Pictures of lockdown in our area

As of April 29th, the government put the city in 3 zones.  Red zones for those areas with a lot of COVID cases; Orange zones for those with moderate cases and then Yellow zones for those with very little cases.

We are in an Orange zone and so very thankful.  My sister lives about half a mile from us and she is in a Red zone.  Red zones people can't leave their house for any reason; not even to buy food.  They are grateful that they have a refrigerator and freezer, unlike most Khmers.

Some pictures from our area.  The first picture is a barricade across the street at an intersection.  It is getting more difficult to find a way out of the area, but so far, we haven't had any problems finding a way out when we needed it.    As we are in a Orange zone, we are allowed out of the house 3 times a week to buy food and we can now also exercise outside.  Yeah!!!

Our neighborhood market is in the same Red zone area as my sister's house.  And all the markets in the city are officially closed anyway.  However, it really just means that the sellers have moved.  

These are pictures of the sellers along the streets near our house.  

They use their tuktuks...

...some have carts.  And some sell off the back of their motorcycles.  

These are sellers and buyers in front of the landlord's house.

In this picture, you can see our gate - it's the purple one.  

This is a close up of the sellers food in front of the landlord's gate.  Fish and vegetables.  They are good to wash down all the fish parts at the end of the day.  We live on the main road through our neighborhood so it is a good place for the sellers to come.

I took this picture from our roof (as I was exercising).   The 2 guys in tan are policemen making the people leave.  Like I said, the "market"  just moved, so people end up gathering up in this area where the sellers are.  Also, technically, these people aren't supposed to be selling at all since the markets are to be closed.

But the sellers and the buyers both need to eat.  And as I mentioned before, most Khmers (in our area) don't have refrigerators.  They go to the market each day for that day's fresh food.  There are no canned foods.  

In fact, in the Red zones, the government said that they would bring food around.  At least one place that I know of protested (were out of their houses and gathered in the streets) because they didn't have food.  We have also been told that some of the rice that has been delivered is old and nearly inedible. I think all they have been told they will deliver is rice and water.  

In our area, the police run everyone off.  The sellers then drive around the block, and about 5 minutes later, they are back selling again.  It is kind of humorous to watch because all the sudden, everyone leaves and then a few minutes later, they are all back.  And they do this over and over every day.

 

These are sellers across the street from our house.  You can see the chickens on the front table and then the vegetables on the back cart.  

This is the view outside of our gate.  We have had all kinds of sellers setting up in front of the gate - selling charcoal, watermelons, etc.  The lady in the pink is selling eggs off the basket on her bicycle.  The other motorcycle has vegetables in the bin on the back.  

You can't see clearly, but there are also 2 sellers on the other side of the street.  

But we are doing well!  We are stocked up with food.  We can get out to exercise.  

Khemrin is teaching Colossians and Philemon to the students who are at the school.  Starting on Monday, the schools in Battambang, Siem Reap, and our school will be doing a Zoom meeting together.  They have gathered up about 70 questions from the students.  They have split these questions between 7 teachers, who will answer them.  They are going to do this from 8-10am this week.  

After that is over, Khemrin will continue to teach his classes for another hour or so each day.

Rich has been doing all the preaching for the University Church since we haven't been able to meet physically.  He is doing the series on Ephesians via Google Meet.  

Thank you so much for all your prayers.  Pray that we continue to be outside of a Red zone.  Also, please keep our students in your prayers; especially the ones that have now been back in their villages during all of this.  Please pray that they will return so they can learn more about God and His Word.  Many times, their parents get them busy at home and they don't come back.  

Also, please keep us in your prayers as we plan to visit the States soon.  My flight is scheduled out the evening of May 25th.  Since we don't know if Rich can get back to the school to teach, we haven't booked his flight out yet.  He would like to teach a class before he leaves if possible.

We hope you are all doing great and glorifying God every day with your lives.

Much love, 

Ronda