Journey to Bangkok

On Tuesday, July 29th we departed Sihanoukville, Cambodia to sail to Bangkok, Thailand. I was sad to leave Cambodia and I missed our local volunteers that had been so great to us on the ship. We sailed for one day and during our journey we had to break down the bookshop. All the shelves had to be moved to the center of the shop and covered up to keep the books dry in the event of a storm or a rough ride. After we wrapped that stuff up I was able to enjoy the ride. All of the ships vans had been raised up by crane and put up onto the car deck the night before. I went out to the car deck to scope out the wide open horizon.

For one day we sailed along the Cambodian and Thai coast. Around mid day on Monday a bunch of us had to go to the book hold in the bottom of the ship to pack up books being sent to our sister ship in the Caribbean. We sent several hundred boxes up to the deck to be hauled off once we arrived in the port. The only bummer part of it was that we were unable to see our arrival. Generally when the ship comes into port people wave their home country flags to show our international community on board.

My cabin is in the bow of the ship so all night we were feeling the waves. It was cool to hear the waves crashing up along side of our wall. I listened to some music to try and distract myself from the movement but eventually I got used to it and I didn't get sea sick.

We maneuvered up a industrial canal, passing Thai tankers and Navy ships. Pulling into port we arrived around 4pm on Wednesday. I was really looking forward to all the possible outreach opportunities here in Bangkok.

More than Survivors

On Sunday we had the privilege of hearing a survivor of the Khmer Rouge killing fields come to preach at our service. I was amazed to hear his life story. He didn't share all the details of living under Pol Pot's regime. But what he did mention was that as a child he prayed that if he survived, he would dedicate his life to serving others and preaching the Gospel. All of his brothers and sisters were killed. Miraculously, he was the only who survived. Now a pastor in Denver, CO, here he was preaching back in his formerly war ravaged country.


People in Cambodia are survivors by nature. On the ship, I was lucky enough to serve with some volunteers from a Christian orphanage in Phom Penh who again opened my eyes the harsh life in southeast Asia. Some of the volunteers came with us on our faith trip a few days ago. They seemed happy and healthy. Before the ship left, one of the volunteers wrote me a note that said, "Thank you for being a brother. I have no brothers, no sisters, no mother or father. I am so sad."

Over the course of two weeks, the volunteers we served with had become our friends. Though there was deep pain that lay under the surface of their smiles, they shared a joy that was nothing short of amazing. How could these teens with no family and so much pain exude so much warmth and love? Nearly all of them shared that their faith had led them to a desire to serve those in need in Cambodia.

To me the pastor who came and the volunteers are more than survivors, they are conquerors. Their courage was a testimony to the powerful tranformative power of their faith in Christ. I am thankful and humbled to have met them.

The Fruits of Labor

On Sunday our bookshop shift decided to do some work for a local HIV hospital for children. James, one of the book shop workers met with the director of the hospital to see what kind of help our crew could provide. Meeting a director of any hospital back home would never happen, but here in Cambodia as long as you can provide some sort of service for free, you can pretty much schedule a meeting immediately. Originally, James thought the deckies would only have to build a bookshelf and the ship would provide free children's books. The book shelves were built, but we also ended up cleaning and painting a building that was going to be a designated quarantine area for final phase HIV and swine flu patients.

Our group walked into the decrepit building with grimy walls and cob webs hanging from every corner. It was most definitely in need of a face lift. It was amazing to see how the group rallied and within three hours all walls had been scrubbed thoroughly and we had a fresh coat of paint on. The following day we repainted the inside as well as the outside of the building. I was given the task of painting a mural with one paint brush. I had an hour to finish it. I gathered some help and we had so much fun as I designed a simple abstract design that wrapped around the room. It was sad to think though that this building was essentially where people were brought for their final days of resting peace.

While we were working some of the children from the clinic came to watch us work. They view us with curious eyes as anyone who's not Cambodian sticks out like a sore thumb. At one point one of our team members took out some balloons and we began blowing them up for the kids. They started giggling and had fun to no end. They loved throwing the balloons up in the air and trying to catch them. It was amazing and joyful to see how the children that lived under such despereate situations could appreciate the smallest moments in life.

