Day 13 and 14: Aching Shoulders, Itching Cream, and Temples

The second day of the mission trip to Cambodia was much different than the first because Phuong and I got to go with a smaller group to an even more poor floating village to hand out vitamins and provide other basic medical care. We also brought 130 bags of rice with us to distribute amongst the families there. We loaded the rice into the pack of a pickup truck, and then six of us squeezed in and napped on the bags of rice as we rode along an extremely bumpy road. Then we unloaded about a ton of rice onto another boat once we got to our destination, thus the aching shoulders.

Since there were no doctors along on the excursion, we distributed basic medications, such as vitamins and Tylenol. My job was to distribute vitamins to the little kids. It was amazing to see everybody swarm around me, reaching for the vitamins as if it were gold. I was handing them out so fast, we ran out pretty soon. After that, I started distributing itching cream, and people were reaching for it before I even told them what it was. People there believed that medicine was like magic, since it's so scarce. The best part of the day was definitely distributing the rice. I assumed it was one of the village matriarchs that took charge. Man, this woman was strong! Her voice carried over the voices of hundreds of talking people, as she scolded them like a mother hen for not appreciating our medical team enough. The looks on some of their faces as they received their bags of rice was one of pure happiness that replaces a verbal thank you in my book.

Thus ended the mission trip with Hope for Tomorrow in Cambodia. I was so sad going back to the hotel, because I had enjoyed it so much. I can't wait to go again, and now I'm really serious about getting into the medical field because I realized that it can touch so many people. This is something I want to do for the rest of my life.

After such hard work, our mission group took a day off to sightsee, visiting three ancient temples. It was a lot of walking and sweating, but it was definitely worth it because it breathtaking. Traveling like this and seeing so much of the world in such a short amount of time makes me want to see more. Some of the ruins we visited were massive and falling apart, yet they still had a sacred atmosphere to the place.

I am now in Sai Gon, after a very long sleep filled bus trip, and I can't wait to see the Mai Tam Center. Sorry my posts are long and wordy with no visual aids, but we don't have wireless right now. Therefore, you all are going to have to wait until I get back home and post a long photo essay, and a Picasa link as well. Thank you so much for reading and hope you all are safe and sound at home.