Big day out

We went a long way on Sunday. It's a long story - about a very sick man in a village, whose son asked if he could come to the Healing Home. He sounded to be far too sick to move, so Sue kindly offered that we would visit. He just happened to come from Bonna's village, so she got a nephew of the sick father to take her out and we followed. Bonna said 'three hours - two if you drive fast'. We drove fast. It was over three hours each way - on roads that roughly translated into one hour tarseal, one hour gravel with potholes and dust and one hour not a road at all.

Crossing the Tonle Sap River by ferry on the way out - a pleasent 15 minutes before the rough roads kicked in. That's our staff girl Bonna with Sue. Bonna's pink helmet was my signpost for six hours!

It was a very interesting day, so far from the now-familiar life we have in Phnom Penh. Little ponies pulling wooden wagons replace the tuktuks and pick-up trucks of the city. There were some vehicles, but mostly everyone else moves on the trusty motor scooters, bouncing along roads that have potholes big enough to swallow bulldozers (... almost ...)

Dtou's father was indeed a very sick man. It was very hard to get any definite information as to diagnosis. Sue is of the opinion that he may have Aids. The evening before we arrived we had word that he had actually died, and folk had gathered from all over in expectation of this. So we were pretty surprised to come to a village house with people galore gathered.

After spending time praying for him we went a few houses down the road where Pastor Mara grew up. Mara is an awesome man who is one of the pastors in the church here. This happens to also be his village. While we were visiting with his sisters and rellies he phoned in (yes, the village abounds in pigs, coconuts and mobile phones!!) and was real happy that we were in 'his place' looking at his wedding pics on the wall and meeting with his whanau.

Then it was back to Dtou's dad and more prayer followed by lunch. Bonna got to spend a wee bit of time with her parents too, much to her joy. Her folks run one of the three little eatery places in the village. Her dad starts work 3am seven days a week, getting the noodles ready. He works through to 10pm closing. Do the maths ...

In Mara's village home - some of his nieces who came to meet us. Not many pics sorry - left the camera at home and just used the phone camera.

Our latest report is that the dad is doing better. When he has gained some strength we will look to get him to the home. This is what we believe for.

One of the real benefits of this day in the province was to get a feel of what Healing Homes could look like in villages. Bonna is still a village girl at heart and it sure was a privilege being on her home turf and hearing her heart for her village. One day ...

As for Susie, she was an absolute champ. We were both a bit worried at what we had gotten ourselves into, but she handled the moto marathon real well. There was just one time when I felt her wriggling around and then seeming to disappear off the back seat. 'Whatever are you up to?' I asked her. Her cheery reply - 'I'm just farting'. It was a challenge to drive a straight line after that one!