Our first day, we were met by 4,000 displaced people....

A couple of weeks ago,  I traveled 10 hours via a Cambodian night bus to Poipet, a border city of Cambodia next toThailand.  I met up with a medical team from England to help with a 3 day medical outreach.  Our original goal was to team up with a local Christian organization for a week of medical clinics in local villages.  About a week before we arrived, massive flooding occurred in the area causing many Cambodians to become displaced.  This radically changed our plans for the week.



Distributing supplies to 4,000 displaced flood victims

On our first day,  we were met by 4,000 displaced people (women, men, & children) as a result of the flooding.  TEAR fund and CHO (Cambodian Hope Organization) donated a set of supplies for the flood victims: 1 mosquito net, 20kg sack of rice, 1 large box of noodles, and soy sauce.
Our next day we traveled to the center of the city.  There on a concrete slab covered by a plain metal roof were about 300 displaced people.  No running water, no toilets, no relief.  Each family had created a temporary shelter which consisted of one rattan mat and a few personal belongings. Each family's mat was directly adjacent to the next family. We quickly set up a temporary clinic on the edge of the concrete slab and worked until the evening.



Organizing 300 displaced people at temporary shelter site

The second medical clinic was outside the city. We were ministering to 3 local villages where many had been displaced from the flooding.  One of the 400 people we were supposed to see was already waiting for us. She was carried in on a wood bench by the local villagers. She was a 16 year old girl, crying.  Tears of pain rolled down her face as her grandmother held her hand. She was suffering from an advanced stage of  breast cancer.

Her family was desperately poor. They were without resources. She was terminally ill and was suffering tremendously.  We soon  learned from the translator that she had no medication for pain relief.  We quickly adminstered  pain medication to her.  After about 45 minutes, once the pain medication had time to start working, I cleaned and placed fresh dressings on her chest wounds.  We gave the grandmother 2 months worth of pain medications and dressing supplies. Our ministry team prayed for her, and shared God's love to her. She prayed with the team. We helped her grandmother place her back into the tuk tuk, and she left back to her village.



City of Poipet, flooding of homes throughout the area

The next day several of our team members traveled out to where she was living. The area was flooded, and difficult to reach.  Even with a 4 wheel drive vehicle, it took the afternoon to travel to her home which was just a short distance away. She was living on a mat on the floor. Our team brought her a soft mattress pad, pillows, and sheets. Several of the village people thanked our team. They said "We don't know what medicine you gave her yesterday, but she is smiling now and eating, and she wasn't before". What a blessing to know she was comforted and through Christ we were able to minister to her. 
We finished up the week with two more medical clinic days, and I returned back to Phnom Penh.  Less than a week later, I received an email.  This young girl had passed away.  I was grieved deeply by such a tragic loss, but at the same time thankful that God used our team to minister to her and bring her comfort.

These are the times that make living in Cambodia difficult.