They started by trying to help Cambodian Christians strategize how to get the word out about Christ, but through their work they realized that there were other pressing issues facing the Cambodian people such as lack of literacy, basic hygiene standards, and the proliferation of human trafficking. They talked about how other White people had visited areas of rural Cambodia theoretically to provide the community with food and clothing, then they asked the villagers to sign letters verifying they had received the donations. Being illiterate, they were allowed to simply ink their thumbprints, but in doing so they were not signing the documents that had been explained to them, they were signing away their land rights. A few weeks later, they were forcibly removed from their homes by White people using their very thumbprints as evidence that their land did not belong to them anymore. Familiar story?
So the couple began hosting literacy classes and eventually started their own orphanage. They also teach adults how to lead groups and they prep Cambodians to educate other Cambodians about the dangers of sex trafficking.
While I may not agree with their need to Christianize Cambodia, I have to admit that I was touched by their sincerity and also it sounds to me like they might actually be making a difference. By following their calling to spread religion, they have unintentionally stumbled into a higher purpose of spreading literacy and self empowerment.
It made me think, why is it so hard to see our own footprint and understand the ripple you are making on the world?
As I am preparing to leave my current job and envisioning the next phase of my life, I have been in long conversations with a number of supportive friends. I feel really good about the work I have done as a community organizer. Truthfully I don’t feel entirely finished. I have been blessed with an abundance of positive feedback from my coworkers and the communities I have served. But what has surprised me is that my writing, the thing I do for fun on the side seems to have had made just as large an impact as well. I have come to realize that what I am doing, in choosing to self publish my work and teaching others to self publish, has already had a much greater impact than I ever anticipated.
A few people have even told me that I inspired them to follow their dreams. I don’t know about all that, but it is my hope that I can walk through life with some measure of integrity and that even when I don’t quite know what I am doing, somehow everything might make sense in the long view of things. I guess we’ll see.
Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.
