Today we went to visit what used to be the city’s dump. Until a year ago, men, women, and children would work there picking garbage to try to find recyclable material to sell. They would earn less than a dollar a day to feed their families. They would work without proper protective materials, often walking barefoot through waste that contained syringes, broken glass, body parts, or dead babies. People would die when they got hit by the garbage trucks while working at night. The government closed down the dump since word was spreading and they didn’t want tourists to see the poverty in the nation, but the dump has since been moved to another location. We went to visit a center that watches the young children that are the sons or daughters or little siblings of the garbage pickers. These kids were unbelievably malnourished, some with open infected wounds that made me wince to look at. They were all incredibly low-energy because of lack of proper nutrients. It absolutely ripped open my heart. It was the first time I completely broke down and cried while visiting an organization and I had to leave the rest of my group so the kids wouldn’t see me. Praise God that there is a place like this that can provide care and love for these children…I could only cry because of how much God loves them and because His own heart is breaking for them.

In the afternoon, we went to visit another children’s shelter. It is a small home for children who used to work as garbage pickers. There are twenty-one kids there and they get a lot of one-on-one attention. They are precious and there was so much hope and joy in this place. Some really exciting news I have to share: I got a position there volunteering for the rest of the summer! I’ll be in Cambodia until the end of the first week of August, or whenever God sends me home :) My heart is bursting with joy, I can’t tell you how happy I am. Please pray for all those precious children…