conversions in the camps. Many Christians were lost during Pol Pots genocidal rule, but Christians from the border camps helped fill the hole in the soul of the church inside Cambodia.

Not much seemed to be going on inside Cambodia from 1979 to 1985 or so concerning the church but we know that the Holy Spirit was preparing people on the outside, in the camps and certainly inside Cambodia for a great new work of the Spirit.  World Council of Church’s Jean Clavaud and some Christian expatriate staff at World Vision were having an influence through their testimony, and some key Cambodians came to the faith during that time.

Hun Sen’s Peoples Republic of Kampuchea continued to fight with the help of communist Vietnam against three factions who were entrenched along the Thai border in mountainous terrain. They were the KPNLF (Old Lon Nol Republic), ANS (Royalists or today’s FUNCINPEC) and the Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge).  The United States did not recognize Hun Sen’s PRK government in the United Nations but instead chose to recognize the Khmer Rouge (DK- Democratic Kampuchea) representative. The United States supported the Khmer Rouge in the war against Hun Sen’s Vietnamese backed government with arms, finances and intelligence until the 1991 Paris Peace Accords.

1979-1993-The Church in the Thai Border Camps

Assessment of the camps in 1990 by Reverend O’B O’Brien

Players and Places on the Cambodian Border, Political/Military Organizations

ANS-Nationalist Army for Sihanouk, these are the resistance forces loyal to Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

CGDK-Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, is the loose coalition of the three resistance factions (ANS, DK, and KPNLF) fighting against the Vietnamese supported regime in Phnom Penh.

DK-Democratic Kampuchea also known as the Khmer Rouge.

KPNLF-Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, this is the resistance force backed by the United States among other nations associated with Son Sann.

KR-Khmer Rouge also known as Democratic Kampuchea, this is the resistance group made up of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime that was in power in Cambodia from 1975 unti1late 1978.

PRK-People’s Republic of Kampuchea was the regime in control in Phnom Penh. Also know as the Hun Sen Government or the Heng Samrin Government after the names of two of the government’s leaders.  This government is backed by Vietnam.

Some Organizations Working on the Border

CAMA Services-The relief arm of the Christian and Missionary Alliance providing medical services at the Site 8 refugee camp.

CCCC- Cambodian Campus Crusade for Christ serving in Church ministries in Site 2 and Site B.

CORD-Christian Outreach providing medical and engineering services at Khao I Dang camp along with medical services at the Site 2 refugee camp.

UNBRO-United Nations Border Relief Operation, the UN agency coordinating services to Khmer displaced persons at O’Trao, Site 8, Site 2, Site 6, Site K, and Site E refugee camps.

UNHCR-United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the international organization administrating services to Khmer displaced persons at Khao I Dang.

YWAM-Youth With A Mission was providing agricultural and educational services at Khao I Dang along with medical services at Site 2.

Refugee Camps along the Thai-Cambodian Border (1990-91)

Khao I Dang-situated more then twenty kilometers away from the Thai-Cambodian border, Khao I Dang had a population of slightly more than 14,665 people.

O’Trao- Situated near the border of Sisaket Province in Thailand and Preah Vihear Province in Cambodia with a population of approximately 15,480 people. The administration of the O’Trao camp was allied with the KR.

Site B- Located on the border of Surin province in Thailand and Siem Reap in Cambodia with a population of approximately 56,800.  The administration of Site 6 was al1ied with the ANS, The camp was also known as Green Hill (5 churches; 1 Seventh Day Adventist church, CCC[3], Church of Christ).

Site E-also known as Sok Sann, a refugee camp situated near the Trad Province in Thailand and Pursat Province in Cambodia with a population of approximately 10,000 people. The administration of the camp was allied with the KPNLF.

Site K-Situated on the border of the Trad province in Thailand and Pursat Province in Cambodia had a population of approximately 8,000 people.  The administration of Site K was allied with the KR (1 believer was known to live there).

