Next Sunday I hope ...

Bunthorn, our class teacher, never lets up! On Friday he came to me - 'Kim, I want to take the children to church'. Great idea ... and why had I not thought of that?? Actually I am more than thrilled to see initiating ideas come from the people who surround us.

I got Bunthorn to get the kids to get all OKs from their parents - and then to come to the home Sunday morning to supervise the exodus. 10 kids turned up - on Saturday!! OK, so they are keen ... Today, 15 kids showed for church. Bunthorn got them loaded - into one tuktuk!!! There are some real pluses in not having OSH in Cambodia ...

Next Sunday I've just got to get a pic of this. Today I went to first service (7am) then taught a discipleship class before zipping to another church congregation where I had been asked to speak. It was a shame to miss the inaugral adventure.

The playground equipment that Ema (of 'born to promote Kathmandu' fame) just gets so much use. Her are a couple of girls from Bunthorn's class having a play.

Beyond precious

Remember Naan, the tiniest malnourished mite I have ever seen? This was her when we first saw her

Naan at about 1.5kg and nine months old

Here she is with Donnie last week. Donnie and his delightful wife Sophea are arranging to adopt this gorgeous little lady - at the very time that Sophea is pregnant with their first child. Donnie is Canadian - he is the guy who feeds us the majority of our patients through the network of health care workers and pastors in the provinces. Poor bloke - he is laid up with a leg munched (but not broken) after an impatient young hoon t-boned him in a moto accident last Friday.

Preparing for Dave

We had a very happy week this week. Melody, our 'Aussie' daughter and hubbie Dave have bought tickets to come visit us. It is not until July but excitement is high and I'm preparing already.

Dave loves fishing. Susie was keen to get these scales from a garage sale last weekend. She thinks they are to weigh babies. Dave and I know that they are really for fish. The only problem - we'll need to try and keep our catch under 20kg ...

Love you like my brother

We have moved Bunthorn's class from the open-air into the shed, where motor scooters, garden tools and assorted stuff collects. He is much happier with this arrangement as he says the kids focus much better.

Classroom, Healing Home style. With Chinese New Year happening now, we have some kids away. Bunthorn has settled on teaching one class over two hours daily (9-11am) and, when he can, spending extra tuition time with just a few kids like Choryee in the afternoon.

Running a class every day has certainly added a new dynamic to the home. The kids are settling in well but whenever they are in the yard, they only know one volume! I was wondering to myself today - is there any gratefulness at all in their little hearts for what Bunthorn is pouring in? - or do they just grab and take.

My answer was not long in coming. After running an extra afternoon class today, he sat down and unwound with me. In the conversation he told me how one of the little ones had given him a card today. Inside she had written - 'Teacher, I love you - like my brother'.

Takeo Province

I was invited to Takeo Province last Sunday to speak at a village church. The invitation came from a lovely young guy, Pastor Samdy, who has a great attitude and (for a Khmer) a really outgoing personality.

Up to a year ago Samdy was caring for three homegroups in this area. Now, a lady in the church has made land available for a simple church building, a simpler little house for Samdy and his wife, and a good open concrete area between the two buildings. The church is growing fast with close to 100 people gathering. Samdy says a key to their growth has been the influence of five of his 'older' (as in 40-ish years old!) people in the area.

Refreshments! The 40km trip out is relatively straight forward, tho' about 20 minutes of the 1-hour motor-scooter jaunt is like being in a bouncy castle - the tarseal road having developed a continual wavey motion.

It was Valentines Day - with a bunch of items happening. Here the nice lady is singing a traditional-style Khner song. She is one of the key five.

Cambodians love the stand-up duo comedy routines - much like a 'Kath and Kim'. Here two local wags are causing something of a riot.