After painting we visited the clinic. Children lay on their beds with deep sorrow in their eyes. One baby lay in a hammock, lifeless as a nurse treated her. The scene was emotionally heavy and I felt helpless. Their sadness left and indelible mark on my heart.

Afterwards I prayed for the children and hoped that God worked though our efforts to help make the ward more pleasant than it had been.

Faith Trip

The other day we went on what was called a "faith trip." We brought no money, no cameras, nothing-just water. The goal was to rely on our faith alone to guide us into the unknown and share with the local community about the ship and its outreach programs. Our group was assigned to a mysterious location called“the dragon tail.” We couldn’t find out from the ship where it was or how to get there. We weren't even allow to ask anyone on the ship how to get there. Fortunately we had translators with us and they had the port guards point us in the right direction.

Along the way we walked on dirt roads leading through a shanty town. Rotting wood beams held up shacks made out of scrap metal, wood and found objects. I was hoping that I would meet some people to tell about the ship. Shortly thereafter, a man in a wheel chair waved to me, motioning for our group to come over to him. I eagerly walked up to him not knowing what would come of it. We chatted for a bit and in his broken English he told us that someone else from the Doulos had come and gave him some clothes. The rest of the people from my group came and he talked with us for a bit. He wanted us to pray for him to receive a new wheel chair. Unfortunately none of us had any money on us but we invited him to the ship. I was really hoping he would come for a visit.

While walking along a forest we saw a monkey sitting on a fence. He was playing with his gonads the whole time. Then when he saw us, he closed his legs as if embarrassed. It was so hilarious. Then he walked further down the fence and proceeded to jingle his bells. Random.

After walking for 3 hours we arrived at a hotel close to the dragon tail. The group was tired so instead of going to the destination we ended up hanging in the lobby of the hotel to rest up. We did a bible study on Revelation 2:21-29 and reflected on it for about a half hour. With no money, we had no way to get back to the ship. And while everyone was tired and hungry we decided to walk back through town to see if we could meet any more locals. As soon as we left the hotel we saw a giant sculpture of a dragon's tail sticking out of the beach. We had only been minutes away from our destination but it was all good.

Along the way tuk tuk (a small cart attached to the back of a motorcycle, the southeast Asian equivalent to a taxi) drivers tried to get our business so I tried talking to them. I asked if they had heard about the ship and one driver had already visited it. The conversation didn’t really go anywhere, let alone allow the opportunity to share our faith with them so we just kept going. There were some volunteer translators that came along with us and I felt bad because one of them was getting really tired and she just had flip flops on. Aggressive drivers kept asking us if we needed a ride and our group began kicking around the idea of tuk tuk outreach.” Since so many of them kept coming up to us we easily could start a dialog and tell them about the ship and why we were there. Minutes later, a tuk tuk driver pulled up. One of our team members, Peter, had had him drive him around a lot before and the driver was super friendly. He asked us if we needed a ride and we told him that we had no money. He said, “no problem, I take you for free.” It was totally a gift from God. We were all tired and he came at just the right time. Six of us piled in and I sat on a ledge on the side! It totally rocked. When we got back we thanked him for his generosity and Peter just happened to have a bible in Khmer (the Cambodian language) that he had been wanting to give him. It was so cool that we had been talking about reaching out to the tuk tuk drivers and here we were already able to minister.

I learned a lot that day. As much as we all wanted to get to the dragon tail, it wasn't so much about the destination as much as the journey. Had we not walked, we never would have met the man in the wheel chair. We wouldn't have invited him on the ship (He actually came the following day and the crew helped him up the gangway. He toured the ship.) Also had we not walked all the way back we would never have bumped into the tuk tuk driver and given him the bible. Its amazing what God will do if you just make yourself available.

Work

I've been assigned to work in the ship's bookshop- a floating Barnes and Noble of sorts with all kinds of Christian and education material. Literature distribution is the ship's biggest outreach project. On board we have over half a million books with over 60,000 titles. Visitors come on board to purchase books, take tours of the ship and get affordable meals.

