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Cambodia

Lenten Meal Series

Spotlight on Cambodia

Population: 14,138,000 (2010)
Literacy rate: 78%
Urban population: 20% of total population (2010)

Printable Table Tent

Download and print this table tent, designed for the Cambodia meal. This table tent includes conversation starters and information about your gifts to ELCA World Hunger in action.

Placemats

Download, print and use different placemats during your Lenten meals to raise awareness about hunger, poverty and related issues.

Table Prayer

Most Buddhist monks eat only once or twice a day and bless their food with this chant:

Wisely reflecting, I use this food not for fun, not for pleasure, not for fattening, not for beautification, but only for the maintenance and nourishment of this body, for keeping it healthy, for helping with the Spiritual Life.

(Prayer from http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/saying-grace-mealtime-blessings-around-world)

Story: Poung
Poung and her husband scrimped and saved to buy a bit of farmland. Filled with hope, they planted eggplants, cucumbers, string beans and radishes. But their first crops were a disappointment. What could be wrong? Then Poung joined The Lutheran World Federation's Farmer Field School, made possible by your generosity to ELCA World Hunger.
Read the full story.

Download as a bulletin insert.

Local Recipes

Popular foods in Cambodia include char kroeung (stir fry), noom pachok (chicken recipe) and salor kor-ko sap (khmer vegetarian stew). Try these dishes and experience a taste of Cambodia.

Skip the Coffee. Feed the Hungry.

Many are familiar with the tradition of giving something up during Lent. Last year, Pastor Steve Biegner of Zion Lutheran Church in Clarence Center, N.Y., decided to add something to his Lenten tradition. For 40 days, he stopped drinking coffee. And in its place, he gave whatever money he normally spent to support ELCA World Hunger.

“What does giving up coffee have to do with my relationship with God?” Pastor Steve asked. “Nothing. But focusing on the problem of hunger does. It helps ‘enlighten my eye’ to the ongoing problem.”

He placed a large, empty pickle jar outside the sanctuary of his church and asked others to join him. Each day, members of the congregation would sacrifice their favorite morning beverage and save the money they would have spent. By Easter Sunday, the pickle jar was full of donations to help end hunger and poverty.