ONYX Bungle in the Jungle
Onyx Opening Retreat
Dove was off to the jungle in Kompong Cham to meet up with 70 ONYX Students for our opening retreat. It was nice and cool in Cambodia up until the day we left for the retreat. Then the heat cranked up, especially in the humid and hazy jungle.
Much to both our joy and dismay, there was no Internet connection in the jungle. We were all forced to engage with each other for 3 whole days. Oh, the pain. A lot of good things happened while we were unable to play with our phones: new relationships were established, other were deepened, no one was getting up to run out of earshot to take a call, people listened intently to one another during intimate times of sharing, and people found interesting things to do. This was one obvious piece of evidence that God was certainly with us.
Sleep was elusive, as we had to sleep on very hard bamboo slats for two nights. Jungle sounds; frogs, and some screeching nocturnal animals accompanied camper’s snoring, or our missionary advisor opening up a crinkly package of crackers and munching on them loudly at midnight and again at 2 am.
The first morning!
The first morning, Leadership Coordinators Vysal and Sarady arranged 2 different scavenger hunts for team- building exercises, which had them catching fish, crossing rivers, and collecting for various items in and from the jungle. It was interesting to listen to the students recount their experiences of trying to gather items from a jungle, and how creative they found one another.
We arranged an Emmaus Walk for Phnom Penh and Kompong Chhnnang students in a nearby banana plantation. We set up 10 stations with pictures, symbols, or pithy quotes about life and leadership. They were to take a partner and stop at every station, then go back to the station that impacted them the most and do some contemplation. Then they came back to our base camp to do debriefing where they shared their experiences with the group. Both groups shared well, and once again, it was interesting to notice the differences between PP and provincial students, as the PP students could push a bit past the cognitive to soul level. Nonetheless, we were impressed and encouraged by both groups.
Many gave testimonies of what they were learning on the retreat, and one common theme was;
“Hey, were are learning so much from each other through sharing, living together, and the exercises we have been doing together. This so much better than in the past where we spent most of our time listening to long sermons or lectures.
The second night, just after it got dark, someone excitedly ran back to the campsite from the parking lot. All 70 Onyx students ran out and looked up to see a vast array of stars. PP students rarely see stars, and were amazed, but those from the provinces were also held in rapt attention. We all just stood watching and talking about them for at least 30 minutes before the campfire. Students from all ONYX locations sat around the campfire to listen to Seila tell stories how centuries before, Cambodian culture had initiation practices that helped young men and women become mature adults but those were lost and it might be helpful if Khmer Christians brought back some of these practices and incorporated them into the life of church, rather then just believing the Sunday morning sermon will cover all the needs of the human soul and its development.
One young lady, from PP who went on the Emmaus walk was impressed by one particular station with the picture of a butterfly and the words explaining that the Greeks described the soul in terms of a butterfly, that a butterfly really has no agenda but to alight, taste, and move forward. The med student noticed that before the soul is free enough to do that, it must struggle in one of the instar stages and die to old forms of the ego first, which is a serious struggle, but the reward is lightness and ability to seek beauty and truth unhindered.
And all the students were amazed they could learn so much from each other and nature! They did not miss the religious experts.
This retreat was extremely organic and spontaneous is so many ways. Vysal was wise enough to leave the right amount of gaps in the schedule to let God fill them, and God surely did. Often we as leaders go to see what we could offer, but in reality, the students teach us in turn. They encouraged us, and make our live much richer than before. It was somewhat of a coup d’état if you ask me!
Camp fire activities
In their own groups, everyone told their life’s story over the 3 days we were together. There was much weeping over the trauma and hurt the students experienced especially in their family of origin, and even in their churches. Each leader led the group to lay hands on and pray for those who were carrying great burdens of grief. This year in ONYX will be more about healing before it is about anything else.
At the campfire, one man in his testimony confessed he had recently been in jail for 9 years and came to be a follower of Jesus in prison through Pastor Socheat in Kompong Cham. His life was un-mistakenly turned upside down. ONYX students were so encouraged by his testimony. Many wanted to know about his turn around.
Onyx Phnom Penh
Everyone needs love and everyone wants to know what is love. This year, I was touched by the “The Five Love Languages” (5LL) series of lessons. Serey Choeng is a great facilitator, who had a heart to help the Onyx class learn about the “The Five Love Languages,” which is based on the book by Gary Chapman.
