Background...


BACKGROUND...

We will be working with the Cambodian Hope Organisation (CHO), in a border town called Poipet. In Poipet the largest source of employment is day labour, 8-10 thousand people cross the border each day to transport goods back from Thailand; working conditions and pay is poor. Poipet lies in the shadows of ten super-casinos, they provide little economic benefit to the local area. The influx of tourists and gamblers attracted by the casinos has encouraged the sex industry to flourish. Child trafficking has taken a stronghold in Poipet, and its the poor families who are at risk of being lured into sending their children into Thailand where the risk of trafficking is high.

There is Hope! CHO works in the local community, and they envision 'a network of strong, hope-filled communities where adequate physical, psychological and spiritual needs are met.'


The work we will be doing with CHO is varied and includes; Helping to build a safe haven centre for children who have escaped the child trafficking industry, learning Khmer, the local language, taking an active role in children’s clubs and ‘school on a mat’, assisting CHO staff in their work in the community, working with individuals from different cultures and faiths, especially the Buddhist culture, praying for and visiting those suffering with HIV/AIDS, taking an active role in the life of the Church through worship, sharing testimonies, taking bible studies and preaching.


Wednesday 9 June 2010

May 22nd – 11th June

Welcome to yet another blog, we’ve had a busy two weeks being back at CHO, hence the slow blogging! Since our return from the village we have been back into a fairly regular schedule, working in the morning and teaching at the Safe Haven School in the afternoons. There have been a few teams come through after a short break and so was nice to see some fresh faces and talk with them. We are delighted to see Rebekah with us again (she came before, in February, for a short time). She has been to CHO numerous times and will be working with the ‘School on a Mat’ project and Safe Haven School implementing a new curriculum over the next six months. Rebekah works for one of the NGOs (Hope for the Nations – works in nearly 30 countries worldwide, founded in Canada) that support and sponsor CHO.

We ended May mostly working at the building site for the new house for trafficked boys at the Safe Haven Centre. That building now is nearing completion and is currently having the roof put on. There is a lack of finance for this building at the moment so your prayers would be so appreciated for money to finance the construction.
Since then we have been building a road through the Safe Haven and will continue to do this for the rest of the month (well, until it’s finished!). There is a mud/dirt road already running through it, but with the rainy season on its way (it is raining more frequently now in the afternoons) we have been putting small stones on top to keep the road in place, making it possible to walk on when the rain comes.


Paul, Calum and Thea working on the road (Alex is working, just taking the picture!)

We joined with several hundred children on the 1st of June to parade around Poipet for ‘International Children’s Day’, to promote children’s rights and stand against trafficking and child labour. Every year, CHO sponsor and organise (together with local schools) a parade around the city like this. Out of the hundreds of children that came, over 200 were kids from ‘School on a Mat’. It was a hot, but joyful and special day.


School children at the start point of the parade



Parade on the main road at the top of the City

With Rebekah now implementing a new curriculum into the Safe Haven and Mat schools, we have started to do more varied lessons in both schools. We have done art, music and puppetry lessons with the children; drawing, weaving, making shakers and puppets, with more diverse lessons to come. A new art exchange program has begun, with the Safe Haven and Mat School children drawing postcards which will be sent to schools in Lancaster (England), Kelowna (Canada) and Hong Kong. The children in those schools will then send their own postcards back to these children, so it is exciting to see the beginning of this process.

Other updated news; in addition to our morning devotional talks, we will now speak at church on Sunday morning’s – Alex started at the end of May with Paul and Calum to follow. We unfortunately said goodbye to Dara, who has been translating for us since arriving in Cambodia. He has been a good friend and fun to be with. We wish him all the best. On Fridays we are now playing basket ball with the Canadians at Victory Church, down the street, and a few Filipino guys who work at the casinos. There has unfortunately been a stop to the STREET outreach event due to some difficulties. Please pray for fresh ideas for an outreach project that we can start before we leave in just over a month.

Our time left in Cambodia suddenly seems somewhat limited (the time is flying past), but please keep us in your prayers.
With our love and prayers,

Blessings from Cambodia ...

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6 comments:

  1. Hey guys,
    First of all, veyr sorry to hear that you stayed up so late to watch such a dismal England performance!
    On the other hand, it's great to hear that you're all still having a great time and it's still nice and varied with more opportunities presenting themselves even now! Shame to hear about STREET - do keep us informed as to how that all works out, I'm sure God's got it all under control :)
    Keep it up guys, God bless you all :)
    Chris

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  2. Hi guys - greetings from Indonesia!
    We do pray for all of you, your safety, the work you are doing and the plans that God has for you in the future. Having only been here for a few days we feel the quote from Romans is so very apt - we hope to make a difference, but it is really us that are changed.
    Selamat (Greetings) from Banjarmasin.
    PS Stan still yet to see any footie - the two American girls we are working with loved the fact that the USA drew with England when the day before Stan had said the USA weren't very good!
    Love and blessings
    Sue and Stan

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  3. hey guys
    are you going to stay up again this friday hopefully we do abit better, how are the cambodians enjoying the world cup? Its great to hear about all the things you are getting up to and im sure it will continue to go well.
    God bless
    Tom x

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  4. So good to hear that you are well and continuing to enjoy your time there. It sounds like you are doing some amazing things ... keep going!!

    God bless you and the people you are coming into contact with.

    Alex & Celia

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  5. Thanks so much for another update; looking back over the previous ones, they make a fantactic record of what you've been up to. Praying much for you all, and for CHO, hope you have a great week.

    Ian (Paul's dad)

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  6. Hey Guys!
    Thanks for another great blog!! Keep up the amazing work. Sounds like you are having loads of fun with the children at Safe Haven and at the Mat Schools. God bless!!

    Blessings,
    Janelle

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