Site 2 – In 1991, was the largest camp and second largest Cambodian city in the world was situated on the border between Prachinburi Province and Oudar Meanchey Province with a population of approximately 169,000 people.  The administration of the camp was allied to the KPNLF.  Site 2 itself was divided into separate camps including O’Bok, Rithysen, Ampil, Sanro, Dong Ruk, Nong Chan camps, etc, (10 Churches).

Site 8- Situated along the border of Prachinburi and Battambang, also known in Khmer as Phum Tmey, with a population of approxlmate1y 39,000 people.  The administration of the camp is affiliated with the Khmer Rouge (1 house church).

Anlong Veng- AnLong Veng was made up of several smaller camps with a joint population of approximately 25,000 people. Anlong Veng was under the control of the infamous one legged butcher, Ta Mok who was arrested in 1999 and incarcerated in Phnom Penh. He passed away there in 2006 in the same facility as comrade Deuch who still alive as of 2008.

Chakri-This was not so much a refugee camp as a ‘khum’ (hamlet) of scattered settlements in central Battambang Province hugging the Thai border.  With a population of at least 10,000 people, it is made up in part by the former residents of the military camp known as “Khao Din” or “Site 8 North”.

Chu Kaki-A meeting point for the Red Cross to receive war wounded in Odar Meanchey Province.  The area around Chu Kaki has thousands of residents, many of whom formerly lived in the camp known as ‘An Kbal Leov.’

O’ Plerng Chheh-Known to the Thai as Sop Tlee, this area may also be regarded as a ‘khum’ of scattered settlements in southern Battambang Province on the Thai border.

Phum Doeng-Known to the Thai as Nong Prue, this khum (“hamlet”) of scattered settlements was in northern Battambang Province due west of Poipet Chas. It had a population of at least 11 0,000 people made up in part by the former residents of the KR military camp known as “Camp 85” or “Site 8 West.

Tatum-A camp of a least 20,000 people situated in Siem Reap Province approximately two hours walk from Site B.  It was the home for thousands of ANS combatant personnel and their families.

The Church in the Refugee Camps

The situation for churches in the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border in 1990 was as follows:

Khao I Dang­ (KID)

The Khao I Dang church went through an extremely painful split at the end of 1990. The situation is still not clear.  Before the split the church numbered between 70 and 80 adults on a Sunday morning.  There were smaller cell groups or house groups known to the Khao I Dang believers as “little churches” through out the camp that met for fellowship once or twice during the week.  There was also a youth group at Khao I Dang.  The KID church had been instrumental in the translation of Christian literature and the distribution of Christian literature to other places on the border and in Cambodia.  The church had a building, a library, and a Sunday school building.  It was an unaffiliated, independent church.  At KID there was also a Seventh Day Adventist church and a Catholic church.

The most beneficial piece of literature to come out of Khao I Dang was the hymnbook, Tomnuk Khmer Borisot, edited by Sam Sarin, now in Australia and Alice Compain, who formerly served with OMF in Cambodia and Laos.[4]

Ms. Alli Blair of World Vision communicated from Burundi in May of 2004;

“How did I end up in Southeast Asia?  In 1979, the news of the Cambodian genocide hit an incredulous world. I was sitting in the normally rowdy or at least lively common room of St. John’s College Nottingham, UK, and all of a sudden there were the images, before you could even prepare your heart, of living skeletons in dark rags, bone babies covered in flies, humanity in hell – over in that strange part of the world where the Vietnam War played out its interminable scenes. I knew that comfortable theology was one thing, but God’s Word to that atrocious reality needed to be lived out, so I prayed and fasted about it and arrived in Thailand in 1982 to work in the Khao I Dang Holding Centre with Christian Outreach (CO).

A sixth month commitment became a twelve year ‘love affair’ with the Khmer people. Gracious, attractive, extraordinarily resistant, wonderfully open to the gospel, quick to laugh and so brave, oh so brave.

Little widow Svay Tevy who had watched her husband being murdered, then found the man who had done the crime was now her neighbor in Khao I Dang, wearing her husband’s watch. Could you forgive? She came to the Lord and became a fighter for the gospel as she had fought to save her husband when he was being murdered.