Today was a busy day. I worked at the ticket booth, crowd control, and restocking the shelves of the books. At one point I had to be a human gate in order to prevent people from running onto the ship. Apparently they don't believe in queuing up in Cambodia. I also greeted people in their native language (Kmer) by bowing and saying “johm reep soo uh” ( which means, hello) and counting the number of vistors. At the end of the day we had over 3000 people come, and that was a slow day. On a good day they can have about 8-9000 visitors, sometimes up to 20,000. The past couple days have been slow though due to the rain. I'm hoping more people will come out before we leave the port next week. Since the ship began is operations, 21 million people have come on board world wide.

While my duties are seemingly small, I definitely feel like I'm part of something much bigger than myself which is ultimately helping people here in their local communities. I feel really excited to be apart of this incredible operation.

The Doulos

The next day we went through orientation and learned the history of the Doulos. Built in 1914 to be a freighter, it was originally named the Medina. The Doulos had been acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII. Later in 1948, it had been purchased by the Panamanian company, Cia Naviera, San Miguel SA. The following year it was converted into a migrant ship in La Spezia, Italy and named, Roma. The Roma was then sold in 1952 to Giacomo Costa and renamed the Franca C. The original steam engine was replaced by a more powerful diesel engine. It had then been converted to a luxury liner then purchased in the ‘50s by an Italian company and reconverted into a luxury cruise liner and once again named the Roma. Finally in 1977, GBA (Good Books for All), a non-profit charity organization, purchased the Roma and retrofitted it to be a sailing bookshop. Since its launch in Bremen Germany in 1978 the Doulos has had 21 million visitors and sailed to over 100 countries.

In addition, we received some basic safety instructions for when we were at sea. The full time crew drill with the life boats every Thursday to make sure everything is working order. Our meeting was interrupted by a loud grinding sound as a lifeboat was being lowered by the deck hands (or "Deckies" for short). They dropped into the ocean and sailed away to test the equipment. I wanted to be assigned to THAT job.

Poverty Prayer Night

Shortly after I arrived on the ship, we had a poverty prayer night. The goal was to learn more about the harsh realities faced by the poor in developing countries. We learned about a family that lives in Bangladesh. The mother has five children and lives in a shack 2m by 2m. In order to survive she must makes paper bags out of glue and newspaper. The family lives in a shack village with 300 other people. There are three toilets for everyone. Yes, three. Many sanitation problems arise as a result of this practice. As an exercise, we broke into groups of 7 and had to pretend we were a family. We had to make paper bags out of news paper and glue and one person had to sell them to pretend vendors in the boat for monopoly money. Sometimes the crew members playing the roles of landlords would ask us to send the women in the group to mock brothels in order to pay for rent. The object of the exercise was to make enough money to pay for rent, food and to send a child to school. Sending a child to school is the only way to break the cycle of poverty.

While we would never know what it truly feels like to walk in the footsteps of those living in poverty, the game was a good way to get us thinking about why people do the things they do to survive. Stealing cash from vendors were sometimes the only ways that we won the game. We did however receive many points for going to fake NGOs for education and medical relief. Sending a child to school gave us exponentially more points, allowing us to win the game.

Afterwards we had a time of prayer. There were stations set up all around the room that talked about sex trafficking, sanitation problems and other horrible realities that individuals living in poverty face. Over 30,000 children have been forced into sex trafficking in Cambodia alone. 4500 children die every days as result of poor sanitation.

With an renewed outlook, I thought differently of the slums we passed en route and the aggressive tuk tuk drivers we had encountered only hours prior to our arrival on the ship.

