The gift of love - Cambodia Mission Trip

This all started with one late night, back in February this year. Insomnia struck again, as it does ever so often. And i was up wasting my time on FaceBook, looking at other people’s business (yes, guilty as charged). When i came across a post that my friend, Bong, had put up on this wall. It was a link to CNN Heroes. Specifically to a man named Narayan Krishnan. He gave up his job as a chef in a 5 star hotel in India because he saw that his people, the ones living in his neighborhood, were DYING OF STARVATION. He asked this question which i have asked myself one too many times. What is the purpose of life? Long story short, he decided to quit his job and started a service that feeds the homeless and helpless 3 times a day, everyday, come rain or shine. The video moved me to tears.... i began to watch all the videos of current and past heroes. And it made me realize how blessed and yet how selfish i have been with my blessings. With all the luck to be born in a stable and flourishing place like Singapore, and yet all i have ever cared for was myself and perhaps friends and loved ones. I was moved by the need to give, the need to develop and share a universal love that i knew was built inside of me and now awakened and growing and it felt like my heart was going to explode! 4 months later, i am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I volunteered with my mom’s help to travel with her church to help an orphanage there called CFC aka Care For Cambodia. (You will find links to CFC on my links page in you are also interested in volunteering.) The history of why Cambodia is so poor and lacking in terms of economy and infrastructure can be found here: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/pol-pot.htm I spent 7 days with the kids. We organized games that tell stories and give lessons about the bible, teaching and sharing the basics of love, goodness, compassion and human kindness. In my opinion, they already knew this, perhaps much more than the adults. The kids never fought over toys, voluntarily shared whatever sweets and goodies we brought them, the girls tied each others hair, the bigger kids always looked out for the younger ones. And to a complete stranger, such as i, they gave me so much love and warmth. Every morning i was greeted with hugs and kisses and that would go on all day. They may not have the latest iPhone or PS3, but simple games like 5 stones and hop scotch in the mud. No designer clothes or bags, even toothbrushes, toothpaste and shampoo is based on donations. But they have BIG hearts and they have each other. For all that i thought i was going to give to them and bring to them with the church group. I felt like they gave us so much more in return! They gave us love. Genuine, unconditional love, simply because it was overflowing from their hearts! I miss them everyday. And although now i am back in Singapore, doing what i do, not a day goes by to remind me always to be grateful for what i have and how much i have to give. I hope my work with CFC will continue to grow and i can be a part of the children’s lives and the great things CFC is doing for them. If you would like to know more and sponsor a child or make a donation to them, you can check out my links page.