Hoeung Vibol[5] whose eldest child contracted malaria and was dying during the Pol Pot regime, so he gave her the only liquid that he could find – his own urine. Converted in Khao I Dang, the child lived to become a beautiful young lady who today is happily settled in Canada where Vibol is a social worker and involved church member.

It was a secret thrill when the Khmer Rouge wounded or sick came to Khao I Dang and we could share the gospel with them during their long months during rehab after amputation of limb damaged in battle. What do you say when handsome 18 –year- old Seng asks you whether God can make his legs grow back? What do you say to God by Samrin’s bedside: blind, armless and a double amputee being blow apart by land mines?

As for KID (Khao I Dang) church, I remember long hot hours understanding nothing; I remember young and old preachers, the awe around the short, wrinkled legendary oldest surviving Pastor Seang Ang; dozens of hair-raising testimonies to God’s power and love and protection during the darkness of Pol Pot’s Angkar, ‘the Pineapple’ with eyes everywhere which register every word exchanged, every encounter, every stolen lizard meal, every drop of blood taken in desperation from one of the few surviving beasts of burden. I remember when I began shamelessly to preach full of enthusiasm with my improvised vocabulary, church Elder Om Chhouk, dozing off against one of the bamboo pillars of the church – it was siesta time after all. Om Chhouk who used to complain about his hernias until one day, although I protested that I was not medical, to my utter horror, he flipped up his krama and showed me the hernia. I was always very sympathetic after that!

I remember recording as pages and pages of Pastor Tuy Bun Chhum’s testimony in English, recounted to me during lunch breaks in Khao I Dang. Today he is a pastor in the USA.”

Site B

Site B had one church affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ which at the time had 70-80 adu1ts on a Sunday morning.  Campus Crusade had an aggressive program of training the Christians to share their faith in Site B.  They had made use of expatriates and Thai nationals coming in part from the Khmer speaking areas of Thailand.

Also in Site B there was a church affiliated with the Church of Christ.  It had numbered between 50 and 60 adults on a Sunday morning.  The Nazarene Mission, at that time, in Thailand said there was a man at Site B who led a Nazarene there as well.        This man says he was able to col1ect 500 names which he designated as the members of his church.  I had been unable to find a Nazarene Christian group meeting. There was, however, a Seventh Day Adventist church and a Roman Catholic Church there.

Site 2

This camp was not one single camp but is made up of several different camps each with its own administration.  The camps were connected to one another and travel from one camp to the other was easy.  Site 2 had certainly the largest and most complex situation of churches among the camps on Thai-Cambodian border.  As of 1990, there were nine churches and/or worship centers at Site 2.  A worship center is the Campus Crusade’s terminology for a group of believers that meets regularly.

Ms. Alli Blair comments on her time spent in Site 2;

“Next was Site 2, the wild west, with the notorious ‘Platform’ housing hundreds of Vietnamese refugees on a bamboo platform. Was it 200,000 displaced Cambodians in its heyday?  I used to know all the statistics by heart in my more political days! Daily horror stories of shelling, attacks, armed robbery, rape, occult, fetish-related crimes were a backdrop to not a few church scandals as well. Was the handsome, personable leader of a certain breakaway church really a crook and gunrunner as whispered? Was the Khmer Rouge convert leader of another church truly a convert or still involved in subversive politics? Any such vast gathering of humanity must have its colorful challenges, but amongst it all were the shining stars who kept us sane and committed.

Musical genius and man of vision Mam Barnabas, struggling often with depression as he blessed the church with his powerful ministry, preaching strong messages, counseling, writing Khmer songs or translating English evangelistic materials, to name but a few. Timothy Hong and family serving the church, solid, faithful, keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus as the nightmare unfolded around them until the day the Lord sent them to bless the USA. And brave, unsung hero Sar Paulerk who would go back and forth across the communist border war zone risking his life to keep Christians in touch with each other, transmitting prayer and praise issues of each Khmer Christian community facing their different challenges.”

