Saturday, 19 August 2006
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9. Team Members
Initially, there were 10 of us in this team. We had Kau Sern, Aaron, Sarah, Debbie Loh, Dennis, Denise, Joel, Jo-Ann, Julia and myself. However, later on, Dennis couldn’t make it because he couldn’t apply for leave. Denise too, I’m not very sure of her reason, but her parents disapproved of her going. Then we had Debbie Yeow (nick name: Debbie Debbie) to take over Denise’s place. I hope I’m not confusing you. But it was fun introducing ourselves to the Cambodians because our names were really similar. They must be wondering that Malaysians have very little names. Haha! I introduced myself as ‘Jan’ so that they can remember better.
The best part about this team is that all of us have a sense of humour. Our most favourite word would be ‘lameness’, as we call ourselves. It all started from Aaron. (Sorry Aaron…I just had to tell the world about you) Aaron is the live wire of our team. I guess without him, it wouldn’t have been so easy going. The jokes, too many to note down, makes us all relax and thus, enables us to concentrate better on what we’re supposed to be doing rather than wasting our time and energy worrying about how to do it. We had so many crazy fun moments together, and I’m so glad our paths crossed this way. We may never ever be in this situation again; therefore every moment was savoured during this trip through journaling, photos and clips.
Let me generally ‘introduce’ my team members to you, as in what sort of person they are. Each of us also gained a new nickname after this trip. So in case we mention some jokes, you may understand what we’re talking about.
Kau Sern, my brother-in-law is a very relaxed person. He manages the team well, and doesn’t put unnecessary stress on us. He is humble in learning and a silent learner, in the sense that he observes behind the scenes and ponders about what he learns. He also journals what he has learnt. Later on he shares his heart to us, what he saw and what touched him. Being a team leader for the first time, he has done very well and has given his best. Time and time again he assures us and encourages us to spur us on. It’s not easy being a team leader, plus he had to look after Jo-Ann when she wasn’t feeling well, juggling the time between his ministry and being a good husband. That’s why I said he did very well because everything was handled smoothly. Occasionally, he gets confused with Joel’s jokes and games, and he is very nice to bully. He can be very blur sometimes and that makes him even more funny to laugh at. But he is cool with it. Kau Sern has sanguine and mellow moments, a mix of both. He is a serious person most of the time and I felt it was a good match to have Uncle Aaron to be his assistant because they work well together. We discovered that his name ‘Kau Sern’ means ‘Trousers First’ or ‘Pants First’. So he is called Chief Trousers First.
Aaron or rather, Uncle Aaron is the eldest in our team, who celebrates his 40th birthday today the 13th of August. He may be the eldest, but he has the most energy in our group! There’s never one time we’ve caught him feeling down or having the mellow moments, but he’s just so full of happiness, wackiness, lameness and full of strange facial expressions. That’s his gift, the gift of youth. He doesn’t look 40. Haha! We are all very encouraged to have him around because he lightens situations and he doesn’t scold us if we do anything wrong but reminds us gently what we should do. The thing that amazes me about him is that he knows when to be serious and when to crack jokes. I find that very hard to do. He has been an encourager to us, he constantly gives us compliments and really funny ones to put back the smile on our face. He can make loads of funny animal sounds and the best he can imitate is the sound of a horse. That makes his name, Chief Horse Face.
Sarah came across to me as someone really quiet at first. But when she voices out her opinions, then I came to understand why she behaves like that. She is silent at times because she listens and observes. She reads plenty of books and her knowledge is really good and intelligent. Sarah is very matured for her age. I like the way she carries herself. She carries a quiet confidence in her. She is very caring, full of concern and takes the effort to mix with the fellow Cambodian youths. I see her as someone who has a big heart, a bit heart for her studies, her hobbies, for the people around her and for God’s work. She studies medic at IMU and is in her third year and will be leaving for Sydney next year to further her studies. She was the one who was doing the medical work at the villages and that brings her name, Squaw Healing Hands.