Spending three week in class with Serey and the Onyx students was a blessing. A lot of students are full of love but they didn’t know exactly what their preferred love language was, or the love language of others. A lot of learning activities led them to discover their own love language. We ended the lessons with fieldwork to “Blue Tent” village where Mr. Kevin & Ms. Leakhena Knight live among people there. Students divided into 3 small groups and showed love to the villagers, who were evicted from their homes in Phnom Penh in 2009 and relocated to a field one hour from the city.
After the experience, one of the Onyx students, Ms. Seng Karuna, mentioned to another student that her love language is Quality Time, so why did her team have her join them to gather up the cow dung from the nearby field to use for fertilizer? While she was collecting the cow dung with her team, she was reflecting. It was a hot day, about 102 Fahrenheit. She realized sometimes it is hard to give love in a love language (acts of service) with which she’s not so comfortable. She had to show love in a love language that’s not her preferred language. It wasn’t easy, but this blessed others and she felt blessed to use another love language that made others feel joy and love.
Another student, Ms. Srey Neath who works at Cambodia Care Center said, “I used to be a complainer and would scold my students most of the time. The 5LL lesson made me open my eyes to see that the world is more beautiful. I am applying this lesson with my students at the Care Center. I used to get after them when they didn’t listen to me, especially when they were being lazy at school. But the lesson was suggesting I might use ‘Words of Encouragement’ instead. After I knew this, I began to apply this with my students. Guess what? What I received was more than I expected! My students are starting to listen to me more than before, especially when I use this love language. I plan to use it more with the students in my center.
On the way back from fieldwork at “Blue Tent,” there was a moment that made us fear for our very lives. A big truck was driving very fast, and coming straight at our van. The students were scared and screaming, but our van driver and I were not because we were to shocked to speak. I thought, “oh man, it’s about to hit us, but we are so thankful to God for his protection, and also the joy that we had at Onyx fieldwork.”
Reporter: Mr. SOKHA Vysal, Leadership Manager
Onyx Kampong Thom
Gathering Onyx student with our donor
Welcome to our Onyx Student Gathering 2015. This is a souvenier memory of having our donors come to participate with us. There were 30 former and present Onyx students who came to join our special fellowship event. It was fun to meet our guests, and helpful to hear from each other during our gathering. We danced together after the fellowship meal, played games, participated in icebreakers, shared with each other, and prayed for one other.
Mr. Kosal said “This is my first time I have seen this program include former students. I am encouraged to use more from what I learn from Onyx class”.
Mr. Borey, “ I would like to thank you brothers and sisters who lead this leadership program. I now have a good job serving community by having had this leadership training.”
Students investing 5 Love Languages in class
5LL is our block of lessons from which we launched the Onyx Program, Cohort 2 in Kampong Thom. We help students to identify their love language through self discovery and then they are able to identify the love language in which they themselves receive love, and others closest to them receive love. We believe this
lesson can help shape this new generation’s heart for their family, marriage, community, and nation. Thank God this opportunity. “It will help me to apply the right form of love to an other, giving them much more love that way, and I can apply it not only to my family and church, but everyone I know. When I know what my priority love languages are and that of others, love will abound.” And, also they started to practice with their friends in class because they know much more about their friends in class. “ I will try to find out more about my parent’s priority love. I want to see my parents happy and receive love from me,” Soki said.
1 Corinthains 13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”
Reporter: Mr. PROM Chomno, Kampong Thom Satellite coordinator.
Leadership Club
New Class
Not too long ago, we had just wrapped up our 6 month- long Youth Leadership Club among the teens of laborers and working class families in the neighborhood. Last year’s leadership club had twenty students: 12 males and 8 females who hung in there for the whole 6-month duration of club. Through our training sessions and activities together we were able to observe the impact in the lives of students, like how their attitude and character had changed, how they have became better young people, having improved in all their relationships: friends, teachers, siblings, and parents. Many have become good students and also have become better members in each of their social arenas. Our program has definitely shaped them in many ways in their daily living.