A big part of the fun in these outings to Takeo is the meeting up with people who have been in the Healing Home. This lady (ouch, I really have forgotten her name) was so quiet and sweet in the home, and in typical Khmer fashion she is looking staunch as in the photo. However, when she saw me in the church she was absolutely delightful, making a loud vocal fuss, stroking my arm and cuddling on my shoulder!

Speaking in the village is always a bit of an unknown. I try to keep things real simple with lots of easy-to-relate-to illustrations. My first interpreter dropped out after five minutes and another young guy stepped up. He went really well - mostly! When I thanked him after the service, he went all shy and said 'that was the first time I ever interpret'. Samdy wants me to come out again next month so I guess his interpreter will be having seconds!

Love Cambodia

The Healing Home has been pretty well full on this last week with many comings and goings. There have been some heartening stories and some real challenges going down with us too.

Upon our return we heard that a lovely little guy who had been with us last year, Kal, was in a bad way again. He was the little bloke who was full of worms and has been diagnosed with TB. We heard that life again is a shocker for the lovely kid; his alcoholic dad had smashed up their possessions and been in fisti-cuffs with the neighbour; Kal was having to work in the fields and that his parents had not followed up on the TB medication.

We had been praying for the little fella, that there would be real answers for his situation. Now he is back with us, safely tucked under Da's caring wing. He is shy as but is beginning to cuddle into caring arms now. May God make a way for him to have a protected, nourished life.

Kal is 11 years old, but looks seven or eight. He is yet another young one who has been malnourished all his life. Here he is tucking into his lunch.

Rin, a delightful 20-something young lady, has spent 10 days with us. She was referred by a couple in our church, who live in the same village about 30 minutes out of town. They had told her about Jesus and Rin wasted no time praying to receive the Lord when she got to the home. You have never met anyone so keen to get to church; she was so excited to finally be able to go. Her neighbours can only fit their family on their motor scooter.

Sopheap praying her very best prayer for Rin just before Rin headed back to her home on Monday. Her dad has died and mum has remarried - meaning she has quit on her family. Rin lives with her sister, brother and their families, caring for their six young children six days a week.

Rin says that there are no other Christians in her village except the family who have befriended her. There is a church, she says, which gives rice to everyone who attends - but no-one who attends believes; they just come for the rice. How is that for perceptiveness from such a young one!

A haka and a hangi

Waitangi Day is celebrated here, we discovered this year. An invite went out to all Kiwis and Kiwi wanna-be's to a hangi put on in an engineering shed yesterday in Takmau, 10 km or so from our place.

Sue Taylor and modelling her 'Kiwis in Kampuchea' t-shirt. Hubbie Graeme is on her right.

Maybe 200 people showed - I would guestimate about one-third Cambodian folk, one-third Aussies, English and other whities, and a third NZer's. It was a good evening to connect with people we have never met before, and enjoy our first ever hangi on Cambodian soil.

The three Sues (as in Susie, Sue Taylor and Sue Hannah) and Colleen had headed out on Saturday to peel their way thru' sacks of potatoes, kumara and pumpkin. They actually peeled alongside Dame Sylvia, a real good sort says Sues 1-3, who unfortunately could be a very old lady before the UN mega-million dollar circus (Khmer Rouge trials) are likely to finish. A couple of pigs and a most welcome fat lamb joined the spuds in the hole for what was an unforgettable hangi experience.

Brian (left) - the bloke who runs the engineering business - supervising the lifting of the hangi

Here comes the second basket - Graeme who works with Colleen at Asian Outreach is on the right

Owen (left) and his (first? second??) cousin doing a haka to celebrate the day and the event

Time to serve the fattened lamb - Colleen, Sue T and Sue H taking their strategic positions

Smelly street

Street 105 runs in a north-south direction just a block from our home. It is the street that we take every day to and from the Healing Home. We call it 'smelly street' or 'river view road' depending on our mood that day. It runs alongside a large open sewer that, on a day with really decent rain, spills over onto the road at its southern extremity

Smelly street - with many houses and businesses right alongside, especially in the 10 blocks north of where this picture was taken

Heading up smelly street today, I saw an improbable sight - a kid paddling what looked to be a raft in the sewer. I was intrigued enough to do a u-turn and check the little guy out. I doubted that he was fishing and it seemed an unlikely spot for a recreational paddle ...

