Learnt much about what really matters
Just got back from cambodia - went for a Indochina Bahai conference there.
Was travelling on the van for many hours from airport Siem Reap - Battambang - Phnom Phen and was reflecting that I have much physical comforts to be thankful for and it has nothing to do with my choices or conscious acts - simply an accident of birth...
In my unlearned urbanised eyes, the physical conditions looked difficult and future challenging - but the Kampucheans, Laotians, Vietnamese and Thais, clearly from the stories they tell, lead purposeful lifes and are hopeful for their future. 80% of the participants are young people, the ratio is even higher for the Kampucheans at 90%. They are hungry for social transformation of their communities and they are finding it through spiritual and literacy empowerment, moral development and health programs. There are NGOs there doing whatever they can to assist.
What is clear is this - the capacity of these people is simply amazing - their indomitable spirit (to survive the horrors they have gone through and remain so hopeful), their inexhaustible energy (their spontaneity, their desire to learn and to serve others), their love of beauty (their traditional clothes, and their performances creative and elegant) and their sense of the sacred (their daily lives so integrated with the Divine).
Met a young man who took us briefly round the town in his tuk-tuk. The next day he took the trouble to come to the hotel to say goodbye and to send us off. Learnt much about what really matters..
Was travelling on the van for many hours from airport Siem Reap - Battambang - Phnom Phen and was reflecting that I have much physical comforts to be thankful for and it has nothing to do with my choices or conscious acts - simply an accident of birth...
In my unlearned urbanised eyes, the physical conditions looked difficult and future challenging - but the Kampucheans, Laotians, Vietnamese and Thais, clearly from the stories they tell, lead purposeful lifes and are hopeful for their future. 80% of the participants are young people, the ratio is even higher for the Kampucheans at 90%. They are hungry for social transformation of their communities and they are finding it through spiritual and literacy empowerment, moral development and health programs. There are NGOs there doing whatever they can to assist.
What is clear is this - the capacity of these people is simply amazing - their indomitable spirit (to survive the horrors they have gone through and remain so hopeful), their inexhaustible energy (their spontaneity, their desire to learn and to serve others), their love of beauty (their traditional clothes, and their performances creative and elegant) and their sense of the sacred (their daily lives so integrated with the Divine).
Met a young man who took us briefly round the town in his tuk-tuk. The next day he took the trouble to come to the hotel to say goodbye and to send us off. Learnt much about what really matters..
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