There were 6 weddings and 3 funerals this past weekend in our village. I still find the mandatory-ness of marriage and the frequency of funerals absolutely shocking, and that doesn't even truly describe the feeling. If girls aren’t married by around age 26 they’re forced into whatever marriage their parents can broker for them, regardless of the desires of the girl. But most people here are cordial with their spouse at best, so being friends or lovers is for the lucky ones. I know a lot of the world has arranged marriages, but I can’t even process it. One of our employees just finished her degree and wants to get her masters overseas, and her family is irate that she’s throwing away her life. They repeatedly share how embarrassed they are that they’ll have such an old, single daughter. They’ll be able to ask for more dowry since she speaks English and will be educated, but her age will counter some of it. She’s in tears a lot and torn between living within the cultural expectations and what she wants. I can’t even imagine. (Thanks mom and dad for letting me follow my heart before asking for grandkids.)

And funerals. They’re so frequent an its heartbreaking. A complete feeling of helplessness. Some folks live into their 90s, but equal numbers of folks pass away at much much younger ages too. Sometimes its from harsh illnesses - tuberculosis, Hepatis, cancers, pneumonia, aresnicosis - but sometimes its an infection from a cut or broken bone that spreads, or their bodies are just so unhealthy that they stop working. What kind of government doesn't care that the people don't have any health care? This week was a few folks in their 60s and 70s - a sudden death, a man that had an infection from a broken hip, and another man that seemed pretty active and healthy. I still don’t know what you say at times like this. The funeral of the 20-something down the street that died in his sleep last month was hard to see and accept. So so sad. Most of them are poor and my neighbor, a pastor, has offered to transport the bodies in his truck since they can’t afford to hire it out (Buddhist Khmer are extremely scared of evil spirits and won’t touch a dead body), and our organization has offered to supply the wood for cremations. Any love or peace we can bring at times like this is what God would have us to do, for sure.

On a weekend where I’m still mulling over the importance of my job that I find so trivial at times, the blaring truth that they need these health, hygiene, and arsenic lessons is placed in my lap. And I’m re-broken for them. To show people love is to tell them about germs and arsenic? Yes. Yes, it is. Meeting needs to earn the right to share of myself.