Wednesday 4 October 2017

Day 10

Today was our final day in Cambodia which was well spent learning about the Buddhist culture and enjoying one last trip to the markets. After breakfast, we travelled to the Peace Cafe to meet a monk and receive a blessing before our departure back home. When talking to the monk, we learnt a lot more about Buddhism and how it differs from Hinduism. People of a Buddhist faith do not have a God, rather the Buddha who is their teacher. We were explained the Buddhist belief in karma and how it is the consequence of an action — if you share your goodness with someone else, goodness will be shown to you in return. We were also given the opportunity to ask questions about Buddhism before our blessing. The monk told us about the tradition of the blessing originating in Cambodia and how it would give us the energy to go out and serve others. After we were blessed, we all felt a sense of relaxation, tranquility and peace. After our blessing was finished and we thanked the monk, we visited a shop at the Peace Cafe where items were handmade by people with disabilities and diseases before enjoying a nice cold drink, fruit shakes being the most popular pick. We then made our way to the markets where we enjoyed one last visit to buy gifts, bargain and get one clean pair of pants for the plane if we had run out. We enjoyed our last lunch at the Jesuit Centre after showering and packing our bags and then we loaded our belongings into a 4WD so that that they didn't get wet from the flash flooding. Our driver Pov drove us to the airport and we all said a big goodbye and thanked him for driving us everywhere. We got our last photo together and then checked in. Overall, this experience has been amazing and every single girl has taken something away from it that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. We are all so thankful for this opportunity and we are excited to return home and share our journey with our family and friends.