Peace Stories
April 2003
Banner photo: Nara, Japan [©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO]
"Riding the Rapids"
At the orphanage in Cambodia
In December 2002, 21 youth members of the Singapore Soka Association (SSA) and 10 youth from Mercy Relief, the humanitarian relief arm of the Muslim organization PERDAUS, participated in a two-week expedition to aid Cambodian orphans. We helped in the refurbishment of an orphanage in Takeo town, about two hours from Phnom Penh, and tried to implement an educational program for the 72 children there.
As we jolted by bus on pothole-filled roads toward Takeo, all we could see were endless rice fields, houses on stilts, water buffaloes, beautiful lakes and rivers. This calm and beautiful picture immediately drew us all closer to this country that has only recently emerged from decades of war and isolation.
The children in the orphanage face many challenges, but they have access to education and this gives them great hope for the future.
Our two weeks in Cambodia were filled with adventures such as buying provisions in a market and cooking on makeshift charcoal stoves--real challenges for city kids like us. Furthermore, the educational program we had originally prepared had to be drastically adjusted because of the language barrier. But the bonds of friendship we built motivated the children to learn English and study harder. The refurbishment of the orphanage, which primarily involved the painting of three buildings, was the greatest challenge of all.
In spite of these difficulties, we all felt that we had gained so much. Moreover, each encounter with the children pulled at our heartstrings. The children's innocence aroused in us admiration for their courage and spurred us to reflect deeply about our own lives.
Within our team, too, we had great learning experiences--with 31 members from all walks of life and two different religious groups, dialogues on life philosophy, goals and challenges went on daily.
SGI President Ikeda aptly expresses our feelings when he says, "Exchange between cultures, between countries, between human beings . . . may well go unnoticed or appear as only tiny ripples. Yet one ripple leads to another and yet another until there are countless waves, waves that will hold afloat the ship of peace."