We just launched our second Leadership Club on March 7th, 2015, and now we are in our third week of the Dove’s second club. We have about twenty-two new student, with five former students from the first club, so we have 27 in all. There are 9 females and 18 males who are attending every Saturday. The former five students from the last year, who finished the course already, still want to come again to study more and they are willing to help the club with any activities like leading games, presenting skits, cleaning the classroom, helping the instructor facilitate classroom activity, sharing about themselves and some of things they learned through the club last year. This is one exceptional impact- students coming back to learn more and volunteer their time. They are doing a good job, now that they know what works and what does not work. Last year was an experiment that was a great success, though we made some mistakes and didn’t do everything right we learned a lot and are able to make this year’s class much for effective.
“Hello, my I’m Thida, and I am 17 years old. I’m a former leadership club student. I studied for 6 months in
the club and now I am back in the second year’s class! Why am I here again? Here’s why- Yes of course we all finished last year’s course but for me Leadership club and all I studied there was very special for me. We learned from each other through community, participation, dialogue and fieldwork. We were helpful, friendly, and kind to each other, and we shared with each other and we received many positive things from the club. I can say that before attending the club I was an immature young girl, I mean my thought like a kid- I liked to do what I wanted to do, and I had never cared if it was wrong or right. I was sliding into a careless attitude with careless behavior. But now, that attitude is gone and now I am doing well with all my friends, teachers, family and others. Leadership Club helped me in so many ways, and I sure I love the club and I still want to learn more. Finally, I am here again with some of my old classmates and new students. Thanks to my teacher, that you often helped me when I had problems and especially for this chance to come attend again. I am willing to help in any way I can.
Hi, I’m Kong Kear and I am 14 years old. I am studying in public school at Wat Sonsom Kosal High School and now I am a new student here in this club. I knew about DOVE (YESIC) because my cousin’s brother is an English student there, and also was a student of the Leadership club there before. He introduced me to his experience with the Leadership Club, and so that I felt I wanted to come. So, now I am here, and I keep coming here every Saturday evening from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Today is the 3rd week of this club for me, and I am enjoying it with all my new friends, teachers and the games are so fun. I have never played them before (I love playing game like this). Otherwise, I hope I can learn even more good things.
Reporter: Mr. CHOUN Virak, YES-IC coordinator
Kampong Chhnang Satellite
Launching Onyx Class
On 31st Jan 2015, the Kampong Chhnang Satellite Launched the Onyx Program for Year II. Vysal went to help launch the Onyx Program. Twenty people participated in the launch, including 16 new Onyx students. Six of the students previously studied the DOVE Diamond Program I course. The students are from 7 churches in Kampong Chhnang. Miss Morn Chanthy, who was an Onyx Program Batch I student, shared her testimony. She encouraged the new students saying, “the Onyx Program is a good program that help me to have self-confidence, and every lesson had an impact on my life and my leadership in my church. When I was studying the Onyx Program, I was able to create two small cell groups in Kampong Leang district.”
Onyx Program in Class
The Onyx Program Class always studies every Saturday morning from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. This year we have 16 students, 6 males and 9 females. They are from 7 churches including: Life for Living Church (6 students), Passion of Christ Church (3 students), Harvest Church (2 students), Harvest Otrobek Church (1 student), Siyon Kampong Haov Church (2 students), Toul Khsach Church (1 student), Evangelical Friends Church (1 student). The course has been meeting for 6 weeks.
Opening Retreat for Onyx Program
On February 20-22, 2015, we had the opening retreat in Kampong Cham province. There were 19 participants who attended this retreat from Kampong Chhnang. They were very happy to join this retreat. The students thought that the retreat created good relationships with students from other satellites, and they felt closer with ther friends because they had to sleep with many people under one mosquito net together.
Reporter: Mr. SO Minea, DOVE Kampong Chhang satellite coordinator.
