Memories From Cambodia
1. "I was in Cambodia on a two year church mission, living several hours away from the church HQ in the country. We had no TV in the upstairs unit of the duplex where we lived, but our Singaporean neighbor downstairs did.
We were getting ready for bed, about 8:00 Indochina time. Our downstairs neighbor came running up and screams through the window, scarying me. I asked him to clarify and he said,
'America is under attack!'
We followed him downstairs to his place and watched the second plane hit
I thought about my sister and her family who lived in Westchester County. I had no idea how they would be impacted. We notified our leaders at HQ, prayed, and went to bed.
The area I served had one of the largest Muslim neighborhoods in the country and I regularly rode my bike through there. I never felt threatened, but a naively felt fear.
The following days, all the people we spoke with offered condolences to us, but our lives as missionaries were largely unaffected.
I returned home the following July to a changed America. I never got to see the patriotism or kindness that our people showed in the weeks and months after 9/11. When I returned, there was just the build up to Iraq War and the polarization that accelerated under the Bush Administration."
- Salem Stanley
We were getting ready for bed, about 8:00 Indochina time. Our downstairs neighbor came running up and screams through the window, scarying me. I asked him to clarify and he said,
'America is under attack!'
We followed him downstairs to his place and watched the second plane hit
I thought about my sister and her family who lived in Westchester County. I had no idea how they would be impacted. We notified our leaders at HQ, prayed, and went to bed.
The area I served had one of the largest Muslim neighborhoods in the country and I regularly rode my bike through there. I never felt threatened, but a naively felt fear.
The following days, all the people we spoke with offered condolences to us, but our lives as missionaries were largely unaffected.
I returned home the following July to a changed America. I never got to see the patriotism or kindness that our people showed in the weeks and months after 9/11. When I returned, there was just the build up to Iraq War and the polarization that accelerated under the Bush Administration."
- Salem Stanley