Beauty from Ashes

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Isaiah 61:3.

Our first entry (on Monday) was almost completed when the laptop died. For good. So now there is much to catch up on. But we will start from the beginning. One of the main prayer requests we all had was for "divine appointments" and the Lord certainly wasted no time in answering. On the 5 hour flight from Seoul to Phnom Penh, Mark and I were seated next to Mr. Sarith Ou of Wisconsin. To try to summarize his story will be impossible, but it is worth reading on his organization's website, www.khmerschool.org. His story is also told in the book, "Leaving the House of Ghosts" by Sarah Street. He did not dwell on his past at all, because he is a man who looks to the future. I hope you do go to his website because his past really motivates all that he has accomplished. The only part of his story that we learned on the flight was that half of his entire extended and immediate family was killed by the Khmer Rouge. He also did not waste time by telling us the long list of accomplishments he has made on behalf of Cambodian refugees since the time he was sponsored by a church in Wisconsin and became a naturalized citizen. All this we learned through the website. He speaks only of his consuming passion which is the work of today. After returning to his devastated homeland in 1995, that passion has gone into helping build a future for the children of his province, Siem Reap. He has inspired many to join in his efforts, beginning with many churches in Wisconsin. Sarith is not content to do relief work. Instead he looks at the problems wholistically and his innovative ideas help create permanent solutions. First, he taught the poorest women of his province to sew school uniforms. Since the children had only the clothes on their backs, this was a great incentive for them to attend. The women learned a skill, his organization donated the materials, and the children got clothes. Then he built 4 schools where there had been none. If the children are to have any future, they need English in order to find employment. So his schools emphasize English as a second language. Since he taught English to refugees in Wisconsin, he was able to write a curriculum. Not content to stop there, Sarith looked at the poverty of the parents and had another idea. Cooking oil is imported to Cambodia. Why not teach the ethnic people of the highlands to grow sunflowers? The oil could not only be used for cooking, but sold as income. On this trip, Sarith is setting up an oil press. The wheels never stop turning in his head.

His English teachers are Cambodian and do not have good conversational English, so he has invited us to come and give the children practice. It is too far from where we are and there is not enough time. This time. But we know there was a reason we were seated next to him. We will wait to see just what it is.

The thing that strikes me most is how Sarith's smiling face beams with enthusiasm and hope as he travels between his two countries. Having endured more than any of us can even imagine, he is not defeated and he won't let others be defeated.

A wonderful metaphor can be found in the ground where his family's farmhouse had been burned. Out of these literal ashes, he has begun an organic garden and is teaching agricultural practices. Also on this plot, he has dug a well. Life from death. Beauty from ashes. And as a Christian, I am struck with these two pictures- seeds and water. Jesus used these more than any other in his parables and teachings referrig to eternal life. In Matthew 13, he explains that the the Word is seed which is life. And in John 4, Jesus tells the woman at the well that whoever drinks the water He gives will never thirst again, and that the water will become a spring welling up into eternal life.

I do not know if Sarith Ou is a Christian or not. But I do know he is practicing what Jesus taught in caring for the least of these.