Six churches in Site 2 were affiliated with CCCC.  One gifted Cambodian Pastor named Pastor Mam Barnabas filled the position as the leader of the CCCC ministries in Site 2.  The CCCC churches of Site 2 are 1isted as follows:

Nong Chan Camp – 1 church

Ampil Camp – 1 church

Sanro Camp – 1 church

Dong Ruk Camp – 1 church

Rithysen Camp – 2 churches

The three unaffiliated churches of Site 2 were as fo11ows:

Calvary Church- numbered from thirty to forty adults in the Sunday services.  Phat Chea pastored the church.

Dong Ruk # 1 Church- numbered forty adults in the Sunday services. Suas Sina pastored the church.

Dong Ruk #2 Church -Was numbering twenty-five adults in the Sunday services. Nuon Sokhom pastored the church. Three pastors played an over-shepherd role to these unaffiliated churches.  They rotated their teaching and preaching gifts on a weekly basis to these churches and made themselves available for advice and support. They were Beng Nguon, Ms.Chumnan and Timothy Hour. There were a number of Seventh Day Adventist and Roman Catholic churches at Site 2.

Site 8 – Had one unaffiliated house church. This is the only Christian church that has ever existed under a KR administration.  There was no church bui1ding, the believers gathered in the home of the church leader, Om My (“Auntie My”). The church gathering usually numbered between 20 and 25 adults with at least as many children (it would not be unusual to see chickens and ducks at the service also).  The church services were conducted in a relatively unstructured format that begin with an hour or so of singing, followed by prayer and a teaching.  The church also had a daily noon Bible study.  The actual number of Christians in Site 8 was not well known because of the voiced and unvoiced discouragement to identify oneself as a Christian placed upon the people by the camp administration.

Observations, Assessments, and Recommendations (Rev. Robert O’Brien)

“The people of the evangelical churches in the border camps demonstrated a warm relationship and a strong commitment to Christ in their day to day lives. With all of the border churches there is an evangelistic emphasis.  Khmer Christians very clearly understood Christ’s imperative to share the truth of the gospel with those who have not had a chance to make an informed decision about Christ.

The churches themselves did not have regular contact with churches of other encampments, with churches in Cambodia, or with other churches in Thailand.  They were not able to join together for meetings.  There was relatively little input from the rest of the Christian world. This fact, often taken for granted, propelled the border church to a bittersweet combination of self-sufficiency and narcissism.

The church and the people had a well-defined, cognitive understanding of sin.  They also took a particular interest in the stories of creation (basically because Theravada Buddhism does not have a well defined tradition for creation). This is, not surprisingly, similar to Cambodian Christianity in Cambodia and in the Diaspora.

The church did suffer under leadership struggles and personality conflicts.  This was not different from other places where Cambodian Christianity flourished and indeed not entirely different from other indigenous Southeast Asian churches.  It may well be that this was a stage that the Khmer church must pass through as it struggled for maturity in Christ.

None of the churches on the border were able to support their own pastor from indigenous offerings. Most of the church leaders had little or no formal theological education.

The crying need of the church on the Thai-Cambodian border was for discipleship, both for the church leaders and for the lay believers. Lifestyle issues (purity, financial integrity, etc.) often remained a problem in some believers’ lives, even in the lives of the leaders of the churches.  Occasionally there were some doctrinal issues that may have caused a period of friction, but there were generally not any large scale doctrinal problems within the evangelical Cambodian churches on the border.

It is therefore recommended that organizations wanting to minister among the border Khmer develop ministries to disciple and train the leaders of the Khmer churches.  Leaders of the Khmer church need to be discipled as do the believers entrusted to their spiritual care.  Discipled church leaders should then be further equipped to shepherd and disciple the people in their care.  One recommended program would be T.E.E. where several semesters of work have already been translated into the Cambodian language.

Any new organizations wanting to participate in ministry on the border needed to dove tail its efforts with those already ministering on the border.

