Very excited right now. Remember how I prayed that God would connect me with the people who He wants me to connect with? Well, an answered prayer! So during one of the breaks I got my cuppa tea and went to stand in a corner slightly tired of trying to fit in and just resigning to the fact that I’m either white nor Cambodian. Then as I was sipping dejectedly, this man comes up to me and asks if I’m Singaporean. I awkwardly say yes (I could tell people have been talking in Khmer trying to figure out WHAT I am). Turns out the man did his Masters in Law in Singapore and just wanted to say hello. He wasn’t quite a part of the conference but was the translator. And he’s the Director of the Legal Department in the Senate in Phnom Penh and a Professor at the Royal University of Law and Economics. Pretty impressive. Handed me his name card.
At lunch, I met this Cambodian lady again who works for iCAN, one of the organising partners, who sat next to me yesterday when I mentioned I worked for a Christian school. She asked if I was a Christian and when I said yes, she enthusiastically said she was a Christian too. So this afternoon so happened that I sat next to her at lunch too. And we were the only 2 left eating since everyone else was finished and left the room. So we had a good 10 minutes to ourselves and I got to hear her personal testimony.
After lunch, one of the groups presented their discussion answers. Their representative was a teacher from Logos International School, the biggest Christian international school in Cambodia. Cool, I thought. I’d love to talk to those people from Logos since our school is small and starting out and really could use some ideas and connections with bigger schools. So at break time, I determined to put aside my awkwardness and talk to the teachers from Logos. But before that, let me get some juice. Grape juice, since my tummy is hurting. There were 2 tables with juice – one on the left, one on the right. I head for the one on the left and the Logos teachers head for the one on the right. As I reach the table, I see someone grab the grape juice and finish off the last few drops of it. Dang. So I head to the table on the right and for some reason the Logos teachers were still lingering there. I make my move.
Turns out that one of the teachers in the group is also a grade 1 teacher! As am I. And very friendly and interested in connecting with us. She even offered to grab my email and wrote her email and phone number down for me even without me asking! I’m feeling quite blessed right now at the providence God has placed on my life!
And to top the day off, we had a talk by Patrick Somethingsomething, the Director of International Justice Mission (IJM) in Cambodia on the current situation of sex trafficking in Cambodia. It was very matter-of-factly, very thought-provoking and very convicting.
Oh yea, on a side note, I was nominated by my discussion group to present our answers to all the participants because I was the only one in my group who spoke English. So the upside is that people now know I am not Khmer and approach me in English. The downside is that people point at me and speak in Khmer and all I can catch is “Anglaise, Anglaise!” – meaning English, English!
Still don’t get this whole networking thing. I feel like I’m a school kid at the end of the year getting people to sign my yearbook. So awkward. But I’m so blessed to be able to be at a conference with some awesome people and hear first hand about what’s happening in Cambodia.
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