Kampong Cham Satellite
Onyx’s Launch Day
There are twelve students, including eight females selected for the course but only eleven were able to join us on orientation day. They came to the class, wearing smiles all over their faces, hiding a little bit of an overwhelming sense of curiosity of what they’re gonna meet up with in ONYX this next year. They were naturally a bit apprehensive but exited as well
Opening Retreat
I did not inform the students where they were going to stay or go for our three-day-two-night opening-year. It was a complete surprise and mystery to them. The retreat was like an Amazing Adventure, being together in the jungle sharing bamboo beds, pillows, and blankets; paying full attention to designed lessons and to each other with no interruption or distraction from cell phones or the internet since there was no network there. 35 year-old Ngorn, one of the students, was amazed by the adventure type nature of the camp. He said he won’t ever forget this moment for the rest of his life. He added that he never took part in any program like this before, and that he was amazed that the ONYX students were arranged to sleep together on bamboo beds, sharing blankets, bathing in the stream, and using two toilets for 70 people, eating in the middle of the jungle, learning and discovering truth and beauty among themselves, and sleeping along to lullaby of various birds and the rushing stream.
Onyx Alumni
There were 20 students who attended the alumni event on February 27th. We have spent quality time together hearing testimonies and words of encouragement from the former students of last year directed toward the current year’s students and the team from Belpres Church of the Seattle area. We loved hanging out together by playing fun games and eating snacks.
Weekly Class
This is the 4th week of the class and we are finishing up the 5 Love Languages block. Most students are so touched by the lessons. They shared about their life story and personal love language with smiles and tears.
The students are now divided into two groups that meet up every week to reflect on what they learned in class and to do peer mentoring. They are also to meet up with their elder/mentor after each 4 week block. The next block is the Leadership Time-line, a contextualized form of CRM’s Focused Living Leadership Time-line, which will be facilitated in an outdoor location.
Reporter: Ms. Na Sarady, Kampong Cham Satellite coordinator
East Side Church Consortium (ESC) Visit
Each church supports a specific DOVE satellite, and on the first weekend, members of the ESC visited K.Thom, K.Cham, and K.Chhnang where they could observe first hand what ONYX training was like. Both satellite coordinators and the visiting ESC folks had a great time playing, eating, learning, and getting to know one another. Each satellite had an alumni reunion so the ESC folk could interview them about the impact of the training program.
Following the provincial visits, the ESC team partnered in a consultation with DOVE for 2 full days at the Domrey Saw on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Dove took half the time presenting its various ministries, vision and purpose, and the other of the time was led by Linda Gotts and Lynn Ogata (DOVE), where both partners discussed and brainstormed about issues of sustainability, financial accountability, succession of leadership, and program evaluation. We crafted goals for each partner to be working on, so that DOVE can run well and expand into the future.
Dove staff were encouraged by the visit and counted our time to together as very profitable.
A Comic Way of Developing our Greatest Gift
On 24th January 2015, we had a comic book training of the second year’s training to small group leaders at the office in Phnom Penh.
Every three months Alongsider group leaders from several provinces around Cambodia gather at the office in Phnom Penh for training. These are moments to reconnect - and to equip, listen and provide them with fresh encouragement and direction.
It's at these meetings that staffs distribute the curriculum: always three new issues of our comic books for Alongsiders. The leaders look at each story and discuss how mentors can read them most effectively with their little brothers and sisters. Then they take them back to their groups to use for the next three months (1 comic book per month).
Each book comes with discussion questions and one practical way to act on the lesson in the story. In a society that still struggles to provide most citizens with a meaningful education, it's no small step for an Alongsider to read and learn together with her little sister. We can't take it for granted that she'll know what to do or feel confident if we just put materials in her hands, so the training is vitally important.
Typically part of the training consists of the coordinators role-playing how to read through the comic -
eliciting questions and observations from the "little brother". These sessions are becoming increasingly interactive. There is always lots of discussion about the topic (whether drugs, gender, grace or some other Biblical theme). The recent meeting included lots of discussion in pairs. Each comic has an insert with questions to discuss and one suggestion to act on the embedded lesson.
Here is noted from — Srey Mom (Phnom Penh) “I like the comics. The pictures are pretty and the stories are meaningful. They relate to real social issues and problems, and they lead the kids to learn and relate to God.”
Reporter: Alongsiders International
Please Make a donation to this excellent ministry by contacting;
Develop Our Villege Economy OFFICE
House #429, Street 26BT, Sangkat Boeung Tompon, Khan Menachey, Phnom Penh City, Kingdom of Cambodia. P.O.Box: 543 (Wat Phnom)
Email Address: Uon Seila: seilaopheas@gmail.com Brian: brianmaher57@gmail.com
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