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Focus on
Cambodia
Imagine you're active in an inspiring 10-person small-group
Bible study. It began not too long ago, with just a few people,
but is now a mixture of maturing church leaders and eager new
believers. You enjoy its reverent worship and relevant scriptural
teaching. Joy is always in the air, though you have an unsettled
feeling that trouble may be lurking around the corner.
Next week, when it's time to gather again, a disturbing pattern
begins and will continue for four weeks–members mysteriously
not showing up, until you're the only member left of the original
10. Only later do you discover that the other nine participants
disappeared...and you will never see them again!
During Cambodia's gruesome "killing fields" from 1975
to 1979, according to some missions experts, 90 percent of the
young but vibrant Church perished. During those four terrifying
years, up to 2 million men, women, and children–approximately
30 percent of the country's population–were massacred
by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, with numerous others dying
of starvation, disease, and land mines. Among the executed were
virtually all of the church leaders and pastors. Cambodia's
cities were also emptied of intellectuals, teachers, students,
and professionals, as well as some military leaders opposed
to wanton slaughter. Some say that every single family was affected
by this prolonged nightmare!
But by God's grace, a remnant survived and lives today, and
growing and making a lasting difference for His glory. It's
described by one missionary author as Cambodia's "living
fields," a Church "that would not die."
According to census statistics, Cambodia's population has skyrocketed
from 6,393,000 in 1979 to 11,340,000 in late 1998. But a new
plague endangers the country. AIDS. According to a CNN report,
"Cambodia has the worst AIDS epidemic in Asia, an outbreak
growing at one of the fastest rates in the world." The
majority of cases has involved prostitutes, up to 60 percent
of whom are infected with the HIV virus, CNN states.
Profile of a Cambodian Woman
adapted from Time for Mercy by Mary Ens
· She is a survivor in one of the poorest countries of
the world. Just staying alive is a daily challenge.
· Poverty tempts her to sin by lying and stealing. Only
a few privileged women enjoy life at the top of the social scale.
· Like most of the women touched by the war, she is lonely
and plagued by memories she can never erase. Years of war have
left thousands of widows who, in some villages, outnumber men
six to one.
· She lives in fear of spirits which she tries to appease,
but to no avail. She believes her misfortune is due to her "karma"
from a past life.
· She carries the brunt of responsibility for her home
and family.
· Forty-two percent of women over age 15 have never attended
school. She considers herself very fortunate if she earns $2
a day.
· She has little or no proper health care. She can take
her children to the hospital where care and medicine are free,
but she must spend two days' income to pay transportation to
get there.
· Most women in her country live with physical and emotional
abuse. Alcohol and gambling are part of their lives. She rarely
seeks divorce.
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