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Published: January 21st 2009
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To all my closest people,
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! Hope you're doing great!
It's been almost two months now since I ventured from the South Pacific to the Southeast of Asia. My heart was expectant and I knew God had lots to show me in Cambodia, but to describe my journey so far, I think Lynette Lewis says it best- "Different from what I thought; better than what I imagined."
During the first 2 weeks in Cambodia; I felt such a stirring, a tugging, a compassion towards a people I just met and a place I knew almost nothing about 3 years ago. If you know me well, you know that Asia is not a place that would usually make me jump up and down but through connecting with my roots; I've developed such a burden and fascination for this nation now- I am repping Cambodia hard and I have no idea how on earth this happened! (Well...secretly I do)
A few days before Christmas, I was lying at my guesthouse browsing through a random Cambodia tourist guide book I had picked up at a travel agency. I came across an article on breakdancing in Cambodia
and an organisation called Tiny Toones. I got so excited. The next day, I visited the website and called the Director of Tiny Toones and asked if I could meet with him. That afternoon, I walked into the Toul Tom Pong Drop In Centre to a bunch of street kids breakdancing, through to a dark insulated music studio where I was introduced to the raw sounds of underground Khmer hiphop music the kids had produced. Surrounded by Tiny Toones graffiti art on the walls- I knew this was it...
...The beginning of a Cambodian Hiphop movement- what hiphop was like in the states during the late 70's, birthed in the streets, out of poverty and hardship- I am witnessing today in Cambodia.
Tiny Toones has produced the best 1st generation b-boys and b-girls in this nation. The founder- KK is an ex-criminal from Long Beach California who was deported back to Cambodia in 2004. Streets kids heard that he was a famous breakdancer and approached him for lessons so he started teaching from his house 3 hours each evening. He soon learned that most of his students came from poor and/or broken families. They lacked strong role models because
Akil visits TT
Left: KK (founder of TT), Akil from Jurassic 5 and Hydrophonics from California their older brothers and sisters quite often were active drug users, school dropouts, or sex workers. Between rest breaks at every practice, he began to teach about HIV/AIDS, physical and mental health support, risks of drugs and gangs, and other issues that the underprivileged youth commonly face. From 9 kids back then, today Tiny Toones reaches out to about 3000 kids from different slums and communities.
This is the kind of social entreprenuership I had been dreaming of doing ever since studying about social entreprenuership at Uni. Furthermore, its pioneering in the arts and using the arts to empower the underprivileged youth and impacting their lives in a significant and measurable way. Very quickly, I realised how timely my visit was- this organisation needed managerial and adminstrative assistance quite badly and after seeking God, discussing with parents and others- I knew I couldn't walk away. I kept hearing "to sacrifice is to gain." "To gain your life, you must lose it first." For so long, I had been asking myself, "what is my measure of success?" In Western society there are so many social expectations and models of success and I admit I've been sucked in many times, but
Hip to the Hip Yo
B-girl Diamond with Talia and B-boy Yahn being here has confirmed the true measure of success for me- the extent we give up ourselves and bring glory to God by laying our lives down for others and for Him.
SO...Phnom Penh, Cambodia is now officially my home until 1 Dec 09...changing my ticket and deciding to stay has got to be one of the craziest things Ive ever done- but I have such a peace about it and Im really excited about where Im at.
It was like God aligned every open door for me to stay from being offered a room bigger than any room I've ever had before, to getting connected with a spirit-filled church who sing Hillsongs in Cambodian. I was given a free laptop and phone to use and just finished getting my permanent resident visa! (Meaning I can live here for as long I like and enter and exit the country whenever I like...thanks to my mum for being Cambodian). I even work with an American- Cambodian b-boy/ music producer who moved here 4 months ago in obedience to God- whom I found out has been going to EN Seattle since 2002! Such a small world!
As
Administrative Director, my day consists of riding on the back of a motorcycles through Phnom Penh's ruthless traffic to the drop in centre, following up emails and all that administrative jazz, strategic and operational planning with the team, meeting with NGO directors, liasing with our international volunteers and accompanying our TT kids to their gigs, usually at local clubs where we get treated like VIPs since KK is considered a celebrity here. Almost on a daily basis, we get vistors, film makers, journalists from all over the world requesting for interviews and to document the Tiny Toones story. The other week, Akil from Jurassic Five came to jam with the kids and offered them a slot in his show. Today, a New York based film company producing the TV show "Dhani Tackles The Globe just approached us to feature on their Cambodia episode.
Being in foreign environment, everyday has its new surprises and I don't know what more I'll discover, savour and experience here in Cambodia but I'm glad to know that this is where God wants me for the NOW.
Connecting with my roots has been fun and Phnom Penh is developing rapidly in all aspects. It's
At the TT studio
Peanut showing Akil and Hydro our music crazy to imagine what this place was like during 1975-79 during the Khmer Rouge Regime when this city was completely evacuated. Anyone who seemed like a threat to Pol Pot and his government was imprisoned, interrogated and killed- teachers, doctors, English-speaking locals, intellectuals and those unfit to work...it's a miracle my Mum survived it.
An entire generation was stripped of life and sanity. Witnessing the poverty, illiteracy, drug-abuse, starvation, aids, corruption and everything else the genocide left behind is overwhelming but to be apart of the rebuilding and work that God is doing here is exciting and increases my faith more and more.
xxx
Lisa
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Char'
non-member comment
WOW
Lisa, oh Lisa...reading your words, I am hearing a different girl, one grown, wiser and oh full of purpose...thank you for sharing your heart...I love that you are living it! I love you always for being that Big dynamite in a small package...your photos are making want to see you insitu(remember that one? - means on site in archi' language) love you heaps!!!!!! AR!!!! God+Life is amazing X