This has been a difficult day for the Kingdom of Cambodia. The time of national celebration has turned, suddenly and tragically, into a time of mourning. The Water Festival, celebrated throughout the nation, but in a very focussed and big way in Phnom Penh, provided such beauty and spectacle. You can see a little of what I mean in some of the photos of the local boat races in Poipet on this blog. But this year, the TV cameras were there to film the horrible scenes of so many people dying in the stampede on the bridge collapsed on the last night of the festival in Phnom Penh.
My first realization of the tragedy was at 5.15 this morning, when my daughter rang saying 'Dad, are you all right?'. I suppose that's what happens when someone is visiting a different country - you just hear about a tragedy in Cambodia and wonder if your loved ones are OK. Then I looked at the BBC news on my iPhone and realized something of the size of the tragedy. 349 dead and many more seriously injured. So large that the news on television all day has been about nothing else. The Prime Minister has just addressed the nation, and called a national day of mourning on Thursday, our last day in Cambodia. And this tragedy has touched the heart of the people so much that it has been compared to the time of the Khmer Rouge. On our way to our evening meal tonight, the street is lined with little 'offerings', I presume for the spirits of those who have died, and each place, including the Camboda Hope Organization, is collecting money to help those who have to pay for funerals.
I am so pleased that Tearfund has asked people to pray specifically for the nation of Cambodia tonight: Please pray also on Thursday. The people here carry everything with such quiet dignity, but there is a real sense of grief and pain, at the loss of so many, and in some cases, such young lives. Pray too, for the churches in Cambodia as they seek to stand alongside and among the people of this nation over the days and weeks to come.
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