In His Love, Joy, and Peace,

Jacob & Monira Evans
Cambodia Partnership Leaders

The Dates & Cost

Our trip is set to begin on January 19th and end on February 2nd. We have included times for rest, ministry, and sight seeing. Before our trip begins, we will hold a few meetings to develop the expedition team and prayerfully seek God’s wisdom and guidance.

We expect the trip to cost somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500 and hope to have costs finalized no later than October 29th, 2017.

Locations

Most of the Vineyard churches we serve are located in northwestern Cambodia. As we travel from city to city, you can expect some bumpy roads along the way. We usually set out early in the morning and end our days by the late afternoon. We will visit the provinces of Siem Reap, Preh Vihear, Battambang, and Banteaymeanchey. Our stops will include:

• Preh Vihear Vineyard (church plant #4)
• Chnourr Vineyard (church plant #5)
• Kor Koh/ Sras Keo Vineyard (church plant #2, #3)
• Talous Vineyard (house church)
• Siem Reap Tour

How You Can Help

We have identified the following areas where we need the most help. Prayerfully consider which area you think you can participate in.

• Leading small group discussions
• Teaching life skills
• Performing ministry training
• Helping with children’s ministry
• Praying for the sick
• Organizing fun, community-building activities

Things to Consider

A trip to Cambodia can be a wonderful experience. However, there are some things to be aware of before going. The following is not meant to scare you but to rather inform you of the sorts of things you will experience and encounter on the trip:

• Cambodia is a hot and humid place (average between 84°F - 95°F), you will be exposed to this environment most of each day.
• Most of your days will be spent standing and walking.
• The average plane trip to Cambodia is between 27 to 40 hours long and this long flight can cause significant jet lag.
• Traveling in Cambodia is a bumpy experience; you may encounter motion sickness.
• You will be encouraged to pack all of your luggage into a carry-on bag. Additional baggage can be purchased in Cambodia for any items you may end up acquiring.
• It is not always possible to guarantee what is or is not in food. Nearly all meals will contain meat and gluten and other common allergens (Peanuts are also a common ingredient). It can be extremely hard to accommodate Dietary restrictions.
• It is highly recommended that you get immunizations (these may be costly depending on your insurance provider).
• You will need to bring sufficient prescription medication with you for the whole trip.
• You will encounter disfigured persons.
• You will encounter men, women, and children living on the street.
• Understand that alcohol and tobacco are not acceptable to Khmer Christians and we will respect that view.
• Khmer Christians tend to dress modestly. We will respect that and do the same. (no tank tops)
• Your trip leader will make decisions without consulting the group.
• You will encounter situations where events are out of your control.
• Traveling or wandering alone in Cambodia will not be permitted on the trip.

The Last Executioner: A Story of the Khmer Rouge
By Nic Dunlop

In Cambodia, between 1975 and 1979, some two million people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Twenty years later, nobody had been held accountable. Haunted by an image of Comrade Duch, Pol Pot's chief executioner, photographer Nic Dunlop set out to bring him to account. The result of his journey, The Lost Executioner is an unforgettable, illuminating document that, by bearing witness, reminds us that if we ever turn our backs on genocide, we must accept a collective guilt.

If you enjoyed reading The Lost Executioner you may also enjoy...

The Gate
By Fancois Bizot

In 1971 a young French ethnologist named Francois Bizot was taken prisoner by forces of the Khmer Rouge who kept him chained in a jungle camp for months before releasing him. Four years later Bizot became the intermediary between the now victorious Khmer Rouge and the occupants of the besieged French embassy in Phnom Penh, eventually leading a desperate convoy of foreigners to safety across the Thai border. 

Out of those ordeals comes this transfixing book. At its center lies the relationship between Bizot and his principal captor, a man named Douch, who is today known as the most notorious of the Khmer Rouge’s torturers but who, for a while, was Bizot’s protector and friend. Written with the immediacy of a great novel, unsparing in its understanding of evil, The Gate manages to be at once wrenching and redemptive.

First They Killed My Father:  A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
By Loung Ung

From a childhood survivor of the Camdodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a riveting narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her family, and their triumph of spirit.

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.

If you enjoyed reading First They Killed My Father you may also enjoy...

Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind
By Loung Ung

After enduring years of hunger, deprivation, and devastating loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, ten-year-old Loung Ung became the "lucky child," the sibling chosen to accompany her eldest brother to America while her one surviving sister and two brothers remained behind. In this poignant and elegiac memoir, Loung recalls her assimilation into an unfamiliar new culture while struggling to overcome dogged memories of violence and the deep scars of war. In alternating chapters, she gives voice to Chou, the beloved older sister whose life in war-torn Cambodia so easily could have been hers. Highlighting the harsh realities of chance and circumstance in times of war as well as in times of peace, Lucky Child is ultimately a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the salvaging strength of family bonds.

Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll (2015)

Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll tracks the twists and turns of Cambodian music as it morphs into rock and roll, blossoms, and is nearly destroyed along with the rest of the country. This documentary film provides a new perspective on a country usually associated with only war and genocide.

The Killing Fields (1984)

When the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh in 1975, many thought the killing would end. Instead it started a long nightmare in which three million Cambodians would die in the “killing fields.”

The Killing Fields is an epic story of friendship and survival produced by David Puttnam (Chariots of Fire) and directed by Roland Joffé (The Mission). Sam Waterston plays Sydney Schanberg, whose war coverage entraps him and other journalists. Dr. Haing S. Ngor is Dith Pran, Schanberg’s aide and friend who saves them from execution. But Pran is sentenced to labor camps, enduring starvation and torture before escaping Thailand. Ngor also endured Khmer Rouge atrocities and saw his moving, Academy Award-winning* portrayal of Pran (one of the film’s three Oscars*) as a way of bringing his nation’s tragic ordeal to light.

New Year Baby (2006)

Filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In New Year Baby, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth about her family's past.

The Missing Picture (2013)

The Missing Picture explores filmmaker Rithy Panh's quest to create the missing images during the period when the Khmer Rouge ruled over Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. Panh uses intricately detailed clay figurines intercut with archival footage he could find to relay what is indelibly recorded in his memory, he creates the missing pictures of what does not exist in photograph or film.

Girl Rising (2013)

Girls around the world - striving beyond circumstance, pushing past limits. Their dreams, their voices, their remarkable stories - captured in an unforgettable feature film about the strength of the human spirit - and the power of education.