Any organization working among the Khmer or deploying personnel of any nationality (including ethnic Khmer) must work supporting the already established lines of indigenous leadership. The pertinent issues of indigenous leadership development and non-paternalism must be constantly re-affirmed and implemented.  Financial inputs into the lives of lay believers and church leaders must be prayerfully considered lest “Rice Christianity” be developed instead of indigenous self-support.

The strategic importance of the churches in the refugee camps has been long and grossly underestimated-the overwhelming majority of the people in the refugee camps will not be resettled to third countries but will be repatriated to Cambodia. The believers and the leaders of these churches will be of critical importance to the growth of Christianity in Cambodia for the future.

The repatriated, mature Cambodian Christians that were discip1ed on the border will become an integral part of evangelism and church planting in Cambodia.  Unlike expatriate missionaries, they will not need to learn the language and culture of Cambodia.  Unlike the ethnic Khmer of the Diaspora, they will be the indigenous church.  Investment made to the spiritual growth of their lives on the border today will produce kingdom workers that, with God’s help, will become an effective, culturally sensitive force for the dissemination of the truth of Jesus Christ in Cambodia.”

Rev. O’B O’Brien, 1990.

A Word from an Old Friend of the Cambodian People:

I continue to pray for the Cambodian pastors and a few of them keep in touch.

I worked for over 10 years with the Cambodian Church in the refugee camps. YWAM has an anointing in discipleship, so that’s what I was involved with Cambodian Christians in the camps for those 10 years, from 1980-1991.

As you know, because of the Cambodia’s tragic recent background, it is very difficult for Cambodians to learn how to forgive and really trust one another–even among Cambodian Christian leaders. I worked with most of the Cambodian church leaders in Phanat Nikom, Khao I Dang, and Site 2 camps. It was not always easy as the leaders would often quarrel and end up being divided.

Many times I would get out a bucket of water and teach them from John 13:5-17 about forgiveness and illustrate this scripture by actually having them wash each others feet. Then one time in Site 2 camp, in 1991, just before we had to leave this happened: when I filled the bucket of water, the church leaders and pastors refused to wash each others feet. They said it doesn’t work and that it was too difficult to work together. So I asked them what Jesus taught about when his disciples came to Him in Mathew 18:21-22; and asked them how many times should one forgive his brother.  Up to 7 times, his disciples replied.  And Jesus responded: “No, I say to you, 7 times 70.” So I asked these leaders if they had yet forgiven each other 490 times. They looked at each other and decided they were lacking. So, once again they got into a bucket and washed each others feet and forgave each other.

About four years later, Barnabas came to visit me in Finland when I had cancer to thank me on behalf of the Cambodian pastors. He told me he learned a lesson from my example and has been continuing that ministry throughout Cambodia. During those 10 years in the border camps God did a wonderful work to prepare His church to walk in humility and forgiveness.

I would love to go again one day to see you all. Keep up the good work and greet all the brothers from the camps from me.

Mark Erickson, July 2^nd 2003

Looking Back in 2003

The Author

By mid 1990, in the city of Phnom Penh there were about 9-10 house churches functioning and other scattered believers in the countryside. This early church inside Cambodia struggled with much of the same problems that the church on the border struggled with; lack of quality leadership with theological education, financial integrity, little Bible reference material, power struggles, character issues, and personality conflicts.  The church on the inside had but a few foreigners from 1980 to 1990, to disciple, model and encourage believers during that time.  Staff from World Vision like Sally Rymer, Sue Taylor, Maurice Bauhahn and others from different Christian NGOs cautiously provided Bibles to believers, witnessed to those they worked with, smuggled out music for FEBC in the Philippines to play back to Cambodia via the airwaves. These few Christian expats encouraged the believers in the underground national church.  The church on the border, in many places, had expatriate Christians from various Christian NGOs and organizations who evangelized and discipled Cambodians in the camps.  Jim Schmick, who was with CAMA Services at the time, had great impact on a number of Cambodian refugees who are now mature Christians in positions of leadership in Cambodia.  This is only one story of the positive influence and contribution of Christian organizations and agencies working on the border like the CAMA, YWAM, CORD, Southern Baptists, etc.

