(Khmer Soldiers- Reuters Photo/ Thai artillery - AFP News)
A few weeks back, I have been given my marching orders for a sabbatical... means I get to go back to my country for a year or so.
But the funny this is today I'm supposed to be packing to cross the eastern border to Thailand within a day or two... all of a sudden early this afternoon fighting and shooting erupts in the northern border (PreahVihear-Si Sa Ket) of Thailand and Cambodian.
I'm not really worried for myself. The Cambodian kids here in the center are more worried since their parents work just across the border and fear for their safety. The ordinary people in the meantime are more worried, not actually for their safety, but rather for their survival. If the borders close, then people on both sides cannot transact business...
large scale meaning is that they don't get any money for their daily food not only for themselves but for their family.
Conclusion, if this goes to worse, people will go hungry.
Now I realize what they mean by "collateral damage" and it's saddening because for any political squabble, the poor and innocent ones suffer the most.
Today, I pray for peace with a very particular intention.