By Susan Almond
Sokhom Yann of North Newton loves baked goat, American hamburgers and eggs served sunny-side up.
Yann, 25, arrived in the United States in August from his home in Kompongthom, Cambodia, for a yearlong stint with the Mennonite Central Committee international volunteer exchange program, a Christian service opportunity for ages 18 through 30. Many of its participants are placed with social service agencies.
Yann is a chaplain’s assistant for Kidron Bethel Village in North Newton. He also worked in the activities department at Bethel Health Care Centre in the Kidron community. He enjoys interacting with the “very nice” residents at Kidron Bethel Village.
The nursing home environment and retirement community concept is a new experience for him. In Cambodia, Yann says, families provide care for their elderly, and there is no institutionalized health care. Most Cambodians could not afford such a service, he added.
Yann is impressed with the friendliness and educational level of Americans, as well as the country’s clean living conditions, structure of the work environment and the strictness of government regulations in the elder-care industry.
“Sokhom’s strengths are many,” Kidron Chaplain Amanda Rempel said. “He has built good relationships with the elders here at Kidron Bethel. He has a sense of humor, and is growing in his ability to ‘catch’ humor in our language and culture. He learns quickly. He is willing to take risks. He has a growing faith in Christ.”
Marion and Lois Deckert of North Newton are Yann’s host family.
Yann commutes the few blocks to work by bicycle. His 40-hour work weeks allow freedom on weekends for reading and listening to Bott Radio Network. He also does a twice-weekly Bible study with Marion Deckert.
“The idea of the freedom we have in our religion is very puzzling to him,” Lois Deckert said.
Yann recommended a movie, “The Killing Fields,” to Rempel and the Deckerts, then watched it with each of them. The movie highlights the Cambodian Pol Pot regime from 1975 to 1979, before Yann’s birth. Nearly one-fourth of the Cambodian people were killed, many of whom were teachers, educators and people of influence. Many of those who wore glasses were considered intellectuals and were killed. During that time period, Yann said, when his father sneaked out at night to find food, he sometimes had to step past dead bodies.
Yann herded buffalo until he was 14. When he was 9, his father decided he needed a formal education. Because he was small for his age, the school changed his birthdate to make it appear that he was younger. Until he reached middle school, the students had no individual textbooks, only a writing board. There were very few books at his school. For a while during his high school years, he lived in a pagoda with Buddhist monks.
Most families in Yann’s village are poor and plagued with economic problems. Those who have jobs receive low wages for their work, he added.
“Most people have no bank accounts, just the cash in their pockets,” said Yann.
His parents, a farmer and a village nurse, had no formal education. Yann says their hard work allows him to attend Norton University in Phnom Penh City, where he is working on a degree in economic development. He plans to utilize all he has learned here to help build a stronger community, he says. Yann will return to the school in October to complete his final year.
Yann’s village has no electricity. His parents have a large battery they use to keep a cell phone charged so Yann can call home every month or two. He misses his family, sharing good times with his university dormmates, and the friends in his small home church where he serves as a youth leader.
Yann’s parents, two brothers and three sisters eat mostly freshwater fish they buy at a market, as there are no longer many fish in the nearby river. There is never enough food, he says, and what is available is “very expensive.”
“We waste a lot of food here in America,” Yann said.
Here, Yann enjoys a slow-cooked, Indian version of baked goat made by Lois Deckert, and also likes hamburgers and fried potatoes. When he arrived in America, he was leery of drinking the water, and the Deckerts boiled water and cooked rice for him. He soon decided to eat “regular” American foods.
Lois Deckert said Yann enjoys learning American idioms. He was washing dishes one night when she approached the sink and advised him she was about to “horn in.” That phrase made an impression on him, she said, and he has since “horned in” while she was washing dishes.
During a trip to Pennsylvania, Yann was dismayed to learn that he must tell the waitress how he wanted his eggs cooked. He pointed to a picture on the menu and the waitress said, “Oh! Sunny-side up.” It is a term he now uses regularly.
One of the things Lois Deckert learned from Yann is the significance of hearing an angry-sounding voice.
“The cultural reaction is to walk away so you don’t reply using an angry voice,” she explained.
Describing the American lifestyle as an “easy life in a pleasant country,” Yann hopes the things he has learned about the way Americans make their living can be used to help his people improve their lives.
“Because of getting to work with Sokhom,” Rempel said, “I will always think of Cambodia with more understanding and appreciation than I did before. I wish Sokhom the very best as he returns to Cambodia and finishes his degree in economic development.”
Yann will be honored at a farewell party at 2:30 p.m. July 9 in the Whispering Meadow dining room in Bethel Health Care Centre at Kidron Bethel Village.
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