Helping the Community of Believers to Move Forward

Posted: 30th November 2004

Socheat in Group of Lovers of the Cross Sisters in Kampong Cham

From July to October, three girls from Cambodia were in Taizé to help with the organization of the meetings. They came from three different dioceses: Phnom Penh, Battambang and Kampong Cham. One of them Socheat, explains briefly her involvement in the life of the small Christain minority of the country.

My name is Socheat; I come from the apostolic prefecture of Kampong Cham. Before, my family was not Christian; my parents were Buddhists. Because of the war and the Pol Pot regime, we had to flee to the border with Thailand, to a refugee camp. There we met Christian friends and we decided to join them in their faith. I was baptized in 1989.

Later, in 1993, my family returned to Cambodia. We were the only Catholics in our village. After a while, the priests and religious became accustomed to visiting us to support us, to pray with us and to instruct us. Little by little, many people from our village decided to join us. Some of them have already received baptism, and others are preparing for it.

Now I live with the “Lovers of the Cross” Sisters in Kampong Cham. I teach sewing. The Catholic Church built a welcome center for girls from poor families who could not be sent to school. We try to help them to have a future by teaching them to sew.

On Sundays, I go with a priest and a sister to the villages to teach catechism. The fact of giving people a possibility to discover something about the faith gives me the feeling that I am helping the community of believers to move forward. I like to work with young people and children very much, and I think this is the best way for me to serve God and to give glory to him.

Article Source: Letter from Taizé, December 2004 - January 2005