Debbie Ann Loh has a quiet spirit. She, as Kau Sern describes, is a true background worker. Silent, thinks plenty and is careful with her words. While working with her in preparation of our workshop, I found that she is quite detail as well, which was very helpful to me because I’m such a disorganized person in terms of thoughts and words. Debbie is very humble because when she has a suggestion, she doesn’t force it on anyone but leaving the other party an option to choose. She talks very softly and she is such a sweet person. She will be studying Food Science at UCSI as well and that makes me an ancestor to her. LOL! Debbie has a gift in prayer. She may look small and timid but when she opens her mouth to pray, don’t play play! Her prayers are powerful and it speaks directly to your heart. See? God doesn’t only use outstanding people to do His work. Outstanding in the sense loud, extremely good looking, physically fit, rich and etc. Well, she gained the name Squaw Think A Lot, which ended up sounding like Squatting a lot. I think she should be called Squaw Prayer Warrior. J Keep it up, Debbie.
Joel is an all-rounder, talented and a disciplined person. He is an excellent student, in the sense that he is good and really good in many things. Semua pun dia boleh. Pau ka liao. Okay, for the benefit of my foreign friends, I was saying in Malay and Hokkien that he can do a wide number of things. He’s also going to be studying medic overseas, either in Australia or UK. Joel is also very intelligent and has a strong memory. He managed to learn quite a number of Khmer words and remembers them! That makes him catches language easily. He’s good in sports and he is a tennis state player, ex-school captain for the tennis club too. Joel holds firmly to his beliefs and is someone reliable. He doesn’t break his principles and one of it is food. We tried our best tempting him to eat some durian biscuits but he just refused. Reliable in the sense that when he is told to do something, he does it well and even gives more than what one would expect. ‘A pleasing servant’ is what I would describe him as. Joel is Uncle Aaron’s sidekick. Both are equally lame. Hahaa! He comes up with lame games and gets us all frustrated and confused, especially Kau Sern. Joel is in charge of worship and he plays the guitar really well. So he is called Chief String Strum.
Jo-Ann, my sister, Kau Sern’s wife, is our accounts manager and handles the logistics. Also a background worker, she can be extremely detailed which is good because she keeps track of our spending. I really appreciate her doing all that work, from booking our flights, buying our foodstuff and medications, packing the boxes and keeping track of our money because it is one burden lifted off us, the rest of the team. I think if I handled it, the money would have been lost along the way on the airplane, gliding down to the jungles of Thailand. Jo is a phlegmatic person, meaning she doesn’t overly gets excited about things and just go with the flow. Jo is very observant as well, and she has the heart to help Esther with the Khmer Life business by looking out and giving Esther more ideas. (Esther Ding is the lady whom we stayed with. A very enterprising woman, she works for DUMC and Khmer Life is a gift shop that sells handmade stuff, mainly bags. It is also an opportunity for the Cambodians to do business using the abundant resources they have) She basically sees needs at the corner of other needs. Needs that we have overlooked or never thought about. Well, because her husband’s name is Chief Trousers First, she was crowned with the name Squaw Blouse First.
Julia is someone really, really funny. She was my room mate during this trip and I enjoyed talking to her a lot. She can have sudden outbursts of excitement and she speaks in a funny exaggerated voice. Julia is our camera woman. She recorded all the memories we left in Cambodia and took heaps of photos too. Julia to me is someone hungry for the Lord. She is very clear of what she believes in and doesn’t compromise her standards. But what I really like most about her is that she is very open with her sharing. I’m not sure if she was open with the other team members, but I had a good time listening to her share with me during the nights when we were about to sleep. I’ve learned a bit more about DUMC while talking to her because she is involved in a number of ministries at DUMC. DUMC is my church by the way. Julia also lightens situations when she starts talking. She is someone very practical and is straightforward. Oh well, she gained the name Squaw Pretty Face because her face is photogenic and she has a very nice smile.
Debbie Debbie is my partner in crime. We were both acting as bad people in both skits and really enjoyed ourselves. Debbie2 is amazing. Her faith in God really opens my eyes to learn to trust the work of the Holy Spirit more. She can just go up on the stage and share however the Holy Spirit prompts her to, which is something I really want to learn. She keeps saying that she is very ‘cheong hei’ or rather, long-winded in English whenever she shares or presents something. It is true, she can talk a LOT! But you know what, it is a good thing we have someone like her in our team to start the ball rolling. When she explains in detail, it gives us a clearer understanding of what she is trying to say, and this is something I also need to learn because sometimes I talk in very choppy sentences till no one understands what I’m saying. Debbie2 is someone who is very emotional. She feels easily for people and is easily moved. She is able to show her emotions openly through actions and words, which is quite rare for many. She got the name Squaw Fair Fair, because her skin is really, soya bean fair.
J
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