Author: Sylvie Cottrell

I was able to spend some time in Kampot, in the South of Cambodia, a small town nestled between the Elephant Mountains and the Gulf of Thailand.

My family and I lived there for several years. We lived in a very simple home, next to a river. Our kitchen was basically outside. I homeschooled my four children and my husband created a community development program for the province.

Electricity was very sparse when we lived there, so much that we weren’t able to have a fridge, we used an icebox instead. We would buy big ice blocks that were sold at the market. One time, we had no electricity for 3 whole months. Good thing we had candles!

Yet, we all have a wonderful memory of those times. They are a reminder that happiness doesn’t come from things but from people, and a simple life can bring a lot of happiness.

I was able to meet with good friends Chenda and Ho and their 3 children and rejoice about how well they are doing.

When we first met them, they were extremely poor.

My husband had spent some time teaching Ho how to build simple bungalow houses and they had worked together on one.

From this knowledge and a new realization that he was able to build things, Ho built a little guest house with bungalows. Chenda, his wife, was a good cook but I taught her more new dishes and she now has a small restaurant which is doing great. By a little bit of teaching and encouragement and their hard work, they have been able to get out of the poverty cycle and do well for themselves.

When we lived in Kampot, we noticed that Chenda’s daughter, Leang, would tire easily after running and would often squat down after any physical exertion.  We arranged for her to be checked out by a visiting foreign doctor. We discovered that Leang, Chenda and Ho’s only child at the time, had a serious heart defect. After more examination, it was determined that she needed a very complex operation on her heart that was not available locally. The only possibility was in the capital, Phnom Penh and the cost of the operation was well beyond the means of the family.

We were happy to be able to bring the family to the hospital in Phnom Penh where Leang was admitted to a hospital directed by French doctors.  It was a scary time for everyone, but after a lengthy procedure, Leang’s heart defect was repaired. It took months for her to recuperate.

Now she is a beautiful and healthy young lady (the eldest child in the picture). She speaks English, as well as Khmer, and has an entrepreneurial spirit.

When I saw Leang, she thanked me. With her eyes tearing up, she said: ‘Thank you so much for what you have done for my family, I would not be alive if it wasn’t for you and for God’. This was very moving.

It’s not easy to try to solve the world’s ills. Many of our good intentions, plans and projects work out much differently than we intended.  But it’s good to know that along the way, there are families whose lives are changed, improved. In the process, so is ours.  I find great meaning and satisfaction in this.  

In my last post, I explained the history of the school Salaamom, a school that my husband and I started in Cambodia, where we lived for ten years.

This month I have been able to go back to the school and spend time with the teachers and with the director of the school Mrs Vannear Khoek.

I was very moved to hear from some teachers who have been there from the beginning of the school; they thanked me again for giving them a vision and a heart for the Khmer children. They said our love for Khmer children started a fire in their heart and I know they have worked very hard to make a difference themselves.  During our first years in Cambodia, my husband and I spent much time struggling to learn to speak khmer fluently. But now, it is easy to communicate with my Cambodian friends. One of my main goals in going to Salaamom this time, was to simply come along side these friends and encourage them by helping them to see the impact they are making on these children and their families.

We spoke about the beginnings of the school, and the struggles we had to do even the simplest things, like going to the local markets to have desks made, or struggling through government bureaucracy to get permission to even start the school. We spoke about the trainings we did for the teachers, and their early struggles to change their approach to education.  Before being a software engineer, I was a math teacher, so education was and is something I value very much.

Education is transformative, and nowhere can we see this better than in the life of the director of the school herself, the very amazing Mrs Vannear Khoek!

When we first met Vannear, she was selling soap at the market. She had missed many years of education due to the wars in Cambodia, but had gone on to study to be a teacher.  Unable to survive on the $20 a month salary of a teacher at that time, she decided to sell soap instead. We saw something in her and spent a lot of time with her. She started as a teacher the first year, then became the director of the school. She furthered her education while directing the school and now has a masters in Education. She also persisted in developing a good relationship with the Ministry of Education, and has a positive influence in other schools throughout Cambodia.  She is doing an amazing job leading the school itself, which now has over 500 students. She and her husband are very dedicated to the school and to helping their people.

I spent many hours with Vannear, the director of the school. It was wonderful to hear about the progress of the school and also how students are blossoming.

We talked together about some challenges and different solutions. Sometimes, we need someone to brainstorm with, and I’m happy to simply serve in that role.

When I think about all the problems generated by the wars of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese invasion, the coup d’état, it can be overwhelming to consider all the misery and suffering the people of Cambodia have endured.  In the book ‘What’s so amazing about grace,’ Philip Yancey talks about the prevalence of “ungrace” in the world.  But in Salaamom, and the lives of the people who have been touched by it, while challenges remain, I see grace, an island of hope for a better way, and a vision of new beginnings where the impossible becomes possible again.

When my husband and I lived in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge were still active in the country. Cambodia was in a deplorable state. We started a development program to help khmers get out of the poverty cycle.

The education system was in tatters; teachers had been killed during Pol Pot times and rebuilding the country was a challenge. Public schools didn’t have enough teachers, so kids had to go to school for half days only, and in huge classes with 60 to 100 students per class.

Seeing that issue, we decided to transform our outreach to street children into a full fledged school and called it Salaamom.

We started small, only 4 classes at first. It was a place where kids could have a normal school day, with less students, learn English and also the Bible, as well as have a decent meal at lunchtime.

We took some kids from the ghettos and the streets. We started from scratch, we trained the teachers, etc… It was a big challenge to get government permission and bring people together.

Now the school has over 500 students and is thriving. The government has recognized the school as one of the best schools in the country. Salaamom is also considered a model school which holds training each year for teachers from other schools around the country.

Going back to Salaamom was a moving experience for me. Investing in those children has changed their lives. Some of the students we started with 20 years ago are today, actually teachers at Salaamom.  Others have gone on to University to complete studies in architecture, medicine, teaching and other fields.  One young girl, Bopharoath came from a very complicated family situation and lived in a small shack on stilts above sewage water in the capital.  Through many struggles Bopharoath is now an English teacher, having tremendously exceeded peoples’ expectations.

Looking back at our own struggles, and the price we have paid ourselves, I find great meaning and satisfaction that somehow, we have at least made some contribution to making this world a better  place.

Seeing all the children blossoming in the school was a moving experience for me and made me realize again how the efforts and struggles were worth it.

I have been on sabbatical for over a week now. It has been a wonderful refreshing time. The theme has been reconnecting.

Reconnecting with my sister at first,  her name is Katie and she is 2 years younger than me.

We both flew to South East Asia, me from the US, her from France. We were able to share our lives for about a week in a very special way, without the stress of many responsibilities.  We shared our concerns, cried together, laughed together, prayed together, simply enjoyed each other after being so many years apart. I was able to show her some of the places where I have lived in my years in South East Asia, as I have lived 10 years in Cambodia, 3 years in Laos and half a year in Thailand.

I was also able to reconnect with people in Thailand and Cambodia, and there is more planned. More details to follow.

I have been reading the book ‘What’s so amazing about grace?’ from Philip Yancey. It has been an eye opener and a blessing. I highly recommend it.

Here is an excerpt from the book : “Ungrace does its work quietly and lethally, like a poisonous undetectable gas. A father dies unforgiven. A mother who once carried a child in her own body does not speak to that child for half its life. The toxin steals on from generation to generation’…

There is a better way!

I am very thankful for this time of renewal, to be able to get out of a very busy schedule and look at my life with a new refreshed perspective.