Look at this poor little bloke, rowing maybe 3km down this smelly hole for what looks like 12 cents worth of cans and plastic bottles.

Living the dream

If you have heard Sue talk about how we came to live in Cambodia, she tells of a very clear dream she had in Toowoomba. In this dream she saw houses, markets, and a house. The two distinguishing things about the house were sick people - and children.

Bunthon with some of the eager kids

We've run a kids club since early days here - but have never been satisfied that 'that's it'. Today felt different - complete chaos as 19 kids from ages 2 to 13 surged in to enrol in Bunthon's morning teaching class. The three r's are our initial goal (in Khmer of course).

Choryee (left) is the one who first provoked us on this course. At twelve years old, she is a natural leader and very sporty. Her parents want her in class but say they are too poor to afford the books. By day she cares for two siblings. Her little brother is not all at home - a mobile disaster unit who, between terrorism forays, is very dependent on big sis.

Interestingly, following the kids were four or five mums. They came all the way in to talk to Bunthon - can he teach their children English?

Here come the mums ...

We've got some weeding and sorting to do as we want to teach those who are not in school and the kids will need to be five or six years old. Nothing is neat and tidy tho' as some of the kids are left home to care for little siblings all day as mum and dad go to work. Bunthon is one excited guy tho'. 'I love the kids so much' he said a number of times. He's the man!

Numbing grace

We have been back in Phnom Penh a couple of days short of two weeks. Time is moving quickly and there is much going on that really encourages us.

In our descent into Phnom Penh this time, I remember turning to Sue and saying 'how did we do this?' She looked back at me and understood what I was saying. How did we actually pack a couple of 20kg bags and come to this country without knowing anyone (except Patrick and Carol Kelly just a wee bit) and no where near enough resources to last here very long at all?

I've reflected on this a bit and come to the conclusion that there is an anaesthetic in grace. Like a divine denial, the sensible pangs of anxiety simply were rendered inactive. We had great encouragement from many, yet among the voices of concern ('how will you ....') we could muster no corresponding concern.

Now, 30 months later I was flying back in feeling more nervously churned up than when we first arrived. Try to make sense of that!!

Happy reunions

Stepping out of church on Sunday, we were introduced to the cutest little baby. It was Naan. I totally did not recognise her! Now 3.5kg (remember, she came to us at 9 months old weighing just 1.2kg) she is a miracle in full flight. Naan has been in foster care these last two months and now her parents are saying that with six other children, they just cannot afford to keep her. The family she is with adore her and a sister of the foster carer is very keen to adopt.

Naan - of whom the hospital said 'no, take her away; she's going to die'; whose father said 'throw her in the river ...' (and he is a gentle, nice guy!). Never say die!!

Meanwhile, we have had little Long visit today. His mum is with us as she has had an arm mauled by her nice neighbour's not-nice dog. From a little crippled guy, Long is now biking one kiometre to school each day and is running around like a kid should.

Long showing me his new creation (top) and playing in the yard today. This is the joy we are so privileged to be partakers of - lives forever changed because God is good.

Literally a couple of hours before Long's mum suddenly turned up. Pastor Mara was meeting with me and recounted more about her story. Apparently she had tried many things to see her son recover from his crippling disease. When she had an invitation to the healing home, people in her village apparently said 'No, don't go. You are wasting time and money - he is going to die anyway'. Her response - 'I will try one more time'.

Upon her return to the village and without anyone saying a thing to her, she turfed all her idols and the spirit house out of her house and burnt them. She declared 'I do not trust you any longer - I now know what I believe'. She's a good one!