Rev. O’B’s prediction that the many Christians still left in the camps in 1990 would not be repatriated to a third country but be sent back into Cambodia and become a major boost for the numerical growth of the church and its’ spiritual depth was, accurate and insightful.  In 1993, during the time when the UNTAC sponsored the National Election, the flood gates opened and the refugees poured back in and with them, solid leaders like Mam Barnabas, Uon Seila, Brom Sambo, Ou Chai Lee, Ey Vonn, Ke Tha, Prey Sokoin, Runnath Nara, Meas Thavey,  Soun Both, Min Sor, and Ray Sano, just to name a scant few. Such leaders, on the most part had good English skills, a broader understanding of what was going on in the world and a bit more theological training than the leadership inside the country. Inside Cambodia were the surviving first generation Cambodian Christians, who were no less valuable to the church and who had experience and training from the early seventies through C&MA, OMF, and World Vision.  Notable Church Leaders in 1990 included Sar Paulerk, Bin David, Yorng Soth, Ban Sam Ol Timothy, Mrs. Molly Yos, Mrs. Im Sithan, Seang Ang, Ru Sarai, Pastor Ngov Vorn, and Muth Bunthy.  Other Christian leaders in the country during the eighties included Uong Rein, Im Chhrorm, Mrs. Prom Mean Phal, Ms. Priep Savary, Eang Chhun, Heng Cheng, Taing Nary, Seang Ang, Khiev Vanlorng, and Mrs. Moung Mouern.

In the remarkable year of 1989, in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Albania, the Soviet Union, Nepal, and Chile, more than half a billion people threw off the yoke of oppression through non-violent means.   Cambodia at this time, opened up to a limited western presence.  In 1990, missionaries such as the Westergren family, with CAMA Services, Alice Compain with OMF, Bruce Carlton with Cooperative Services International, and the Copple family with World Relief led the way for missionaries, cautiously and carefully into Cambodia.  They came to settle in and join other expatriate Christians who had previously been restricted to relief and community development work.  Missionaries trickled in from 1991 up until 1997.  After the coup d’état of July 5-6, 1997, the flood gates opened and every brand of missionary from A to Z began pouring into Cambodia.  Some missionaries immediately began to build their own empires, a bad example for the national church by their unwillingness to work in unity, and by showing the Cambodian church how to build empires, and maintain those empires through developing networks of foreign donors. This is presently a problem plaguing Cambodia, and worse so, because national church leaders have learned how to build their own network of foreign donors from the missionaries.

The early 1990’s also saw the return of Cambodian Christians who had been expatriated to a third country in the early 80’s. Those returning Cambodian expatriate missionaries, many with degrees in Biblical studies, who came to take up residence, were the Rev. Arun Sok Nhep, Rev. Kong Phan Chhon, Rev. Lee Sithan, Pastor Radha Manickam, Pastor Joseph Chhleav Chan, Bounoeuy Kes, and Pastor Ung Sophal.  The mid and late 90’s saw a further influx of expatriate Cambodian missionaries such as Sol Kes, Soeuth Lao, Ly Darath, Em Sok, Reaksa, Heap Him, and a host of others.

In the mid to late 1990’s, the local Cambodian Bible college student graduates went to study the Bible in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. They returned in the late 90’s, early 2000’s such as Kang Daracheat, Tep Samnang, Ms. Real Naleang, Yean Polin, and Saing Chhinho. The Phnom Penh Bible School, established by Reverends Radha Manickam, Sithan Lee of Cambodian Ministries for Christ (at that time) and Daniel Lam (of Country Network) in 1991 had been turning out graduates since 1995. Although there are still many tensions among Christian leaders from camps, leaders who stayed under Vietnamese occupation, expatriate Cambodian missionaries, foreign missionaries, those who have recently been sent abroad to study, and those studying at the Bible schools here, the church is putting in some effort toward working together.  In 2007, the ICF called Indian national, Rev. Raju Sbagwat to work with the national church in order to urge the older generation of leaders to mentor the second tier leadership. My experience said this plan will not work and I was right, but I am delighted to see that Raja has been working with the second tier, giving them valuable perspective, skills and a desire for unity. In the short time he has been in country, he has done a brilliant job.

