Call to Serve

I learned that this was Dalat’s first time partnering with the Cambodian arm of the ministry Operation Mobilization (OM). To be frank, prior to this trip, I had not given much thought to Cambodia and its people. A cursory Google search revealed it to be a country of roughly 15 million Khmer people, with an estimated 83% of the population being Buddhist. What Google failed to show me was the striking economic inequality the people live in, which the team and I were about to see once we touched ground and got to work.

OM had planned and organized our week of ministry activities. Our days started early, with breakfast and a time of devotion before going over the plan for the day. Most days, we had long drives to the provinces outside the capital, where we engaged in outreach that included presenting skits with a gospel message, organizing games, leading arts and crafts sessions, and distributing food supplies to both parents and children alike. Throughout the week of planned service activities, the team got to see firsthand the many impoverished communities both within Phnom Penh and surrounding communities. It was quite eye-opening to see things such as a luxury car dealership located right across the train tracks from where a slum community is located, or even a well-known municipal rubbish dump where both adults and children alike search through the mountain of refuse for recyclables to be sold.