Arrival (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Our first destination for the ships program is Cambodia. I met up with a fellow participant, Katey, and we departed from Newark. After a 20 hour flight, and a day layover in Malaysia we finally arrived Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A volunteer named Jee Won who was helping out the volunteer organization I'm working under was waiting for us at the airport. We hopped in a tuk tuk (a moter cycle with a cart in the back) and cruised over to hangout at a local church while we awaited the bus to Sihanoukville, the costal town where the Ship is docked. Jee Won told us a little about the recent troubled history of Cambodia . During the 70's, the totalitarian communist ruling party, Khmer Rouge was responsible for a genocide of 1.5 million Cambodians. In an effort to create an entirely agrarian based Communist society, city dwellers were forced to the country side in to slave labor. If anyone resisted they were executed immediately. The poor quality of the education system is a direct result of the fact that intellectuals and teachers were primary targets of these killings. There are very few people in Cambodia above the age of 30-a haunting reminder of the Khmer Rouge's "social engineering."
As we awaited the bus, a small boy with a reflective pinny stoon by the side of the rode, hailing traffic. Jee Won told us that he was 14 and that he was helping with a parking garage. He looked barely 8 or 9. Many children in Cambodia do not go to school simply because they need to earn money to help themselves and/or their family survive. Teachers earn a mere $50 a month. And many times they don't show up at all to class.

When we arrived in the Phnom Penh airport I joked that we'd probably see a lot of chickens and cows running around loose on the streets. Sure enough, when the double decker bus arrived as the driver removed a disgruntled chicked from the baggage area and shoved it into a small compartment on the side of the bus. We all cracked up.

The ride to Sihanoukville was about four hours. Parts of it were really beautiful as wepassed beautiful rice patties and cloud covered hills in the background. We also passed dilapidated shanty towns with trash strewn about and emaciated cows walking along the side of the road.

As the bus approached the port town I could see the ship from afar. I was so excited-two days of travel and we were finally here! But we were quite there yet.

Crowds of tuk tuk drivers crowded around the bus. Were they waiting for relatives, other passangers? No. They were waiting for us gringos, in their eyes walking money bags. About 30 drivers crowded around Katie, myself and another ship crew member. We had a ride to the Doulos but that didn't matter. They wouldn't take no for an answer. For about 20 minutes they stood around us waiting for us to give in. The Ship driver showed up shortly thereafter.

After a short ride, we finally arrived in the port! Seeing the ship up close for the first time was so exciting. For months I had been seeing it in picutres but now it was the real deal. I was warmly greeted by other volunteers, given a brief tour of the ship and shown my cabin. My cabin mates come from Germany, Canada, Taiwan, Switzerland, Scotland and Malaysia. There 10 guys in my cabin smaller than most NY studios. Yikes! After stowing my stuff I was ready for the adventure ahead!

The Great Adventure...

What:

This summer I'm participating on a short term volunteer exposure program to southeast Asia with a non-profit chairty organization from July 15-Sept 20. The non-profict organizes outreach projects invarious parts of the world. Each year thousands of volunteers from different countries participate to bring help, hope and knowledge.

What I will do:

I will be participating in a ships program that sails to ports around the world. With the world's second largest on board book shop, the ships distribute educational literature to regions that might not otherwise have the opportunity to receive such materials. After a brief cross-cultural orientation and training, I will be working with a team of 300 other volunteers from over 40 countries. Five days a week I will have a job helping maintain the ship's ministry by working in the kitchen, engine room, deck or book shop. The other two days will be devoted to ministry training and various outreach projects. I could be involved with literature distribution, children's ministry, disaster relief and many more outreach activities!

Why Me:

In '04 and '05 I participated in two short term missions trips to Lima Peru. Our team worked in a shelter for homeless street boys. The two weeks we spent working there changed my life and forever shaped my world view. Since then, I volunteered regularly in an arts outreach in New York and have felt called to try out more short term opportunities to serve those in need around the world. After much time and prayer I decided to step out on a leap a faith and sign up for this ships program.

This trip will help me understand outreach better and will be a spiritually challenging experience as I work with a highly diverse team. Please pray for my safety, health, as well as the courage to share my faith, and step out of my comfort zone.

I'll have very limited access to the internet but I'm hoping to keep this blog updated about once a week. I'm looking forward to sharing my experience with you so check back for updates. Thank you all for your support!

-Ryan