Andrew and Sarah in Kep
After visiting Kampot, we packed up and headed to Kep peninsula, which can be found on the southwest coast of Cambodia. Andrew and Sarah are serving and living in this beautiful seaside locale. They live in a Cham (Muslim) community outside of the city of Kep, which serves as the capital of Kep province. This is the home village for our assistant Maria’s husband, Oumar. It’s a lovely little community, and Sarah and Andrew live about three houses apart. Sarah lives with Oumar’s sister and her two daughters and Andrew lives a few houses away with his host mother, father and siblings.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck a few weeks ago. Sarah’s host father, who was a respected community leader and the Imam of the mosque, passed away unexpectedly. This was a heartbreaking blow for the family and the community, and for Sarah and Andrew as well. Sarah reports of strong emotional and physical support for her mother and sisters from extended family, the village and Kep, and from outside of the region. Because he was a leader, many knew her host parents and had connections through their faith community. Every night there have been women friends staying with the family — they all sleep together on the living room floor along with Sarah’s host mother and sisters as a way of being a physical presence and support 24 hours a day.
Sarah is a nursing student at GC, and she is serving in two small clinics, rotating between them every other day. She has been able to learn some Khmer medical terms and has seen many IVs administered, an important and often-used treatment option in Cambodia. Andrew was hoping to help with his family’s farm, but because it is the dry season, they are not currently farming rice and the main chores at this point involve tending to the family’s cattle. Andrew helps with this as he is able. His host father also works as a fisherman, but for safety reasons, is hesitant to take Andrew in his fishing boat.
One night, Andrew and Sarah were invited to an English lesson with Sarah’s host sister. They ended up at a magical place called Kep Gardens to observe the class. Kep Gardens is the dream of an Australian couple, Andrew and Janine Judd, who have developed a program offering English classes, and much, much more. They teach local men construction techniques, have a demonstration garden, and hope to start an organic community supported agriculture (CSA) project in the near future. After visiting, talking to Andrew and Janine, having them invite him to consider helping them there, and seeing the work they were doing, Andrew volunteered to help at Kep Gardens – what a fortuitous visit to the English lesson! His major work has been to build raised garden beds. In the past, Andrew has done every other kind of construction work except brick laying and concrete work, so this was the time to learn! Andrew has also helped with planting and transplanting plants, and working in the organic garden.
Like in many other service locations now and over the history of SST, Andrew and Sarah have a significant amount of time to “be” — relating to their families and neighbors, and immersing themselves in their local community. They have each had the opportunity to use their bikes, cycling many kilometers each day to their service assignments, as well as exploring the local mountains (Kep National Park is right on their doorstep) and beaches!
