Our school has an event every year where all of the students select a week-long course, which can be travel for educational purposes, travel for volunteering work, or programs to increase physical abilities. It can be overseas or national, but many of the programs are overseas programs. This is my first year participating in this event, and out of the four choices I selected, I was assigned Cambodia. When I first heard that I was going to Cambodia, I really had no idea what kind of country it was.
Surely, I had heard about it and knew where it was, but I never knew it had such a sad modern history. In 1996, the last of the guerrillas of the vicious Cambodian communist party, the Khmer Rouge, surrendered after a long 30 years spent in Cambodia in attempt to change its ideals from the ground up. Although the climax of their power did not last long, the impact it made on Cambodia is unforgettable. Although Cambodia certainly has a longer history, including ancient history (the ruins at Angkor-Watt), the atrocities the Khmer Rouge committed, being recent and traumatising for the country, is the most critical era in Cambodia’s history that is still remembered today.
As I went on the trip to Cambodia with a few people from our school, I noticed how real all this is; many of the senior population went through that horrifying period themselves, and many adults were children of the grandfathers. It wasn’t like World War I that was a century ago, but it was just two decades ago the last of the Khmer Rouge surrendered. The country is still broken, with a dictated government and an economy yet to be fixed. To visit this country, to visit NGOs who gave their best to help that one child that was left abandoned on the streets, and to build playgrounds and facilities using only our shovels, hands, and sweat as the children watched on laughing wasn’t just a trip that taught me of Cambodia, or taught me of volunteering work, but it truly taught me of the capabilities we have as privileged citizens who can provide these children with hope, for the future.
With just a single stroke with our paintbrushes, their faces lit up, and with just a single laugh given to them, their eyes glistened. Cambodia indeed has a sad history, but with the caring hearts of many people, we can ensure happiness for their future. Gratefulness is a wonderful feeling. On any ordinary day, I don’t realize how privileged I am. I don’t simply have thoughts of thankfulness for things that I already possess. I don’t understand what it feels like to lack such things. Gratefulness is a wonderful feeling because that feeling is what I feel when I don’t get something that I usually don’t get and realize how hard it is without it. How lucky am I not to be born in a war-torn country. How fortunate am I not to be born to parents who don’t have the capability to raise a child, abandoning them. God’s grace has allowed me to see, to walk, and to talk normally. I have friends, I have a family, and I have a life. But why am I so fortunate? Why has God shown grace on me? Why am I born in a better condition than others?
When I looked into the eyes of teenagers living in Cambodia, my age, I knew what they were thinking, and I knew that they knew what I wasn’t thinking. I know that there are people more fortunate than me. There are plenty of those better off than me. But there are plenty who aren’t. I’m grateful for what I have, and since God has blessed us, we should bless others.
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