A Table Changes EVERYTHING

On Tuesday night we decided to throw a dance party for the café Eden staff.   The café is closed on Tuesdays and it’s really their only day they have to do anything fun at all.  We’ve learned that the majority of young adults in Cambodia are the primary providers for their entire family (most of their parents don’t work anymore).  And on top of that most of the café workers are trying to go to University full time.  So you can imagine sleep and fun get put on the back-burner.  They are totally servant-hearted and sacrifice so much for their families.

So basically the pressure was on to make this dance party a huge success because they gave up their one free night to come, AND they rarely get to do things like this.  So a few of us spent the day moving around furniture, decorating, baking cookies and banana bread, cutting up mangoes, making a playlist and getting fired up for the party. 

Only two of the people on our team know many of the workers very well (me and a girl named Ariel, because we help there in the mornings) so the beginning of the party was a little awkward trying to introduce everyone to each other.  As people were trickling in and getting introduced we tried to put on music and start dancing but as I looked around I saw white people dancing and Cambodians sitting and watching… Not the look of a successful party! 

It was time to pull out plan B.  We needed to save this party cuz it was dying fast! At Cambodian weddings they bring out a little table and put it in the middle of the dance floor and basically walk/dance in a circle around the table.  Here’s a taste: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFlmkOd2tGs).  So we got the manager’s phone and put on some traditional Khmer dance music and boom, we had ourselves a party!  About 30 seconds into the song almost every Cambodian worker was dance-walking and doing weird stuff with their hands around the table (seriously check out that youtube clip... it's just like that). 

After a couple of songs of that we took a chance and put on some other dance music, held our breath, and excitedly watched as one of the Cambodian girls literally picked up the table and moved it off the dance floor so we could all dance… And the rest is history.  We danced the night away to American group dance songs, Christian Hip-Hop songs, and Khmer dance music.  All the workers left with smiles on their faces and they all said they had a great time! 

It was such a privilege to get to bless these amazing people in this way.  Since the party I’ve seen an obvious change in how the workers who I didn’t know as well have interacted with me at the café.   They could tell that our hearts were pure and we didn’t have an agenda.  All we wanted to do was have a party with them and get to know them.  And because we took the time to do that the opportunities for discipleship and relationship are opening up! I was invited to spend the day next Tuesday with one of the servers named Pak and he’s going to take me around Battambang on his moto to see the sights… SO STOKED!

Moral of the story… A table changes EVERYTHING!!

“David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might,” -2 Samuel 6:14