Philip Yancey relates the story of the composer Igor Stravinsky who once wrote a new piece that contained a difficult violin piece. After several weeks of practice a frustrated student came back to Stravinsky saying, the piece was too difficult and impossible for him to play it.  Stravinsky told the student: “I understand that.  What I am after is someone trying to play it.” And that is what God expects, no matter what existing dynamics or self-erected barriers, parts of the body should try to work together and that is happening to some degree.

Left to Die in a Rice Field

Min Sor

One day, World Vision Cambodian staff person Mr. Min Sor was visiting his wife’s village, Prey Kwaov, Khum Trabeang Thom, Srok Tram Kok, in Takeo Province, when a lady approached him and told him about her sister who had given birth to a baby girl with a cleft palate.  Because the family believed in local superstitions, they believed that if they did not physically crush the child with blunt instruments and leave it to die in a rice field, the children born to them after that would also have birth defects. They were afraid of “Chang Rai”, or bad fortune, so they pummeled the child and left it to die in a rice field.  The next child born was a boy, who was also born with a cleft pallet, in late 1999.  The baby was brought to the local medium, and then the father planned to leave it in a rice field and have cattle trample the baby to death.  When the WVC staff person heard the story, he told the child’s aunt to have the mother save the child for him. Meanwhile, the baby was only about a month old and was sickly because the mother couldn’t breast-feed him because of his birth defect. Two or three days later, Min Sor brought the baby to his home in Phnom Penh. His wife had just given birth to a newborn herself and both babies kept each other up with crying so there was no sleep in the house for weeks.  Because of the cleft palate, Sor’s wife was unable to breast-feed the baby even though she was nursing their new born, so they fed the baby milk and water to keep him alive. He then took the baby to the Sisters of Charity where he and his wife visited the baby often. After four or five months, the sisters turned the baby over to MaryKnoll, who found a surgeon from Taiwan who could repair the cleft palate for only $80.  Min Sor said that if MaryKnoll didn’t have money, he would pay because he now felt very close to the child.  After a successful operation, they invited the aunt and mother to come visit the child. The sisters did a great job in caring for him because he was big, healthy, and now handsome.  The Cambodian family now wanted him back, but the sisters loved him as well and wouldn’t give him up unless they were convinced of his safety. The mother brought the father for a visit and he also wanted the baby back, but Min Sor wanted to get some things straight first. He explained clearly to the man that the boy was saved by Jesus, not by Min Sor (although the man did not believe it). He told the father that superstitions were not true and that Cambodia now had technology and people who could fix birth defects and if something like this should happen again, the father should contact him. Lastly, the father was to tell others not to fall into the same trap. Two months later the sisters at MaryKnoll gave the baby back to the parents and told them, “If you change your mind about the baby, bring him back.”

At first the boy lost a lot of weight because he cried and couldn’t sleep, being used to the comfort of air-conditioning at MaryKnoll.  The sisters sent milk rations to the baby and after a few months he was back to normal.  Before they gave the baby back, Min Sor named him ‘Saw Samnang” which means ‘Lucky’.  He hopes that when his mother and father call his name, they will be reminded of how lucky they are to have had such a good thing happen to them.

The boy is now almost five and he is doing well. Min Sor drops in regularly to check up on his “Samnang” but the boy has forgotten who Min Sor is, and the role Min Sor played in his life. God will not forget, though.

References

Blair, Ali. Email Correspondence. 2003

Erickson, Mark. Email Correspondence. 2003

Jones, Dale. Newsletter. November 5, 2004.

O’Brien, O’B. Sunday school notes, San Jose, CA. March 1991

Sor, Min. Personal Interview, 2003

Website: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=129027