Day 13: 23rd-31st Jan

The fact that you are reading this is an achievement in it's self as a series of unfortunate events have resulted in delaying this post! We are still yet to get internet on our laptop, it's in the pipeline.

Last Saturday, we visited the local market in Poipet, which is made up of a maze of small streets, crowded with people and produce. In the afternoon we played football, with forty plus kids under 16 and some CHO staff, in a local field. It was great fun and good to get stuck in with the youth work that CHO do, football is a global language, so communicating was no problem. In the evening we had a bible study with Matt and 3 guys from CHO.
We experienced our first church service on sunday morning, and we were amazed at how similar it was to our own churches, with both worship and a talk in Khmer. The worship was very familiar to us as we knew many of the songs, translated from English. For the rest of the day we planned lessons and bible classes for the following week, and relaxed before our first full working week.

On Monday we started our English lessons, bible class and of course new games at the safe haven centre. The safe haven is a centre for children and women who have been rescued from the merciless human trafficking industry. The school on the site was opened in October, and there are many new developments taking place on site, including a carpentry workshop for vocational training. We each teach english to a class from monday to friday for 45 mintues, and then all the classes gather together and we teach a bible story to them together.
On Tuesday instead of going to the safe haven, Mao, a senior manager of CHO, took us to visit the various projects in and around Poipet that CHO do. This started by visiting an HIV/AIDS hopsital in the centre of Poipet. There is a large clinic for dailty outpatients, and a smaller ward for those who are too ill to live at home. The hospital it's self offer support and medical care for over 300 patients. It was incredible to see the work CHO do in action. When entering the smaller ward, for those seriously ill, we were struck by the helplessness of the people lying there, and how AIDS really devastates lives. We were all moved and found it difficult how to react appropriately, this is something we would appreciate your prayers for, as we want to serve in the hospital. We moved onto a motor bike training school, where a new class had just begun to teach children how to fix motor bikes. This is an example of the many vocational training projects that CHO provide. The children obviously enjoyed it and were very good at it as far as we could see! This was followed by visiting a sewing buisness and sewing school, also one of the vocational training projects. After lunch we visited two safe houses which provides orphaned children with a new foster family, giving them a hope of a better future. School on a mat is a informal school class which are held in the villages surrounding Poipet. Children who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend school can recieve a part time education four times a week. They teach; Khmer, English, Maths, Sanitation and Hygine, Human Rights, as well as trafficking and HIV awareness. The last stop was a small holding run by a man and his family, CHO provided the neccessary support and training for them to start this buisness which now supports the family.
From Wednesday to Friday we continued teaching at the safe haven in the morning which we love doing and also the Khmer lessons. Both Paul and Alex have led a morning devotion each this week, Calum will do one next week! On Friday after teaching in the morning, we attended the weekly prayer meeting and bible study. This was led by Anna from a YWAM team who are currently visiting CHO, and we enjoyed the message on hearing God's voice. This was followed by the first of a series of seminars led by Dr Susan, a missionary from America and her friend Dona who founded the charity 'Hope for the Nations', who support CHO. We were greatly challenged by this talk, on recieving Jesus and living with him in your life, and look forward to the talks to come. The three of us have also played a few 'special songs'- these are worship songs from the UK, which they asked us to do. It was nice to play music and worship together.
On sunday after the morning church service, Dona and Dr Susan invited us to spend the afternoon with them at Siem Reap. We leaped at the opportunity to see more of the country, and enjoyed spending time with them, as they are so humble and fun to be with. We were amazed at the contrast between Poipet and Siem Reap-it is much greener, bigger and cleaner. We visited a vibrant market in the centre of the city, full of aromas and colour. As our time was limited we unfortunately could not visit the renouned Angkor Wat, our fleeting drive past it wet our appetite for when we plan to visit it in a few weeks. We reutrned to Poipet in the CHO van which has been affectionately named 'the death mobile', given it was hotter inside than the 30C outside!

We are really enjoying our time here, and feel that as every day passes we are more at home and settled. Thank you for all your prayers, they are so appreciated, please keep them coming! Tune in next week for another exciting installment, we have no idea when that will be though.